Don’t get overly excited - it’s not that Morrissey, but rahter Paul Morrissey formerly of Tokyopop who’s landed a new position at Boom! Studios.  Boom! is being very secretive about the position and what titles (perhaps a couple of new ones) Morrissy will be working on.  Guess we’ll have to wait until SDCC for the big announcements - and I have it on good authority that Boom! will have a lot of big announcements at San Diego.

See the cryptic press release by clicking the thumbnail.

via Boom! Studios

Los Angeles, CA (June 3, 2008) TOKYOPOP announced Tuesday that it has reorganized its North American business into two separate companies by spinning off its newly established comics-to-film and digital units into one new entity TOKYOPOP Media LLC.

As part of the spin-off and reorganization, 39 positions within the organization have been eliminated. The move will allow the company to align its publishing business with current book retail trends, as well as aggressively pursue growth in the white-hot comics-to-film and digital space.

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Coming out of Book Expo America taking place in Los Angeles, California comes a couple of press releases from Tokyopop about its latest acquisitions aimed at teenagers, and possibly film too.

Press releases follow the jump.

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It’s a busy day for Tokyopop. First the company announced a online manga initiative with GoComics, and now Tokyopop has followed up with two other deals.

The first of the new announcements should be good news for World of Warcraft and StarCraft fans; Blizzard Entertainment and Tokyopop have entered into an agreement where the comic publisher will release 22 all new WoW and StarCraft titles between now and 2010.

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Tokyopop and GoComics have announced an agreement where the two companies will work together to bring many o Tokyopop’s titles to mobile phones.

To kick off the event, GoComics will be branding the Tokyopop content under the GoComics Mobile Manga banner as well as a spin-off Tokyopop section.

“Our Mobile Manga is a great user experience and satisfies discriminating creators, editors and fans alike. A major reason for this is GoComics’ commitment to quality, simplicity, and an artistic adaptation that preserves the manga pacing while converting pages into a panel-by-panel format,” said TOKYOPOP Director of New Product Development Jeremy Ross. “We look forward to building on the success of our initial mobile manga anthology with GoComics’ “freedom of choice” offering — fans can now select their favorites from a wide catalog of titles.”

Movie more titles to the digital realm is a pretty wise move from my standpoint, however I have not been overly impresse with trying to read comics on my RAZR 2. On the other hand, with the fantastic multi-touch screen found on the iPod Touch (which I own) and the iPhone, reading mobile comics is so easy.

via GoComics and Tokyopop

Today is Manga day at Major Spoilers (and by Manga day, I mean we have two stories that reference Manga)…

TokyoPop has announced it has signed Korean Manga creator Hee Jung Park to a multi-book publishing deal.

“Hee Jung Park is a phenomenal talent as well as a manga superstar,” said TokyoPop EIC Rob Tokar in a prepared statement. “Along with her bestselling sequential art, her work has been collected in art books and gallery shows around the world. “Inventive”, “unusual” and “sophisticated” are words that often arise in discussions about Ms. Park’s manga classics and we are both excited and proud to publish them.”

The four books will be published between March and August of this year.

Take the jump for the complete description of Hotel Africa, Martin and John, Too Long, and Fever.

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She may be a rock star diva from outer space, but that is no reason to spread rumors about the global manga star. But that is just what Tokyopop is doing with Princess Ai: Rumors from the Other Side.

According to TOKYOPOP Editor-in-Chief Rob Tokar, “Princess Ai: Rumors from the Other Side is another manga first for TOKYOPOP, but considering that Princess Ai has always been a groundbreaking project, ‘unique’ should be expected! Since Ai is an outspoken, outrageous, controversial celebrity (with wings!), it wasn’t hard to find incredible stories from people who love her, hate her and love to hate her.”

Slated to work on the project are Misaho Kujiradou (Princess Ai trilogy), Steve Buccellato (Battle of the Bands), Ashly Raiti and Irene Flores (Mark of the Succubus), Hans Steinbach (A Midnight Opera), Armand Villavert (Zapt!), Sara Winningham (Pride & Prejudice), Emma Viceli (Rising Stars of Manga UK), Mike Schwark and Ron Kaulfersch (Van Von Hunter), Erica Reis (Sea Princess Azuri), T Campbell and Amy Mebberson (Divalicious), Che Gilson, Brett Uher and Mara Aum (Dark Moon Diary), Pauro Izaki (Princess Ai of Ai-Land comic strips) and Kim Mi-Kyung (11th Cat for Ice Kunion).

Princess Ai: rumors from the Other Side arrives in stores in March 2008.

Anyone read this? Or do I need to head over to the Wiki to find out the deelio?

Oh man, I loved watching The Dark Crystal when I was a kid. It had the right mix of fantasy, horror, and action that kept a young lad like myself entranced for hours.

TokyoPop and The Jim Henson Company have teamed up to release a new graphic novel based on the movie, and it’s coming this holiday season!

Legends of The Dark Crystal: The Garthim Wars, the all-new manga prequel to The Dark Crystal, Henson’s classic tale of good vs. evil. Written by Barbara Randall Kesel (Meridian), with illustrations by Heidi Arnhold & Max Kim and a special cover painted by Jae-Hwan Kim (Warcraft, War Angels, King of Hell), Legends of The Dark Crystal: The Garthim Wars provides a unique opportunity to further explore this unparalleled world,manga-style!

According to both companies, this is a project that is taken quite seriously on both sides, so I can’t imagine this graphic novel being a stinker.

Take the jump for more info and the full cover.

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The manga comics publisher Tokyopop has announced it has signed with William Morris Agency. The company will rep Tokyopop in all film, tv, and other merchandising rights.

Film projects in development include “Lament of the Lamb,” a horror story of a young man who discovers he might be the last in a bloodline of vampires, and “The Ai-Land Chronicles,” which plans to blend live action and animation and is based on the company’s successful manga franchise “Princess Ai.”

via Hollywood Reporter