Digital Manga Publishing

Michelle Mauk

By N.S. Davidson
March 9, 2009

Michelle Mauk, who does production/graphic design at Digital Manga Publishing, talks all about this ambitious company. She's worked on such titles as Love Control, Author's Pet and BlueSky, to name only a few, and is happy to tell Sequential Tart more about the company's past, present and future.

Sequential Tart: How did Digital Manga Publishing get started? What sort of manga does it publish?

Michelle Mauk: Digital Manga Publishing was started in 1996 by our current president, Hikaru Sasahara. Under Digital Manga Publishing exist the imprints DMP, DMP Platinum, June, Doki Doki, and 801 Media, each with their own particular focus. DMP is our more mainstream line, and titles that are on DMP can be shojo, shonen, action, fantasy, anime-based; they can be illustration books; it's pretty comprehensive. Under DMP we published the first three volumes of ROBOT, Enchanter by Izumi Kawachi, Knights by Minoru Murao, and we've done the art book FLAMBOYANT, with the art of Ugetsu Hakua of Burst Angel. One of our biggest titles is Vampire Hunter D, which we do directly with Hideyuki Kikuchi, the creator of Vampire Hunter D. We also co-publish titles with Dark Horse, including the Vampire Hunter D novels, Hellsing, Trigun, and Berserk — which a lot of people tend to forget that we have a hand in. This year, we have another Vampire Hunter D novel coming out, a one-shot manga called Utahime by Aki, and Angelic Runes by Makoto Tateno. Then we have the classic shojo Itazura Na Kiss which we just licensed coming out in omnibus format. There will also be more titles on DMP at the end of the year going into next year, which we'll announce soon.

ST: What does your imprint DMP Platinum publish?

MM: DMP Platinum is one of our newer imprints, and was established to set apart classic titles that are done for collectors of manga. Therefore, these are titles that capture the literary and classic excellence of manga as an art form, and are produced in a style more for a collector's bookshelf. So we began with our first title, which was Speed Racer: Mach Go Go Go, which was released in April of 2008 in a limited 2 volume hardcover set, and was available for the first time in its completed form in the US. Our next Platinum title is from Osamu Tezuka, considered to be the "godfather of manga", called Swallowing The Earth. The story revolves around a woman named Zephyrus, who uses her womanly abilities to ensnare men to avenge the wrongs that had been done to women over history. It's a really unusual and interesting story — and it will be released in one collected volume in June 2009.

ST: What about June? What does that imprint publish?

MM: June is our yaoi line, and every June title is labeled as a yaoi title. "Yaoi" is a term for a style of manga that focuses on love between boys as imagined by women — though it isn't necessarily limited to women. It is a product of imagination, and pure fantasy. Though yaoi is a niche market of manga, it is a growing one, and continues to be an aspect of manga that is being exposed to US audiences. The stories in yaoi can go from non-explicit crushes and kisses, to explicit sexual interactions. What many people seem to overlook is that many yaoi manga have great stories that focus on the difficulty of a male/male relationship, and they can not only be well written, but well drawn. One of our early titles, Only The Ring Finger Knows, continues to be one of our best-selling yaoi titles, and was an award winner in 2006 for Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults: Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgendered. Desire won in 2008 for Popular Paperback for Young Adults: Sex Is..., and Fumi Yoshinaga, an amazing storyteller, created ANTIQUE BAKERY — which is about a bakery run by four males; the bakery chef is gay and has an abject fear of women, yet he has an unparalleled ability to charm any man. This title was nominated for an Eisner in 2007, and volumes 2, 3 and 4 won the 2007 Great Graphic Novels For Teens award, and is also the basis for an anime of the same name.

June titles are also licensed from some of the best publishers in Japan, and the largest yaoi publishers, including Libre, Oakla, Tokuma, Taiyoh Tosho and Core, so they're professional and quality titles done by artists, many of whom have large fan followings here in the US.

ST: And the Doki Doki imprint?

MM: Doki Doki launches in April 2009 with two titles: Train Train VOL. 1, and Princess Princess Plus. Doki Doki is an imprint done for Shinshokan Publishing, and is exclusively made up of Shinshokan titles. We offhandedly refer to Doki Doki titles as titles that are the gateway from shojo to yaoi. All Doki Doki titles may have a hint of yaoi flavor, whether it be that their whole cast are boys, or have stories with beautiful male characters in the forefront, but not all the titles are yaoi. Some, like Princess Princess Plus, are strictly comedy; or romance; or drama. Hence, Doki Doki yaoi titles will be branded with "yaoi manga" on them versus the non-yaoi titles. But because so many of the Doki Doki titles are for ages 13+, and 16+, we're excited about them being accessible to a wider audience, including libraries and some book sellers. Plus, the Doki Doki titles are done by well-known artists like Mikyo Tsuda (Princess Princess, Day Of Revolution), Makoto Tateno (Yellow, Steal Moon), Momoko Tenzen (Seven), and Eiki Eiki (World's End, Art of Loving) to begin with. There are also a couple titles that are collaborations between Mikiyo Tsuda and Eiki Eiki — which is also quite unique. They'll also be in a smaller sized format from June.

ST: What about your imprint, 801 Media?

MM: 801 Media is our adult yaoi imprint, so these are titles that are more explicit than June. 801 Media titles are done by well-known mangaka, including super fan favorite Ayano Yamane, who did A Foreign Love Affair, Youka Nitta (The Prime Minister's Secret Diplomacy), Toko Kawai (Bond(z), Just Around The Corner), and Fumi Yoshinaga (Ichigenme Vol. 1 and 2). 801 Media titles are definitely not for children or teens — they are strictly for adults. But just because they are explicit doesn't mean that they don't have stories, and many of our 801 titles are very plot-heavy and character-driven to increase their appeal with adults.

Our newest 801 Media series is called ZE, and right now is at six volumes; the first volume will be released in February. The story revolves around a mysterious household of spirit-like creations made of paper — each of whom is derived from one "doll-maker". Each "doll" has a "master", a person with the ability to conjure spells with words — at the risk of injury to their own bodies. The "dolls" exist to heal and help their masters after they have conjured these spells. The story blends Japanese mythology and spirit creatures in an unusual yaoi tale, and it's really a very good, very interesting series.

The other series is Hey, Class President!, which is two volumes long and has just been released as an anime. The first volume arrives in March.

ST: What titles can we look forward to this year?

MM: I think we have a lot of great titles coming out this year, mainstream and non-mainstream. We have two great classic manga coming out. One is Itazura Na Kiss, by the late Kaoru Tada, which is considered to be a classic of shojo manga. Itazura Na Kiss is a story about two high school students, Kotoko and Naoki, and their relationship from high school to beyond. Kotoko is hopelessly dim but persistent and earnest, while Naoki is a super-genius with a super-cool robot attitude to match. Even though he rejects Kotoko outright, her persistent presence and her ability to cause chaos in his life begins to dent his armor and he begins to become more human. It's really sweet and funny, and Vol 1 (which is in omnibus format) will be out in November for $14.95.

We also have Swallowing the Earth, a great title by Osamu Tezuka, which is actually written around a female protagonist, Zephyrus, whose sole desire is to destroy man for their crimes against womankind. Her constant opposition is the only man immune to her charms, but only because he's consistently drunk and lives for his drink. It's a classic title in line with Tezuka's older tales like MW, or BlackJack, and it will be for ages 16+ at $24.95. That comes out in June.

We have the continuing saga of Vampire Hunter D, with the third manga release in May, amazingly illustrated by Saiko Takaki, at $13.95. The story falls in line with the novels that we co-publish with Dark Horse. The mangaka for D was specifically picked by Hideyuki Kikuchi (creator) to illustrate his vision.

We also have the finales of Flower of Life — our award winning manga by Fumi Yoshinaga — which finishes up in May on our DMP imprint, as well as Il Gatto Sul G, which finishes up on our June line in June.

We also have a lot of anticipation from the June fan base for the two volume series Ludwig, by You Higuri (Gorgeous Carat), which begins in June, and the fourth volume of Only the Ring Finger Knows in June as well. It's going to be a busy year on all the imprints, but we're really excited about the variety and the quality of the titles we're putting out this year.

ST: How are you different from other manga publishing companies?

MM: Digital Manga Publishing is, as our president puts it, "small, but spicy". Digital Manga Publishing has remained a bit of an enigma next to most of the other publishers, as it's still an independent company, without major backing from a larger company. But that has allowed us to do things out of the ordinary, and to license titles that can come across as "unexpected". Which we think is great! We want to do unexpected and unusual things, and being small, we are able to communicate more closely and directly with the fans. When we go to conventions, you're not meeting volunteers or staff hired just for the convention, you're meeting us directly — you're meeting the president of the company, you're meeting our IT person, our production staff, our graphic designers, our sales manager, our Japanese relations person and so on. And we're working the booth — we don't get to wander! At the same time, we need the fans to turn out for us, to read and buy our books so that we can continue to license great titles both mainstream and not. I think a lot of people forget that we've been around for some time, but that's the reason we've been able to stick around for twelve years — it's a commitment to the fans and to our values as a company.

ST: What are your goals for the future?

MM: It's kind of weird to answer this for the whole company — but I'll do my best. It's been all over the internet and the blog world about the difficulties that the publishing industry is having in the current economy — and no one is exempt from it. But, in light of this, we're going to push forward, to continue to do what we can to put out great manga for the fans. We're excited about being at Anime Expo in Los Angeles again this year, and we're probably going to bring a guest back out for that. In the past we've brought Hideyuki Kikuchi and Saiko Takaki for Vampire Hunter D, and Range Murata for Robot. At NYCC last year, we had Peter Fernandez, the voice of Speed Racer, as our guest. We've brought numerous yaoi mangaka out, including Toko Kawai, Mikiyo Tsuda, Eiki Eiki, and others. So — we're definitely looking forward to AX, and to Yaoi-Con, and maybe another convention if we have time to plan it. So — I would say some of our goals are to be back out there with the fans again, to license and produce more great manga, and to continue to do the unexpected in the face of other publishers. We'll also be having more great promotions, courtesy of our friends at Shinshokan, so please keep a watchful eye on the internet world when we announce those! We're going to do our best to keep Digital Manga strong, to keep making and producing books, and to keep books getting to the fans. It's going to be an exciting year!

Digital Manga Publishing
Shinshokan (Japanese)