From ICv2:"DC is closing down its CMX manga unit, effective July 1st. The company will cease publishing all CMX titles other than Megatokyo (its OEL title) which will continue under the DC Comics imprint.
We asked DC whether U.S. publishing rights would revert to the Japanese publishers or if DC was planning to try to sell or sub-license the rights, and received a 'No comment' from a DC spokesperson.
In a statement on the shutdown, DC Co-publishers Dan Didio and Jim Lee said, 'Over the course of the last six years, CMX has brought a diverse list of titles to America and we value the books and creators that we helped introduce to a new audience. Given the challenges that manga is facing in the American marketplace, we have decided that CMX will cease publishing new titles as of July 1, 2010.'"
The news story speaks for itself, but this one has really caught us by surprise as CMX is one of the few imprints we considered 'large' and 'safe'. It's not just the little guys that are getting hit hard by the economy now, and this news comes on wake of last weeks announcement that Viz was reducing their staff by 40%, and that both the Video Game and Domestic Comic sales crashed in April. Sadly, there are other layoffs and down sizing's going on in the industry that you aren't hearing about.
The folks at CMX said that they will ship the following June volumes:
Musashi #9 Vol 17
Orfina Vol 8
Polyphonica: Cardinal Crimson Vol 1
Stolen Hearts Vol 2
Teru Teru X Shonen Vol 7
Two Flowers for the Dragon Vol 6
Venus Capriccio Vol 4
These will be the final volumes published by CMX, and I think we can assume that their entire back catalog will effectively fall out of print as of July. We'll be updating those items to 'stock on hand' on the store site as warranted, but we will continue to restock them from distributors and other sources until replacement stock is no longer available.
So again, where is that economic recovery I keep hearing about in the news?
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