TokyoPop Hires former CMX Exec

We all are aware of the declining fortunes of manga publisher TokyoPop. They have gone from a 40 issue a month company to a 10 issue a month company over the past 3 years, and have recently allowed much of their manga back catalog - even for ongoing series - to go out of print (to the consternation of fans and retailers alike). ICv2's Q3 2010 list of top selling manga properties show TokyoPop had only 2 out of the top 25 spots, with Alice in the Country of Hearts coming in at #11, and Fruits Basket at #15.

We'll, they have just announced that they have hired Asako Suzuki, who was formerly the Director of Manga for the now defunct CMX imprint, to be their Manga Line Editor. Suzuki will be handling most of the new Japanese licensing work at Tokyopop, including acquisitions. She will apparently also be involved in marketing as well, and will communicate with fans via Facebook and Twitter - you know, because there is no other freaking way to do it anymore. My suggestion is that she also talk to a retailer or two from time to time too, because up until now, TokyoPop has mostly ignores us - or at least tries to. Coming from working for a real company, hopefully she won't have too much trouble getting acclimatized to working for TokyoPop's schizophrenic culture and for DJ Milky (seen above) - who's ideas about manga (in spite of his massive ego) have always been well meaning but usually not well thought out.

WTF is up with your hair Stu? Dude...

So what does this all mean? How will things change at TokyoPop? When asked by ICv2 if TokyoPop might try to rescue some of CMX's unfinished properties, the answer didn't look good:

'Hopefully there’s something that will fit into Tokyopop’s line' Diaz-Przybyl said. 'We’ve had a very mixed track record with rescuing series, like the ADV titles we picked up: Tactics, Peace Maker Kurogane, Aria and Aqua. Fans loved it and we were really hoping to make some hay with them. They did fine, and there are different reasons why each performed a little differently. But those have not always been hugely successful.'

That's industry speak for 'no, re-releases don't sell well, so stop asking me...'

She also said something that I think sums up what TokyoPop is all about now:

'We need to pick the right titles at the right point in their life cycles.'

In other words, they will probably not pickup many new licenses in the future unless they think they will be big sellers. The days of a small percentage of hit titles subsidizing lots of marginal ones are over, and that's a real downer for fans who don't want to just read mainstream series like Fruits Basket.