Dark Horse plans to launch one new licensed manga title, a new OEL manga title, a great background book, and several manga repackages for early 2007. The new manga title is Tanpenshu, a two-volume series collecting shorter works by
The first Tanpenshu volume, which will street in January, will collect three short stories with mature themes. The three storylines concern a doomed yakuza outcast, a group of school kids with one about to boil over, and the members of an experimental theater troupe.
The 232-page manga-size trade paperback will be shrink-wrapped, carry an 18+ content advisory, and retail for $12.95.
The shojo-inspired Red String Volume 1 will be a 184-page collection of the Red String Webcomic by Gina Biggs. The storylines deal with 'all forms of love' and star a freshman high school student whose parents are arranging a marriage for her. MSRP will be $12.95.
In February, Dark Horse will publish Akira Club, a 256-page 8' x 11' color hardcover companion volume to the Akira volumes by Katsuhiro Otomo. The collection includes over 100 title-page illos created for the original serialization but not included with the manga volumes, alternate art, preliminary drawings, production sketches, posters, ads, and products, all with commentary by Otomo himself.
The 16+ Akira Club volume will retail for $29.95.
Dark Horse is also planning to repackage some previously published work in new manga formats. Throughout 2007, the company plans to release new, non-westernized versions of Shirow Masumune's Dominion, Dominion Conflict 1, Orion, Appleseed, and Black Magic.
First of the Shirow repackages is Dominion, which will street in January in its new right-to-left format. It will be 224 pages for $14.95. In February, a 160-page, right-to-left Dominion: Conflict 1 volume will be released at $14.95. Orion 2nd Edition will street in March, and Appleseed Book 1: The Promethean Challenge will street in April.
Dark Horse is also pursuing the omnibus trend to help keep its Gunsmith Cats series on increasingly crowded retailer shelves. The Gunsmith Cats Omnibus Volume 1, a 464-page, $16.95 value package, will be released in February. This will be the first release of this work in the States in right-to-left format. Gunsmith Cats is an 18+, shrinkwrapped product.
And in a new strategy for Gunsmith Cats, Dark Horse will release Gunsmith Cats: Burst Volume 1, the first North American appearance of this Gunsmith Cats series, in a right-to-left 192-page manga volume for $10.95 in April.
