Marvel has named Bill Rahn, who spent the past two years as President of Universal Pictures Video Japan, as Managing Director of International Licensing for Japan and Asia.  Rahn will be based in Tokyo and will report to Tim Rothwell, President of Marvel's Worldwide Consumer Products Group.  Coupled with the recent appointment of Bruno Maglione, who also worked for Universal, to head up its European licensing division (see 'Marvel Looks Overseas'), Rahn's appointment fleshes out Rothwell's scheme, announced at Marvel's most recent financial news conference (see 'Marvel's Profits Soar'), to 'grab the low-hanging fruit' represented by the potential of international licensing, which currently generates only 5% of Marvel's revenue, but which Rothwell believes could easily account for 25%.

Rahn, who speaks fluent Japanese, has spent the last decade in Japan, where he is credited with increasing the studio's licensing revenues for the region by a factor of ten.  Mr. Rahn oversaw the start-up of Universal's home video division in Japan, an experience that could be extremely useful if Marvel begins making its own films (see 'Marvel To Make Its Own Movies?'), since increasingly home video is where the real profits in the motion picture industry reside.  Marvel has a history of licensing in Japan, which includes the creation of manga versions of some of its superhero characters, most notably, Spider-Man.  Stateside retailers managed to sell quite a few copies of the vintage Spider-Man manga (even though it was in Japanese), and if Rahn can license manga versions of Marvel superheroes retailers could potentially benefit from the importation of Marvel manga.