In an article entitled 'Japanese Manga Takes Humongous Step' in Thursday's USA Today Carol Memmott details the ways in which 'the big manga publishers are stepping up their presence in the U.S. marketplace by marrying their comic form with novelizations, magazines and manga/novel hybrids.'  The article features illustration by Svetlana Chmakova for her The Adventures of CG manga, which, as reported by ICv2 yesterday (see 'Manga in CosmoGIRL'), is being serialized in CosmoGIRL magazine (circulation, 6 million).

In addition to discussing The Adventures of CG, which is a Tokyopop initiative, Memmott also discusses Viz's new Shojo Beat manga anthology, which targets teenage girls, as well as Viz's plans to publish novelizations of some of its more popular manga series including Full Metal Alchemist and Ghost in the Shell 2.  Also included in this survey of manga outreach projects is a discussion of Dark Horse's impending publication of manga versions of the popular Harlequin romance novels (see 'Dark Horse to Publish Harlequin Manga').  As noted in Memmott's article, manga is one of the 'fastest-growing segments in publishing,' but the point of the story is that the major manga publishers are not resting on their laurels, but are aggressively trying to promote their properties and the medium itself through a variety of initiatives aimed at reaching new readers and enlarging the audience for their wares.