Dark Horse Comics has announced the purchase of manga publishing and production house Studio Proteus under a pending agreement.  Dark Horse began working with Studio Proteus in 1988 and together they have created some 60,000 pages of English language manga including Outlanders, Lone Wolf & Cub, Akira, Oh My Goddess, Blade of the Immortal, and Ghost in the Shell.  In addition to the material published through Dark Horse, the agreement also includes all the Studio Proteus manga published prior to 1988 with Eclipse and Innovation.  Toren Smith, head of Studio Proteus, will retain the company name and will act as a consultant for Dark Horse and will continue translating select titles such as Blade of the Immortal.

With the manga market booming, new low-cost editions of material published in the 1980s and 90s could be a useful addition to Dark Horse's growing line of manga releases.