Bandai Entertainment will publish black-and-white manga format versions of two Top Cow Productions comic book series, Lara Croft Tomb Raider and Witchblade.  The Tomb Raider Vol. 1 Digest Edition ($9.99) is a 220-page, manga format (5' x 7.5') black-and-white collection of the Top Cow Tomb Raider comic with artist Andy Park getting the authorship credit.  The first volume in this Tomb Raider series ships in May.

In June Bandai will release its first volume reprinting Top Cow's Witchblade ($9.99) comic in black-and-white in the manga format.  Witchblade is the first American comic book character to be used as the basis for an authentic anime series, and the Witchblade anime should debut in Japan this spring.  The Witchblade anime series, which features major changes from the Top Cow version of the character, has also spawned a manga series in Japan, which will undoubtedly be published here in the States as well, but this series from Bandai reprints Top Cow material with artist Michael Turner getting the authorship credit.