Plex International Design, the Japanese company that designed the Power Rangers toys as well as the RoboWheels that Mattel is releasing here in the States, has announced plans to publish at least two manga series here in the U.S.  Plex's first manga offering is Angel's Wing by Tetusya Aoki, a veteran of the design and illustration industry, who worked on the Transformers toys from Takara before joining Plex some dozen years ago. Anime News Service is now reporting that in addition to Angel's Wing, Plex is also planning to release a new manga entitled Nozomi, created by Nao Yazawa, the acclaimed shoujo artists responsible for the popular manga Wedding Peach (published in the U.S. by Viz).

In contrast to Viz, Tokyopop, and Dark Horse, the leading manga publishers in the U.S., Plex plans to publish Angel's Wing and Nozomi in full color, and in the American left-to-right format.  In fact Nao Yazawa is creating Nozomi in the American format especially for the American market, a process that she describes as challenging on her Website.  The first issue of Angel's Wing, which Plex sold at conventions last year, was 80 pages, while Angel's Wing #2, which comes out in July, will be 88 pages (full color) with an srp of $7.95.  Also out in July will be the first issue of Nozomi, 56 pages (full color), which will retail for $5.95.  Both of the Plex Manga titles will not only be in the American format (rather than appearing as tankoubons) and both will be released in the U.S. before they are published in Japan.