Harper Collins Children's Books has acquired a license from Sony Pictures to publish a series of thirty books based on the new Astro Boy anime series produced by Sony and Tezuka Productions.  The first seven volumes in the series will arrive in September and include a coloring book, a sticker book, two beginning reader books, two storybooks, and one chapter book.  The Astro Boy anime series, which is currently appearing on the Cartoon Network, returns to the Kids WB later this month.

The Harper Collins volumes are merely the latest entries in a rather extensive lineup of Astro Boy merchandise available here in the States.  Dark Horse has been publishing Tezuka's brilliant Astro Boy manga series for quite awhile (see 'Dark Horse to Publish Astro Boy'), while Bandai America is producing Astro Boy action figures (see 'Bandai Looks Beyond Japan') and NECA has statues, busts, bobble-heads, and toothpick holders (see 'NECA Targets Older Collectors').  So far the new Astro Boy series, which has done very well in Japan, has not yet capured a mass audience here in the U.S.  However the extensive licensing indicates that this property will get the exposure necessary to have a real shot at stateside success.