Hyperion Books, the American publishing arm of the Disney entertainment empire, has won a bidding war with Henry Holt and will publish manga created by Misako Takashima, who grew up in Japan but currently lives in Madison, Wisconsin.  Takashima, whose first published effort was a 15-page story ('Rock'n Roll Love') in the British anthology Manga Mover (see 'New Manga Anthology From England'), went to New York and made presentations to Marvel, Scholastic Books, Henry Holt, Hyperion Books and Nickelodeon.  Both Holt and Hyperion were very interested and Hyperion ended up signing her to a multi-book contract.

A spokesperson for Hyperion told ICv2 that publication of Takashima's first manga, which is tentatively entitled Ride On!, is at least a year away. 

Although the marketplace appears to be getting increasingly crowded, the influence of manga on American publishing continues to grow and Hyperion Books is unlikely to be the last U.S. publishing house to take a flyer in what remains the fastest growing section in many bookstores.