Marvel has hired Tokyopop and Marvel vet Mark Paniccia as Senior Editor, charged with '...developing new properties and a new generation of comic book writers and artists,' according to a Marvel announcement released Wednesday.  Paniccia will be developing original graphic novels for teens, and recruiting new talent. 

 

Marvel Publisher Dan Buckley put the hire in the context of the rapidly growing manga market.  'Having a person the caliber of Mark join Marvel really gives us one of the leading visionaries in the genre [sic],' he said.  Buckley indicated in an interview with ICv2 last summer that Marvel was interested in the manga space, but was unlikely to license Japanese properties (see 'Interview with Marvel Publisher Dan Buckley, Part II')

 

Paniccia was most recently at Tokyopop, where he was Senior Editor of New Development, working on Tokyopop's American manga products.  He also held editor positions at Malibu and Marvel in the 90s, working on licensed books at both companies.