Del Rey Manga, an imprint of the Random House Publishing Group, has announced the acquisition of the Gundam Seed Destiny manga, a Kodansha property with original art by Masatsugu Iwase and story by Hajime Yatate and Yoshiyuki Tomino.   The Gundam Seed Destiny manga is a sequel to Del Rey's five-volume Gundam Seed manga series. 

Whereas in Japan it is much more common for manga to precede and provide the inspiration for an anime version of the property, the Gundam Seed and Gundam Seed Destiny manga are based on the very popular Gundam Seed and Gundam Seed Destiny anime series.  In the U.S. several anime-inspired manga have done extremely well -- the Cowboy Bebop, Wolf's Rain and FLCL manga series for example.  Del Rey's Gundam Seed manga has also been a solid performer, though the various Gundam franchises have never begun to approach the popularity here in the U.S. that they enjoy in Japan.