Rocket Bomber - article - manga - publishing - Del Rey Manga Freeze?

I’ve read a number of blogs — initially Kuriousity but with notable reactions at both Comics Worth Reading and Robot 6 — the buzz going round is that Del Rey (a Random House imprint) may not be retreating from graphic novels, but their slate of licensed manga content is about to disappear.

[Like many bloggers/reporters, I’ve submitted the question to what contacts I have, but to date the response is ‘no comment’]

However, I personally have a second source — the manga rankings [consolidated online comparative sales rankings] which I’ve researched independently of bookstores or publishers [or Diamond Comics/Book Distributors], relying solely on online sales sites.

So here’s what I have for Del Rey.

Ranked titles were actually bought (or for some other reason appeared in my sources) while reference titles (“last ranked” or “ref”) previously appeared in the online sales rankings and continue to be tracked. However, I typically only look up publication info when a title first ranks, so the listings below may have been delayed or cancelled since they first appeared in my sources. All that said: Here’s what I have for Del Rey:

370. ↑31 (401) : Fairy Tail 12 – Del Rey, Sep 2010 [23.3] ::
447. ↓-6 (441) : Shiki Tsukai vols 7-8 collection – Del Rey, Sep 2010 [17.2] ::
449. ↑132 (581) : Orange Planet vols 3-5 collection – Del Rey, Sep 2010 [17.1] ::
. (last ranked 5 Sep 10) : Avatar The Last Airbender (Movie Tie-In) 2 – Del Rey, Sep 2010 [0.0] ::

167. ↓-4 (163) : Negima! 28 – Del Rey, Oct 2010 [58.4] ::
288. ↑56 (344) : xxxHolic 16 – Del Rey, Oct 2010 [33.6] ::
355. ↑18 (373) : Arisa 1 – Del Rey, Oct 2010 [25.6] ::
1035. ↑ (last ranked 8 Aug 10) : Hell Girl vols 7-9 collection – Del Rey, Oct 2010 [0.7] ::
1313. ↑ (last ranked 4 Jul 10) : Wallflower vols 22-24 collection – Del Rey, Oct 2010 [0.1] ::
. (ref) : Code: Breaker 2 – Del Rey, Oct 2010 [0.0] ::
. (ref) : Fairy Navigator Runa 2 – Del Rey, Oct 2010 [0.0] ::

273. ↑12 (285) : Psycho Busters vols 6-7 collection – Del Rey, Nov 2010 [36.0] ::
412. ↓-13 (399) : Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle 28 – Del Rey, Nov 2010 [19.7] ::
. (last ranked 15 Aug 10) : Papillon vols 5-6 collection – Del Rey, Nov 2010 [0.0] ::
. (ref) : Ghost Hunt 11 – Del Rey, Nov 2010 [0.0] ::
. (ref) : Sayonara Zetsubou-Sensei 8 – Del Rey, Nov 2010 [0.0] ::

265. ↑3 (268) : Ninja Girls 4 – Del Rey, Dec 2010 [37.5] ::
291. ↑60 (351) : Rave Master vols 33-35 collection – Del Rey, Dec 2010 [33.2] ::
396. ↓-24 (372) : Shugo Chara! 10 – Del Rey, Dec 2010 [20.6] ::

. (ref) : Code: Breaker 3 – Del Rey, Jan 2011 [0.0] ::

428. ↓-5 (423) : Yagyu Ninja Scrolls vols 8-9 collection – Del Rey, Feb 2011 [18.6] ::
. (ref) : Fairy Tail 13 – Del Rey, Feb 2011 [0.0] ::

346. ↑20 (366) : Negima! 29 – Del Rey, Mar 2011 [27.6] ::
528. ↑new (0) : Negima! Neo 7 – Del Rey, Mar 2011 [10.8] ::
. (ref) : Night Head Genesis 3 – Del Rey, Mar 2011 [0.0] ::
. (ref) : Pink Innocent 3 – Del Rey, Mar 2011 [0.0] ::

. (ref) : Moyasimon 3 – Del Rey, Apr 2011 [0.0] ::

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Someone with an enterprising spirit (and more time than I have, currently) should double check these titles vs Amazon and other sales sites — but my main point would be that merely because something isn’t listed with the primary direct market distributor (Diamond, for comic shops) doesn’t mean the books aren’t being put out via other channels.

And rankings listed above are for 12 September, just because I’m behind and haven’t posted data since.