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Tokyopop Adds Maru-Ma Novels that Spawned Kyo Kara Maoh
posted on by Egan Loo
The North American publisher Tokyopop announced at its Sunday panel at New York Comic Con that it licensed Tomo Takabayashi and Temari Matsumoto's original Maru-Ma fantasy comedy novels. Tokyopop already licensed the Kyo Kara Ma no Tsuku Jiyuugyou! manga adaptation, and Geneon licensed the Kyo kara Maoh! television anime adaptation (although only the first season and part of the second has shipped on DVD in North America).
Tokyopop also announced that it will be publishing 22 more titles based on Blizzard Entertainment's Warcraft and Starcraft franchise between now and 2010. August's StarCraft: Frontline story collection will feature Richard A. Knaak (Warcraft - The Sunwell Trilogy), Naohiro Washio (Fafner mechanical designer), Simon Furman (Transformers), Paul Benjamin (Pantheon High), Joshua Elder (Mail Order Ninja), and Ramanda Kamarga (Psy-Comm). The Warcraft: Legends title will feature Knaak, Jae-Hwan Kim (Warcraft - The Sunwell Trilogy), Dan Jolley (Warriors, JSA Liberty Files), Carlos Oliveros, and Mi-Young No (Threads of Time). The long-stalled Star Trek: The Next Generation adaptation project is back in development with writers from that television series working on stories.
During the question-and-answer session at the end, Tokyopop editor Lillian Diaz-Przybyl indicated that Aya Kanno's Otomen manga series has been acquired by a publisher, but not by Tokyopop. Tokyopop issued a press release during the convention that announced that the company is working with Spacedog Entertainment to develop James Farr and Alfa Robbi's eV graphic novel for multimedia development. Another press release announced that Tokyopop has signed GoComics as its exclusive mobile distributor for manga.
