Go, Read: Brigid Alverson On Tokyopop’s Not Really A Comeback

There's a good article up on Comic Book Resources by Brigid Alverson about the recent announcement of grander publishing plans by Stu Levy for his Tokyopop company. As Alverson notes, Tokyopop suspended its publishing operations in 2011 after a few years of being dragged behind the manga stampeded they helped instigate, and since then has slowly worked its way to the point where titles can be announced and a request for portfolios can be made.

As Heidi MacDonald sums up here survey-style, there is still a lot of resentment over the shape and nature of Tokyopop's one-time contracts for original comics content, so bad that they're the stuff of which legends are made in an industry that routinely exploits free labor. Alverson wonders if there are signs in Tokyopop's slow build back to full publishing that might indicate a different direction, but she seems more optimistic than most. The proof will be the contracts themselves.

Certainly there are still plenty of talented young people dying to sign over rights for a chance at a comics career, whatever "comics career" means. A parade of successful talents complaining about their treatment may signal "they're successful talents now" more than it will "that was a miserable experience that should not be repeated." In today's industry it may be enough to find a level of exploitation that works rather than forego it all together. Levy may have been away from the big publishers table for more than four years now, but a lot of factors have played a part in holding a seat for him.
 
posted 11:55 pm PST | Permalink
 

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