At their Emerald City Comic Con panel on Saturday, VIZ Media announced a new English-language imprint with manga industry professional Fawn Lau as Executive Editor. Dubbed VIZ Originals, the imprint will be dedicated to publishing original graphic novels by artists inspired by manga and anime, with its first titles scheduled for release in 2020.
The imprint plans to offer both multi-volume series and single release original graphic novels in traditional manga trim size and a larger-size graphic novel format. According to Publishers Weekly, the number of titles is yet to be determined, but VIZ is currently soliciting pitches from creators at their website. The call is for a variety of genres — fantasy, adventure, romance, horror, sci-fi, and slice-of-life — intended to appeal to both young adult and adult readers. Owing to their North American creator base, VIZ Original titles will be published in left-to-right English format (as opposed to licensed translated manga, which follows the original right-to-left Japanese format).
VIZ Media Executive Vice President Leyla Aker explained that VIZ Originals was developed for the generation of North American artists who grew up inspired by manga style, but were often discouraged from pursuing a formal career in manga. This imprint is intended to give those artists the opportunity and creative space to publish their works.
In addition to online submissions, which will launch towards the end of the year, VIZ will hold portfolio review sessions for creators at to-be-announced events throughout the year. “VIZ Originals will be an incubator for innovative ideas and storytelling,” explained Aker. “It’s a long-term initiative and we want to do it right, not fast.”
