Gen Manga at MangaNEXT

Robert McGuire

As one of the few industry companies at MangaNEXT, Gen Manga publishes new doujinshi’s straight from Japanese creators. On the Friday of MangaNEXT, Robert McGuire, editor and president of Gen Manga had a panel that was attended by a small group.

Doujinshi gets confused as fan made copies of licensed proprieties, but McGuire sets the record straight on doujins just being indie manga. Manga in Japan that are published by artists for free on their website or in their circles.

McGuire has lived in Japan and fallen in love with doujinshi. He wants to make it available at affordable prices for English readers/fans. There is the well known Comiket, but there is also Comita, which is a smaller but annual doujinshi convention.

At electronic subscription it is only for $2 a month. Subscribers can read/download issues at PDF formats.  Gen Manga can also be read through Graphic.ly. Still Gen Manga is starting to be available at specific bookstores for about $10 an issue. With releasing simultaneously, this is seen as a model to combat piracy. Viz and Yen has utilized Gen’s similar business model with their own properties.

Author: Linda

Linda is a life long fan of anime, and dabbles in a lot of things. She writes with a tentative neutral voice.. and as for that three year anime blogging mark, she tries to defy that as she is gaining a voice in other mediums ie: Twitter. Find her at other places online. "They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but it's not one half so bad as a lot of ignorance." -Terry Pratchett