Bizarre Strategies

The Philippines, I think, is in a unique position when it comes to manga. I mean sure, we're near Japan and Hong Kong (or Taiwan) so it's theoretically cheaper for us to acquire manga (be it in Japanese or in Chinese). Unfortunately, we aren't really fluent with either language. So if the majority is interested in legitimately reading manga, it should come from the US.

In terms of popularity, I think Viz right now is the king when it comes to English-translated manga. When it comes to quality, however, I think Dark Horse is easily a good runner-up. There's one thing wrong with them however--they don't seem to be aggressive in getting their titles out. And it's just not in the case of the Philippines. But locally, the status of Dark Horse manga is that the supplier doesn't really export those titles unless you happen to own a comic store in the US. These days, I only see them in either Fully Booked or at Comic Odyssey.

Of course Dark Horse isn't the only one to adopt this policy. Lately I can't get my D&D books for the same reason. The supplier only gives it out to the licensed distributor, which is all well and good except for one fact: the licensed distributor hasn't been releasing those D&D books in the past eight months. As to the reasons why I can only speculate. But lately it seems that I'm the only person missing them so it might not be such a bad business decision.

In other news, I'll be saying farewell to Dragon and Dungeon issues at the end of the year as Paizo wasn't able to renew their license. Makes me wonder what Wizards of the Coast has in store for D&D.