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D&Q, Go! Comi, Tokyopop Schedule Titles

The manga publishers Drawn and Quarterly, Go! Comi, and Tokyopop announced their release plans for some previously revealed titles at BookExpo America in Los Angeles this past weekend. Drawn and Quarterly, the Montreal-based publisher of international independent comics, has confirmed its plans to publish A Drifting Life, the manga autobiography of Japanese alternative comics pioneer Yoshihiro Tatsumi, in 2009. Tatsumi was born in Osaka in 1935, and became a protege of "god of manga" Osamu Tezuka. In the mid-1950s, however, he moved away from Tezuka's influence and originated what became known as the "gekiga" ("dramatic pictures", as opposed to "manga") style of Japanese comics, which generally deals with everyday life. He began working on his massive autobiography, which is set to run to over 800 pages, in the late 1990s.

To date, Drawn and Quarterly has published two collections of Tatsumi's short stories, Abandon the Old in Tokyo and The Push Man and Other Stories. The first of these was nominated for a 2007 Eisner Award and in the same year, shared a Harvey in the Best American Edition of Foreign Material category. The third collection, Good-Bye, is due out in July.

North America's Go! Comi said that its anticipated English release of Yuki Amemiya and Yukino Ichihara's 07-Ghost gothic fantasy manga has been pushed forward. Instead of launching in January 2009, the title's first volume should ship by the end of this year. The story centers on an imperial military academy student who discovers that he has an object that allows a god to possess his body. He gets caught in the larger struggle between Verloren, the God of Death, and the “beings of light” sent by Heaven to oppose him: the Seven Ghosts.

Tokyopop formally announced Otsu-ichi's Goth murder suspense novel for an October release and Kendi Oiwa's one-volume manga adaptation (September) after revealing these licenses in March. The story follows a high school boy and girl who are obsessed with death as they try to solve a series of murders. Tokyopop also formally announced this month's Bad Kitty: Catnipped graphic novel from writer Michelle Jaffe (Bad Girl, Loverboy) and artist Lince, as well as Dan Jolley and Don Hudson's first volume of a new graphic novel trilogy based on Erin Hunter's bestselling Warriors novels in September.