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Doujin Work's Hiroyuki to Oversee New Comic Gear Mag (Updated)

Doujin Work manga and anime creator Hiroyuki has announced that he is oveseeing the production of a new magazine called Comic Gear, which Houbunsha will launch in Japan on August 11. According to Hiroyuki, his team is taking a completely different approach to producing Comic Gear than previous manga magazines. In typical manga magazines, an editor and a manga creator develop a manga title over a long series of one-to-one meetings. (20th Century Boys manga creator Naoki Urasawa and his story collaborator/editor Takashi Nagasaki are prominent examples of such a team-up.) As a result, even manga creators in the same magazines are isolated and basically have no contact with each other.

However, Hiroyuki is vowing that all the manga creators in Comic Gear will be working together in the same studio everyday. Hiroyuki hopes that this work environment will encourage more collaboration between fellow manga creators so they can trade tips on techniques and share their knowledge. Hiroyuki also hopes that this environment will foster new talent by having more experienced creators mentor previously unpublished creators "from morning to night" about developing story and characters.

Comic Gear's first issue will include over 90 pages, or two full installments, of a new series by Hiroyuki. The magazine is also accepting applications from manga creators who wish to be published. Hiroyuki's Doujin Work manga centered on a group of fanzine-producing artists, while his most recent manga series, Mangaka-san to Assistant-san to (The Comic Artist and His Assistants), deals with the relationship between a professional manga creator and his assistants. Media Blasters is releasing the Doujin Work manga and its anime adaptation in North America.

Update Pronoun corrected. Thanks, Sydney2k.