PSP mock up of Vampire Hunter D

IDW AND DIGITAL MANGA LAUNCH VAMPIRE HUNTER D ON PLAYSTATION’S DIGITAL COMICS

Partnership brings first manga title to PSP™(PlayStation®Portable)

IDW Publishing and Digital Manga Publishing forge ahead in the world of digital comics today by bringing the first manga title to Sony’s hot new PSP Digital Comics offering: Vampire Hunter D, as part of continued growth to become one of the best selling manga titles globally.  Vampire Hunter D first gained notoriety when it landed ashore as an anime property in the late 1980’s. Its popularity has continued to grow with subsequent feature anime films, English adapted novel series and jumping boundaries over to manga form. With over 17 million copies sold in books, video, and merchandise worldwide, the Vampire Hunter D property now debuts in this new digital medium. 

“We’re very excited to release the very first digital manga on the PSP and to kick off our partnership with Digital Manga,” said Jeff Webber, Director of ePublishing at IDW. “Vampire Hunter D is an excellent story to launch the PSP manga catalogue, offering this popular series for manga fans worldwide through this new platform. We’ll be rolling out the first volume of the series as a new chapter each week for the next six weeks.”

With the success of the Vampire Hunter D manga series, Digital Manga Publishing teams up with IDW Publishing to bring what every manga, sci-fi and horror fan has been waiting for through Sony’s PSP. Set in the far future, Vampire Hunter D chronicles the fallout of massive world war. From the darkness of war’s devastation, mutants and a race of vampires known as the Nobility have spawned. They rule the weak with no remorse. Once bitten by a Nobility, one is cursed to become a member of the undead. Villagers cower in fear, hoping and praying for a savior to rid them of their undying nightmare. All they have to defend against this fate is a different kind of danger – a Vampire Hunter.

“We’re sure every fan’s anticipation will be met with this launch,” commented Fred Lui, VP Production for Digital Manga Publishing. “DMP and IDW are very proud to have a title such as this—so known throughout the years in the anime/manga fandom – be able to debut it as the first of its kind for PSP. This is just the start of many things to come from IDW and DMP.”

The first chapter of Vampire Hunter D came out last week, and was #1 in the US, and #2 in the UK and European Union in sales for the PSP platform. Stay on top of releases of Vampire Hunter D through the Sony PSP blog.

Vampire Hunter D Volume 1: Chapter #1 ($1.99) is now available through the PlayStation®Store here.

Visit IDWPublishing.com to sign up for updates and learn more about the company and its top-selling books. For more information about Vampire Hunter D, visit the official website at www.vampire-d.com

About IDW Publishing
IDW is an award-winning publisher of comic books, graphic novels and trade paperbacks, based in San Diego, California. Renowned for its diverse catalog of licensed and independent titles, IDW publishes some of the most successful and popular titles in the industry, including: Hasbro's The Transformers and G.I. JOE, Paramount's Star Trek; Fox's Angel; the BBC's Doctor Who; and comics and trade collections based on novels by worldwide bestselling author, James Patterson. IDW is also home to the Library of American Comics imprint, which publishes classic comic reprints; Yoe! Books, a partnership with Yoe! Studios; and is the print publisher for EA Comics and ComicMix.

IDW's original horror series, 30 Days of Night, was launched as a major motion picture in October 2007 by Sony Pictures and was the #1 film in its first week of release. More information about the company can be found at IDWPublishing.com.

About Digital Manga Publishing

Located in Gardena, CA, Digital Manga Publishing is one of the industry's most unconventional and innovative companies, specializing in building corporate and cultural bridges from Japan to the Western Hemisphere - specifically through the licensing, importation and localization of anime (Japanese animation), manga (Japanese comic books) and related merchandise for the North American mainstream and subculture markets. In this capacity, Digital Manga Inc. serves as a catalyst for the expansion of Japanese pop culture institutions into global arenas. The company's diverse manga imprint line includes high profile manga/anime titles such as Vampire Hunter D; popular romance titles--Only the Ring Finger Knows; classic iconic titles--Speed Racer Mach GoGoGo; and award nominated titles--Itazura Na Kiss (Young Adult Library Service Assoc.) and Antique Bakery (Eisner Award). Digital Manga Publishing also caters to the young audience with a vast array of educational and instructional line of books with their Edu-Manga series and Let’s Draw Manga series.

Digital Manga Publishing has also established domestic co-publishing ventures with Dark Horse Comics (Trigun, Hellsing, Berserk), as well as foreign co-publishing partnerships with Taiyoh Tosho Publishing, Oakla Publishing, and Shinshokan Publishing--DokiDoki imprint.

For more information about Digital Manga Publishing, visit www.digitalmanga.com

About the Author
Hideyuki Kikuchi is one of Japan’s top horror writers. Over the past two decades, several of his works have been adapted into live-action and anime movies, including Vampire Hunter D and his first novel, Demon City Shinjuku. Drawing from such inspirations as Horror of Dracula, Kikuchi has spawned over 20 novels in his Vampire Hunter D series.

About the Illustrator 
Saiko Takaki, a professional graphic designer, illustrator, and manga artist for close to a decade, has worked on numerous projects for the manga and game industry in Japan. A very close friend of the author, Hideyuki Kikuchi, Takaki was commissioned by DMP to undertake the daunting task of adapting his famous novel into manga form. Hand-picked by Kikuchi himself, Takaki has proven to be one of Japan’s up and coming manga horror artists.

"Takaki's artwork is dynamic, expressive and remarkably detailed yet flows effortlessly as if you are watching rather than reading this story, it is engaging and you find yourself at the end before you've even realized it leaving you wanting more." -SciFi Online

"...stands in the very small circle of great vampire comics." -Comic Book Bin