Three new North American manga publishers launched their print catalogs in 2025, bringing even more variety to a market that continues to grow.
Romance-focused Crossed Hearts has an ambitious slate of titles for 2026 (see “New Asian-Comics Publisher Plans 30+ New Releases in 2026”) from Japan, Korea, and China (see “The Newest East Asian Genre Is Baihe, Chinese Girls Love”), and they have just announced that they are kicking off their Girls Love imprint, Glam Beat, with a Chinese high school romance, Borrowing Your Textbook. The publisher plans 12 releases in this imprint in 2026, in addition to their regular catalog; their current offerings include the romantasy novel Why Raeliana Ended Up at the Duke’s Mansion, the basis for the manhwa published by Ize Press. Many of their books come in both regular and special editions that are bundled with photo and sketch cards. Crossed Hearts titles are distributed by Ingram/PGW in the USA, Canada, and Latin America, Script UK in the UK and Europe, Simon & Schuster in Australia and New Zealand, and directly to retailers in India and the Middle East.
Kodama Tales launched their publishing program with a prominent and ambitious license, Keisuke Itagaki’s Baki the Grappler, which runs for 154 volumes across six story arcs; Kodama is publishing it in a Perfect Edition format, with two-in-one omnibus volumes, a larger trim size, French flaps, and other deluxe touches. Unlike many other publishers, Kodama Tales is not affiliated with a particular Japanese publisher but with a printer, Kyodo Printing, and they will be licensing manga from a variety of sources. In January they published the horror manga Smile, by Mitei Hattori, and their lineup for the rest of the year includes Sun-Ken Rock, by the Dr. Stone artist Boichi; Me and the Alien Mumu, a comedy about a space alien who looks like a cat studying household appliances on Earth; and Magica, a full-color anthology of fantasy stories (see “Kodama Announcements for 2026”). Kodama is distributed by IPG.
Manga Mavericks launched in July with three titles, Bonds, Alternative [Self Liner Note], and Zigoku’s Foreman (see “New Manga Publisher Announces First Three Titles”). Since then they have added more licenses across a variety of genres, published in both digital and print, including the fantasy adventure manga Horon of the Closed Countryand Sinbad, both slated for print release in summer 2026, and . They recently announced a distribution deal with Pathway Book Service, which distributes to retailers both directly and through a wholesale agreement with Ingram, and their digital releases are carried on the Neon Ichiban and Sweet Shop platforms.
For more great manga features, see “ICv2 Manga Week 2026.”
Source: ICv2
