Learning from Tokyopop: Publishers Weekly (subscription required) checks in on licensing trends, and finds that many publishers are watching Tokyopop's successful Cine-Manga line and taking notes. Here's Margaret Milnes, senior director of publishing for Nickelodeon: ""It's a brand-new format that appeals to a traditionally underserved market in terms of age, and is a perfect match for our properties." And there's more:

"Tokyopop helped us find a way to make comics work in the U.S. again," agreed Jeanne Mosure, v-p of global retail books for Disney Publishing Worldwide, which recently expanded its licensing deal with Tokyopop. "They created a format that works at retail, and it speaks to how ready kids were for that."

Warner Bros. is getting into the TV-based manga business with its sister company DC Comics, which is introducing two Warner titles that, like Cine-Manga, feature frame-grabs of TV shows with word balloons. The two books are bind-ups tied to Cartoon Network and Kids WB, each highlighting five shows that appear on the networks.

I don't recall seeing anything previously about the Warner Bros./DC take on Cine-Manga. Could that be part of DC's new CMX line?