Dark Horse Comics has announced it will purchase manga publishing and production house Studio Proteus under a pending agreement. Dark Horse has worked with Studio Proteus co-publishing manga since the publication of Dark Horse’s Outlanders in 1988, and together they have produced nearly 60,000 pages of material. The acquisition will also include all Studio Proteus manga previously published with Eclipse and Innovation. Studio Proteus’s Toren Smith will retain the company’s name.

“We have had a fantastic run with Toren Smith and Studio Proteus,” commented Dark Horse President Mike Richardson. “With the assistance of Studio Proteus we have presented some of the finest manga properties ever produced, including Lone Wolf and Cub, Akira, Oh My Goddess, Blade of the Immortal, and Ghost in the Shell, among others. We look forward to Toren’s assistance on future manga projects.”

“Manga sales have exploded over the last five years,” explains Toren Smith of Studio Proteus. “We’ve seen 20% and 30% growth each year. Frankly, the manga marketplace has gotten too big for a little guy like me to handle. I felt it was best that the business end of things transfer over to a company with the resources and experience to deal with this large and challenging new market.”

Smith will not be leaving manga behind. “I’m not sure I could handle the withdrawal symptoms,” he joked. “I’ll be translating select titles for Dark Horse, such as Blade of the Immortal, and working with them as a consultant.”

For a complete listing of Dark Horse manga titles please visit Dark Horse's Manga Zone.