OK, so that may be a bit of an exaggeration, but with the announcement that beginning in January of 2006 U.S newspapers will be adding manga to the comics pages, it may not be far off. There will be two manga strips available to start, both provided by industry leader, TOKYOPOP. It’s interesting to note that TP is using this to help promote their original English manga line in a way, since both strips (’Van Von Hunter‘ and ‘Peach Fuzz‘) are from their OEL line.

“We thought if teens and young kids are reading manga, then why don’t we get something in the paper that teens want to read?” said John Glynn, vice president at Universal Press Syndicate, which distributes comics and columns globally to newspapers. “Newspapers are being seen as their parents’ medium.”

The U.S. newspaper debut is a bit of a landmark for manga — a product of Japanese pop culture that has never been quite mainstream in the United States, although it’s long been a hit with the younger generation that grew up on Pokemon, Hello Kitty and Japanese animation movies — or “anime” for short.

“This could be something that really explodes,” Glynn said in a telephone interview from Kansas City, Missouri. “This is a great way to take a chance and change the landscape and readership of your paper.”

Several newspapers that have signed on to carry the two English-language manga strips on Sundays include the Los Angeles Times, Denver Post, Vancouver Sun and Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

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