The San Diego Comic Con is here, and with it comes the big news: the new digital version of Yen Plus is here!!

We’re kicking off the August issue in a major way, making it available to everyone as a free trial.  If you like what you see, you can begin subscribing for just $2.99 per month with the September issue.  September’s also going to be important because that’s when we start rolling out the Japanese side of our content.  We can’t spill the beans just yet on exactly what that will include — but we can say that a certain little green-haired girl will be gracing our pages for the first time!

If you’d like to get a quick look at all the fantastic content we’ve got lined up for you in our August inaugural issue, you can click here for the full title list.  Or you can just cut to the chase and click here to sign up for your free preview!

If you’ve got feedback, let us know in the comments below, and let the dawn of the Yen Plus digital era begin!

UPDATE! Kurt Hassler responds to some early thoughts in the comments here. Keep them coming!

Well, it won’t be long till our big online debut, so if you haven’t already picked up your July issue of Yen Plus, you’ll want to make sure you’re all caught up on your favorite series before then! This month’s covers feature a trio of black blood-toting baddies from Soul Eater on side “B” while Si-Joon and Mu-Yeon celebrate their wedding day and the final chapter of Pig Bride on side “A”!!! This month’s magazine also contains the final chapter of One Fine Day, a bonus preview of Higurashi WHEN THEY CRY Time Killing Arc, and installments of all your regular favorites.

To those of you who’ve stuck with us these past two years, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts. In that time, you’ve enjoyed over 50 volumes of Yen Plus titles, not to mention a number of original short stories, bonus previews, posters, and interviews. We know we
still have a long way to go, so we thank you for your support and hope to see you online very soon!!

It has been brought to our attention that the subscription hotline is no longer operational, so please direct any queries about refunds or missed May/June/July issues to yenplus@hbgusa.com.

We’ve also received a lot of queries about where to obtain back issues. A number of online stores, including RightStuf and Robert’s Anime Corner Store are still selling old issues, so you might have to do a little online digging.

Summer is nearly upon us, as is the end of the print version of YEN PLUS. But there are still a couple of issues left and plenty of sunshiny days for you to curl up under a shady tree with your favorite series! Sebastian’s setting the table with style, ready to dish up a fine mix of fear, fun, and flashbacks over on side “B.” Meanwhile, sweet little Angel of Max Ride’s flock is having a tough time deciding which chapter she loves the most! Is it Nightschool’s approaching climax? Pig Bride’s approaching wedding? Ah! It’s too hard to pick just one!

This month’s mag also features a sneak preview of Book Girl and the Suicidal Mime. This might be my favorite Yen Press novel series to date! Though Kieli’s Harvey is most endearing in a gruff sort of way… And My Girlfriend’s a Geek is hilarious… And no one can deny the cleverness of Holo the Wisewolf… Ah! It’s too hard to pick just one!

As always, we welcome your comments here! Thank you for reading YEN PLUS!

For the further adventures of the ASOS Brigade, check out
www.bandai-ent.com/ and www.crunchyroll.com/!

Shhhh! One Fine Day’s Nanai, Guru, and Rang are trying to take a nap! Break and Emily from Pandora Hearts are keeping the noise down on side B, but even Break’s having trouble containing all the ruckus going on inside! This month features “The Clinic of the Damned,” a brand-new short story from Steven Cummings, a lovely Kobato. poster from fan-favorite manga team CLAMP, and exciting chapters from all your favorite series! Hopefully you’ve already secured your copy of May’s YEN PLUS, but if you haven’t hopped over to the store yet, now’s the time! While you’re there, be sure to look for two new Yen series releasing this month (Kobato. V.1 and 2 and My Girlfriend’s a Geek V.1), as well as three new volumes of YEN PLUS series (Black Butler V. 2, Pandora Hearts V.2, and One Fine Day V. 2)!!
As always, thank you for reading! Just two more months until we make the online jump!

If you have any specific questions about your subscription to YEN PLUS, please direct them to subscription services at 1-800-876-7598.

It has been brought to my attention that some people weren’t thrilled with the cover of the first volume of the Spice & Wolf light novel. (Shocking, I know!) Seriously, though, we do very much take feedback from the fans to heart. It was based on that feedback that we ended up offering jackets featuring the original Japanese artwork to interested online retailers, and it was also based on that feedback that we opted to change our approach to the Spice & Wolf light novels going forward.

Therefore, for the second novel, each copy will come jacketed featuring a photographic cover to satisfy the requests of our retail partners who have asked that the books be made more appealing to a wider purchasing public. However, the printed covers beneath the jackets will feature the original illustrations that appeared on the Japanese editions of the book.

We want to thank everyone who has supported the Spice & Wolf light novels so far (and the first volume of the manga which just released and has been selling phenomenally!), and we hope that this change will only help to bolster your enthusiasm for the series!

Change is on the horizon for YEN PLUS! For the past two years, everyone at Yen has been working diligently to bring you the most diverse manga anthology in the market, and I could not be prouder of the publication that our staff has produced or more gratified by all of the fan support that we’ve received since the magazine launched in August of 2008. Thanks to you all!! We have introduced so many great new series to the market through Yen Plus – the manga adaptation of James Patterson’s MAXIMUM RIDE, Yen’s first #1 New York Times bestseller BLACK BUTLER, Svetlana Chmakova’s critically acclaimed NIGHTSCHOOL, one of my personal favorites PIG BRIDE (that last chapter is AWESOME!)…there are just too many to list them all! As with all things, though, change is inevitable. As the magazine industry changes and old models are eclipsed by new, so, too, must YEN PLUS change, and it is with that in mind that I can announce officially that the July 2010 issue of YEN PLUS will be its last in print.

Now before you despair too much, take a deep breath and focus on those last two words: “in print.” Yes, the print magazine will be no more, but YEN PLUS will live on as an online manga anthology! As such, it will have the ability to reach more readers than ever before while giving those same readers an option to peruse manga (and maybe some light novels?) legitimately online. Will there be other changes? Most definitely. You can expect to see content changes which we will announce when the time is right. Our commitment, however, is to keep bringing you the best and most diverse anthology experience every month.

So this is just your official head’s up that a new era for YEN PLUS is in the works. Details about our online launch, new content, etc. are all forthcoming. For those of you with subscriptions to the print version of the magazine, you will be receiving a full refund for any outstanding issues of your subscription beyond the July issue. We sincerely hope that you will opt to reinvest some of those funds back into the magazine’s new incarnation!

We want to thank everyone for their support of YEN PLUS these past two years and hope that you will continue to enjoy the magazine’s new digital iteration!

The skies have cleared at last in the Northeast, and we are enjoying some long-anticipated sunshine! And you are enjoying your long-anticipated issue of YEN PLUS! Svetlana’s back with an all-new Nightschool cover and color pages~! And while we welcome Alex and her fellow night beasties back into the fold, we bid a fond farewell to Hero Tales. This month’s chapter is the final chapter of Volume 4, but as soon as Volume 5 hits stores in Japan, we’ll be bringing you the rest of Taitou vs. Keirou! The cliffhanger is terrible. Terrible!!! But please be patient! More is on the way!

We are ever grateful for your support! Please continue sending in your feedback, fan art, etc. etc.

If you have any specific questions about your subscription to YEN PLUS, please direct them to subscription services at 1-800-876-7598.

TWILIGHT: THE GRAPHIC NOVEL, VOL. 1 ON SALE TODAY!

The suspense has been building for weeks, and at last the day has arrived! Young Kim has done a beautiful job bringing Stephenie Meyer’s familiar characters to life in this new medium, and Stephenie herself has been involved at every stage of the process, making sure this adaptation is as true to her original inspiration as possible. Whether you’re a fan of the novels making your first foray into graphic novels, a veteran comic reader wondering what the Twilight buzz is all about, or a devoted fan of both, we hope you enjoy volume one of Twilight: The Graphic Novel!

So last week Zac over at ANN invited me to participate in their latest ANNCast.  It was a lot of fun and covered a wide range of topics, from scanlation to SPICE & WOLF.  My sincerest thanks to Zac and Justin for having me on the show, and if you’re curious to give it a listen and find out some of the latest happenings at Yen Press, you can check it out here: