Ouch. For the second time in three issues, some subscribers are reporting that their issues have arrived very late, if they’ve arrived at all yet. I still haven’t received mine… Have you?

Apparently, postmasters across America are comics fans and are reading your issue before they send it on to you. Or something.

Hopefully Yen Press gets these issues ironed out soon - it’ll be pretty lame if this becomes a habit.

I’m not exactly one who follows sales figures or finds them remotely interesting in any way, but I’m going to take a stab in the dark and guess that the comic-fied version of Maximum Ride has been financially successful for Yen Press. Reinforcing that perception is the announcement today that Yen Press will be releasing a comic version of the Twilight series of novels. It’s the same formula; take a book series which is popular among the “Young Adult” segment (and just happens to also be published by one of the arms of Yen Press’s parent company, Hachette Book Group), find a talented Korean comic artist to scribe it (one Young Kim, who may or may not also be a professional golfer), then lie back in a recliner with a splash of brandy while weekly allowances and baby-sitting income are delivered by the truckload to the dock out back.

Okay, that came off a bit cynical. I surely don’t begrudge Yen Press from making a profit, but not being a thirteen-year-old girl, I don’t see the appeal in a series of books about a pale dee-bag who comes to my high school and sweeps me off my feet by telling me he prefers to drink the blood of cattle rather than humans. But who knows - I didn’t think the comic version of Max Ride would appeal to me either, yet it has clearly become one of Yen Plus’s most attractive features. No word on if the Twilight comic will appear in Yen Plus too, but it can’t be ruled out at this point.

Thirteen-year-old girls, feel free to flame me in the comment thread - that’s what it’s there for.

More scatterbrained thoughts on the Twilight announcement can be found at Otaku Ohana.

I wasn’t expecting it to be the case, but it turns out the surprise cover for the August issue of Yen Plus will indeed be indicative of a new comic series to start running in the magazine. And that new comic is… (Dramatic break just in case you don’t want to be spoiled - If you’re on the front page, click the “Read more” link to continue…)

The August issue of Yen Plus will be its thirteenth issue, and Yen Press is celebrating its first birthday by teasing its readers. The July issue promised a “Super secret surprise!” for the B-side cover of the next issue, and the news post for the August issue continues that by showing us a big question mark aside the A-side cover pic of Max Ride’s Gazzy and Nudge.

What will the B-side cover be? Well, I’m kinda hesitant to make a guess, ‘cuz in the likely event I’m wrong I’ll just look like a fool when the issues are received in the next few days and I’m proven wrong… But what the heck; I’ll guess that it’s some sort of “happy birthday” image from one of the artists of the comics on the manga side, similar to the “congratulations” images that appeared in the first issue. Your thoughts? Put ‘em in the comments!

Ya know, I gotta admit I didn’t really think Yen Plus would last a year… Just consider the risks Yen Press is taking running a manga- and manga-ish print magazine after the collapse of the booming manga/anime boom of the early ’00s, and as print media itself is being crowded out by the internet, video games and other distractions. Another American manga compilation magazine, Viz Media’s Shojo Beat, is calling it quits with their July issue, after four years of publication. In this market, can Yen Plus maintain at least that much staying power? I’m still pessimistic and curmudgeonly, but still, I wish Yen Press all the best. Happy birthday!