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Studio Proteus: the story on HearLore | HearLore
Studio Proteus
Toren Smith, a quiet man who preferred the shadows to the spotlight, founded Studio Proteus in 1986 with a singular, stubborn goal: to bring Japanese manga to American readers without compromising its soul. Before this venture, Smith was a writer for Marvel's Epic magazine and Eclipse Comics, but he saw a void in the American market that no one else was willing to fill. His journey began in 1982 when James D. Hudnall introduced him to the world of anime and manga, sparking a passion that would eventually consume his life. Smith's initial attempt to license titles like Akira through Eclipse Comics failed due to the complexities of dealing with Japanese publishers, a hurdle that many had not yet learned to navigate. Undeterred, Smith traveled to Japan, where he met Seiji Horibuchi, a man who would later co-found Viz Media. Their partnership was short-lived, ending in a falling-out after a year, but it was during this time that Smith realized the only way to succeed was to take control of the entire process himself. He returned to San Francisco and established Studio Proteus, a company designed to be a packager that handled everything from acquisition to translation, ensuring that the final product met his exacting standards. Smith's approach was revolutionary for its time; he refused to work from photocopies, instead shooting directly from the original art to preserve the integrity of the artwork. This commitment to quality set Studio Proteus apart from its competitors, who often cut corners to save time and money. Smith's team included translators with over a decade of experience, such as Dana Lewis, Alan Gleason, and Frederik Schodt, and letterers like Tom Orzechowski and Tomoko Saito, who developed unique techniques for retouching sound effects. The company paid its staff the highest rates in the industry and even offered royalties, a practice that was unheard of in the comics business at the time. This dedication to quality and fair treatment of workers allowed Studio Proteus to produce some of the most acclaimed manga translations in American history, including Akira, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, and Ghost in the Shell. Smith's personal picks became the backbone of the company's catalog, and his instincts were almost always right, even when his choices seemed unconventional to the rest of the industry. He believed that manga could be more than just entertainment; it could be a bridge between cultures, a way to introduce American readers to the rich storytelling traditions of Japan. Despite his success, Smith remained a private person, rarely giving interviews or appearing in public, and he eventually retired from the promotional side of the business, leaving the spotlight to others. His legacy, however, was secure, and his work at Studio Proteus laid the foundation for the manga boom that would follow in the 21st century.
Toren Smith founded Studio Proteus in 1986. The company was established in San Francisco to handle the entire process from acquisition to translation.
What manga titles did Studio Proteus publish under Toren Smith?
Studio Proteus published acclaimed manga titles including Akira, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, Ghost in the Shell, Outlanders, 3×3 Eyes, Oh My Goddess!, and Ranma ½. The company also released Club 9, What's Michael?, Version, and The Rebel Sword.
When did Toren Smith leave Studio Proteus?
Toren Smith left Studio Proteus completely by 2006. Dark Horse Comics announced the purchase of Studio Proteus translation rights in February 2004, and Smith stayed on as an adviser and translator until his departure.
Why did Toren Smith close Studio Proteus?
Toren Smith closed Studio Proteus because he felt the market was becoming too corporate and he was burning out after producing over 70,000 pages of manga in 15 years. He believed the industry had become commodified and moved out of his league.
What was the last manga produced by Studio Proteus staff?
The last manga produced by Studio Proteus staff in the flipped American comic format was Blade of the Immortal #131 in November 2007. The series then moved to a graphic-novel-only format.
The early years of Studio Proteus were defined by a series of high-stakes gambles that would shape the future of manga in America. In 1988, Smith licensed Johji Manabe's Outlanders to Dark Horse Comics, a move that seemed risky at the time. He had initially been unable to sell the comic to Dark Horse, but a chance encounter with fantasy writer Raymond E. Feist at a dinner in San Diego changed everything. Feist gave Smith the most valuable business advice of his career: Don't tell them how good it is; tell them how much money they are going to make. The next day, Smith sold Outlanders to Dark Horse and Yuzo Takada's 3×3 Eyes to Innovation Publishing. This success was buoyed by the new popularity of black and white comics in the direct sales market, but the boom was short-lived. The black and white comics market imploded in 1988, and both Viz and Studio Proteus had to adapt to a much tighter market. Only titles that appealed to the core comic book store market survived, and it would not be until the early 21st century that manga would again cover such a wide range of subjects. Smith's approach to business was unique; he insisted on shared ownership of the derivative copyright in the translations, a move that would save his company in the future. By the early nineties, Studio Proteus was working with three publishers: Eclipse Comics, Innovation Publishing, and Dark Horse. When Eclipse Comics failed to pay owed profit share monies in 1994, Studio Proteus legally acquired all shared translation rights and production materials for all of their co-published manga. These were then re-licensed to Dark Horse Comics, which immediately became the second largest manga publisher in America. Smith's decision to pay all outstanding royalties due to his Japanese licensors out of existing Studio Proteus funds, even when Eclipse declared bankruptcy, demonstrated his commitment to ethical business practices. His personal picks for Studio Proteus were always accepted and approved by the publishers, and if a title was rejected by the first publisher, it was offered to another. If it was rejected by all, it was abandoned. Smith's instincts turned out to be almost always right, even when his thinking was highly unconventional. In 1994, he convinced Dark Horse to publish Oh My Goddess!, despite the publisher's lack of faith in the manga. Smith had to guarantee them against losses, but Oh My Goddess! became a surprise hit and, for years, was one of Dark Horse's bestselling manga titles. It was also one of the first translated manga to attract a large female audience, along with Ranma ½. The early years of Studio Proteus were a testament to Smith's belief that quality and fair treatment of workers would ultimately lead to success, even in a volatile market.
The Flop That Changed Everything
The middle years of Studio Proteus, from 1995 to 2001, were marked by a series of challenges that tested the company's resilience and adaptability. The crash of the direct sales market in the middle nineties had a tremendous impact on the manga business, and by the time the market had reorganized, there was only one distributor left, Diamond Distributors, and over half of the comic stores in America were out of business. Manga's growing popularity saved it from the worst, but nearly one third of all manga titles were canceled due to lack of sales, and continuing difficulty in getting the trade paperback collections into bookstores left manga stalled in the marketplace for several years. Studio Proteus responded by streamlining the production process and working with smaller bookstore distributors to whom manga represented a valuable percentage of their sales. The slump in the comics market in the late 1990s affected the sales of all manga published in America, and none of the attempts by American manga publishers to create a manga anthology magazine were very successful at this time. Super Manga Blast, the Dark Horse/Studio Proteus magazine, gave Smith an opportunity to bring readers in via titles of known popularity, such as Oh My Goddess!, and get them to try something different, such as Club 9. However, the real turning point came in 2002, when Kurt Hassler of Borders, who has been called The Most Powerful Person in Manga by ICV2, successfully persuaded Waldenbooks to commit to racking a large quantity of unflopped manga titles, even placing them in dump bins near the cash registers. This was the turning point for manga sales in America, and the resulting success of what is now considered a standard manga, small, unflopped paperbacks at approximately $9.99, more than doubled the size of established manga publishers such as Viz, and raised Tokyopop to prominence. The upheaval in the manga market caused by Hassler's opening of the door to bulk sales of unflopped manga spelled the end for Super Manga Blast, and in the chaos surrounding the conversion of most of Dark Horse's manga to the prevailing unflopped standard, almost none of the series running in the magazine were continued as graphic novels, even though some, such as Club 9, had already been completed. Smith had finally become comfortable with the idea of unflopped manga now that bookstores were willing to buy it, but it had become clear that the industry was becoming big business, with publishers such as Del Rey and DC getting involved in manga, and Japanese companies such as Shogakukan beginning to treat their American operations as serious businesses instead of sidelines. Smith's decision to step back from the business was influenced by his belief that the market was becoming too corporate for his tastes, and he knew that to move ahead would require him to become more of a corporate type, which he was not. His controversial predictions, informed by his experience with the comics crashes of the 80s and 90s, were borne out, and the manga industry has weathered a severe boom-and-bust cycle since then, with publishers such as Tokyopop cutting their releases by over 40% in June 2008, and laying off 36 employees, and others, such as Broccoli Books, pulling out of the market entirely. The trend has continued with Viz cutting 60 personnel and DC shutting down their CMX manga imprint, and Tokyopop finally shuttering their U.S. publishing operations in May 2011. However, Smith also predicted the market would eventually stabilize at a sustainable level and not disappear completely, a prediction that has proven to be true.
The Legacy Of A Quiet Pioneer
The final years of Studio Proteus, from 2002 to 2004, were marked by a series of changes that would ultimately lead to the company's dissolution. As times changed, Toren Smith developed an acrimonious relationship with the more hardcore parts of manga fandom. As shōjo manga became increasingly popular, fans berated Studio Proteus and Dark Horse for not releasing any shōjo, despite Smith's repeated explanation that since he did not enjoy shōjo manga, and knew little about it, he had no interest in releasing any. Studio Proteus' initial output was predominantly science fiction and action, which may have reflected Smith's tastes as a writer and member of SFWA, but also reflected the tastes of the American comics direct market, who were the primary purchasers of manga at that time, and manga fandom of the 1980s and 1990s. However, Studio Proteus also released non-science fiction manga such as Makoto Kobayashi's relationship comedy Club 9 and the pet manga What's Michael?. Smith continued to vocally defend flopped manga up until 2002, at a time when it was growing unpopular even among mainstream manga fandom. He became perceived as a conservative force in manga publishing, despite his publication of non-mainstream manga such as the transhumanist manga Version, and The Rebel Sword, a manga about Kurdish revolutionaries, and his decades of effort in popularizing manga and dedication to quality production. However, by the end of 2002, Smith was convinced that his belief that readers would have difficulty adapting to read manga backwards, also known as unflopped, reading right to left as in the original Japanese publication, was incorrect, citing the fact that an entire generation of new manga readers have grown up since he had started Studio Proteus and they did not have the mindset of early manga readers, most of whom came to manga from regular comics. However, he maintained that as long as the distributors were reluctant to buy unflopped manga, there was little anyone could do to try to change the industry. In February 2004, Dark Horse Comics announced that it had purchased the publication rights to Studio Proteus translations, not, as was widely and erroneously reported, the company itself. Toren Smith stayed on as an adviser and translator for selected titles, but by 2006 he had left completely. In a 2004 interview with The Comics Journal, he expressed his reasons for essentially selling the company he had founded: I was burning out. Over 15 years I had put out 70,000 pages of manga. I had no life...Tokyopop puts out more in a month than I've put out in my entire career. The manga business kind of moved out of my league. But if anyone believes that expansion can continue indefinitely, they're incorrect. Booms are always followed by a bust... My opinion is that what has occurred is the commodification of the product. All bookstore retailers care about is how it's formatted and what it costs...For a long time, America has seen nothing but the best of the Japanese comics, but there's lots of crap over there. There may be some smart bookstore buyers out there who can distinguish between them, but I've never met them. His controversial predictions, informed by his experience with the comics crashes of the 80s and 90s, were borne out, and the manga industry has weathered a severe boom-and-bust cycle since then, with publishers such as Tokyopop cutting their releases by over 40% in June 2008, and laying off 36 employees, and others, such as Broccoli Books, pulling out of the market entirely. The trend has continued with Viz cutting 60 personnel and DC shutting down their CMX manga imprint, and Tokyopop finally shuttering their U.S. publishing operations in May 2011. However, Smith also predicted the market would eventually stabilize at a sustainable level and not disappear completely, a prediction that has proven to be true. The last manga produced by Studio Proteus staff in the flipped, left-to-right, American comic format was the Blade of the Immortal #131 in November 2007, making it the longest-running manga ever published in the American format. The series then moved to graphic-novel-only format. Smith has also done manga work outside of Studio Proteus, such as editing Tori Miki's Anywhere But Here, writing afterwords for various manga collections in Japan, consulting on English for anime companies, and other manga and anime-related activities in the United States and Japan. Despite the relatively small output of Studio Proteus compared to the major manga publishers in America, the company collected a large number of awards and nominations for their publications, including multiple Will Eisner Comics Industry Awards, Harvey Awards, and Parent's Choice Awards. Smith's legacy, however, is not just in the awards he won, but in the foundation he laid for the manga boom that would follow in the 21st century. He was a quiet pioneer who believed in the power of manga to bridge cultures, and his work at Studio Proteus has left an indelible mark on the industry.