…or so they say.

This year’s edition of the New York Comic Con fair is taking place since yesterday. At Dark Horse’s panel they announced that they’ll release an omnibus edition of CLOVER.

This edition will feature all 4 volumes in a single 512 pages long book. The release is planned for 2009.

CLOVER was originally licensed and published by TokyoPop but became out of print since 2006. The license has been now transferred to Dark Horse.

Very little was said about Mangettes, CLAMP’s upcoming 2009 project with Dark Horse. My friend Kethylia is there and she reports that the project is so secretive that not even the editorial department knows the details about it (or so they say xD).

CBR News is covering the event too and reports that,

“Mangettes” will be the first manga project to be released in English, Japanese, and Korean simultaneously. They will be 80 page issues, and come out with greater frequency than most manga.

So I think 80 pages is a lock (sounds yummy), and they will come out with greater frequency than most manga? Do they mean Dark Horse’s manga or japanese manga in general? Does that mean less breaks? It’s such a monstrous project, with such a pace, it would take only 2 months to compile a volume, and for a monthly manga, that’s just wow! Did I mention how excited I am for this project?

About CLOVER, I’m am very glad for you North Americans, of course, but unless this omnibus edition could be somehow related to a possible return of the manga, is not a big thing for me. I think “CLOVER” and “Mangettes” are two separate projects, and that Dark Horse might want to introduce CLAMP to their readers with CLOVER before launching Mangettes. If the Mangettes were the continuation of CLOVER, it would be over in 4 months given that there’s only 2 volumes left for CLOVER. Besides that, the press release for Mangettes stated it would be a brand new story.

It’s still a great opportunity to support CLOVER, show that there are people interested in it, and perhaps contribute for its return. It is intriguing, though, why CLOVER? Out of all CLAMP works?

EDIT: According to Kethylia, about Dark Horse representatives not knowing details about Mangettes, “their marketing director sounded exasperated, not coy, when I asked about it, which means that this is the truth”.