A Creative Commons Manga

[http://morningmanga.com/mikakosan/images/090129/b02.jpg||Mikako-san Sample Page]

According to a recent Anime News Network report, Kodansha has announced that its new manga Makiko-san will be published both in its magazine Morning and for free on its website every Thursday. Moreover, the web version is licensed under a Creative Commons (bn, nc, nd) license, allowing anyone to copy and share the comic as long as they attribute it to the author, don't charge for it, and don't change it. Kodansha's site explicitly encourages people to share the work.

This is ground-breaking because (as far as I know) it's the first time that a major comics publisher has used a Creative Commons license. This can open the gates for other publishers to use CC, which might see the use of broader licenses.

Personally, I'd like to see manga published under a CC license that allows others to modify the material if they so choose. Non-commercial would be fine. One can already do this under certain systems of law (including the American one), as long as the modification creates a new work of art.