Zatch Bell!
The episodes of the "Zatch Bell!" anime series were directed by Tetsuji Nakamura and Yukio Kaizawa and produced by Toei Animation. The episodes were aired on Fuji Television between April 6, 2003 to March 26, 2006 and spanned 150 episodes. Viz Media obtained the foreign television, home video, and merchandising rights to the "Zatch Bell!" anime from Toei Studio on August 4, 2005. Subsequently, Viz Media contracted Studiopolis to create the English adaptation of the anime. The North American English dub has been edited and localized for young children aged 6 to 10 years in America. Viz Media has licensed its individual "Zatch Bell!" merchandising rights to several different companies, including a new toy line made by Mattel and a collectible card game released by Bandai in the United States and Japan.
Jack Ritchie
Jack Ritchie was a prolific writer of short stories, with his work appearing in an extraordinary variety of periodicals and newspapers. He contributed a number of "hard-boiled" stories to Manhunt magazine throughout the 1950s with other stories appearing in such diverse publications as The Philadelphia Inquirer, Stag (magazine), New York Daily Mirror, Smashing Detective Stories and Good Housekeeping. Ultimately, Ritchie published well over 500 stories. The multiplicity of publications that purchased material from Ritchie can be explained by the fact that his lifelong agent, Larry Sternig, would promptly send out manuscripts whenever a new publication appeared on the scene. However, it was to "Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine" that Ritchie sold more stories than any other periodical: 123 stories over a period of 23 years, 1959-1982. One of these tales, "The Green Heart", was adapted by director/star Elaine May into the cult movie classic "A New Leaf" co-starring Walter Matthau. "The Green Heart" was also adapted into a musical by Charles Busch and Rusty Magee. Other stories from AHMM were used in the popular television series Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Nearly all of Ritchie's stories have been reprinted in periodicals and anthologies, with one story, "For All the Rude People", being re-published 12 times.