Doraemon's origin comes from a duo of Japanese cartoonists, Fujimoto Hiroshi and Motoo Abiko, who collectivly went under the pen name Fujiko Fujio. When they split up in the late 80s, they split up the name. Fujimoto became Fujiko F. Fujio, and Akibo became Fujiko Fujio (A). Now, Doraemon was mostly the creation of Fujiko F. Fujio, but Fujiko Fujio (A) also had a hand in it's creation and did other art duties, so they both collectively worked on Doraemon material for over fifteen years, amongst several other projects (they were both quite prolific during their lifetime, and virtually ruled the area of children's comics for almost 30 years). When they split up, Fujiko F. Fujio spent the rest of his life creating (or helping to create) several Doraemon comics and films, so the vast majority of Doraemon material these days is credited to him.
Doraemon himself is very much like the Bugs Bunny or Mickey Mouse of Japan. His image is plastered on tons upon tons of merchandise. Other than the popular comics and films there is Doraemon candy, assorted sweets and pastries, t-shirts, hats, toys, video games, radio dramas, record albums and CDs, story books, and a heluva lot more. His popularity in Japan is the kind that Walt Disney could only DREAM about.
Now considering his increcible popularity, in my view it's only a matter of time before Doraemon starts making his way over here. He's far too popular in Japan to not eventually show up here. Sure, it may begin as a bastardized version from 4Kids!, but eventually I think even the manga will find it's way over here. 'Course, I could be wrong.
