Single crystals of Cd1-xMnxInGaS4 and MnIn2-2xGa2xS4 were grown by a vapor phase technique, the resulting crystals appeared as yellow and yellow-brown plates. X-ray power diffraction data could be indexed following the structure of a polytype of ZnIn2S4 structure. The characterization of the crystals was done by optical absorption and magnetic susceptibility measurements as a function of temperature. The energy gap for the different compounds at room temperature is in the range: 2.1-2.4 eV. The magnetic susceptibility data show a predominant antiferromagnetic interaction between the manganese ions down to 2 K.