The Manga will be released simultaneously in English on Viz Media’s Viz Manga app starting August 13 (U.S. time) and in Japan by Shogakukan on August 14 (Japan time).
Among the big news emerging from the San Diego Comic-Con is a collaboration between Viz Media, Tsuburaya Productions and Marvel for a new crossover manga series titled Ultraman: Along Came a Spider-Man.
Two years ago such a collaboration between the occident’s comic supremo Marvel and any of the orient’s myriad Manga outfits seemed implausible, and even when the news first broke in June 2023 that a Mangafied Avengers storyline was being developed by Marvel and Tsuburaya Productions, with Manga superhero Ultraman flying the flag for the east.
In fact that comes to fruition on August 13-14 with the launch of a four-issue Ultraman x Avengers comic mini-series.
But the big story here is the Ultraman meets Spidey detail, which evidently involves our friendly neighbourhood Spiderman teaming up with Avengers Iron Man and Captain Marvel to battle Doctor Doom in New York City, only to be transferred by the Interdimensional Train to Tokyo in the Ultraman universe, where of course Doc Doom teams up with the Ultraman universe supervillains to liven up Tokyo life.
The Manga will be released simultaneously in English on Viz Media’s Viz Manga app starting August 13 (U.S. time) and in Japan by Shogakukan on August 14 (Japan time). New chapters will be available every Tuesday, with a print edition set for summer 2025.
Fuddy-duddy comics fans like me, that grew up when America did superheroes and Japan did Godzilla, and who equate Manga with unsavoury cartoon images of sexualised schoolgirls with eyes like dinner plates and microskirts that look like low neckties, will probably not be salivating over the news, but then, we are not the target audience.
Manga, it seems, is huge, and more power to the industry both sides of the world if this brings in more readers and helps support more creatives.
This post first appeared in the TNPS LinkedIn newsletter.
