Category: Comics

“Naruto” Manga Series Reaches Milestone

from VIZ Media:

VIZ Media will release the 50th volume of the Naruto manga (graphic novel) series on February 1st. The newest adventure of the bestselling series — Water Prison Death Match — will be published under the company’s Shonen Jump imprint, is rated ‘T’ for Teens, and will carry an MSRP of $9.99 / $12.99 CAN.

Killer Bee vs. Kisame! Plus, the realization of Naruto’s worst nightmare seems inevitable as the war he’s tried to stop for so long looms on the horizon. And Sakura corners Naruto with a reveal that’s going knock him for a serious loop. Then, a truth behind the modern ninja world sheds new light on Naruto’s true role in the fate of his universe.

Created by Masashi Kishimoto, Naruto was first introduced in Weekly Shonen Jump magazine in Japan in 1999 and quickly became that country’s most popular ninja manga targeting tweens and teens and has sold more than 85 million copies to-date. The manga series (rated ‘T’ for Teens) and animated counterpart (Naruto rated ‘T’ for Teens, and Naruto: Shippuden rated ‘T+’ for Older Teens) are among VIZ Media’s most successful properties and have captivated millions of fans across North America, Europe and South America.

Naruto: Shippuden anime episodes are also currently available for free at Naruto.com and through a variety of other web-based, video streaming outlets that have partnered with VIZ Media, including iTunes, Joost and Hulu.

For more information on Naruto please visit the official website at Naruto.com.

“The Guild”: All-New One-Shot!

from Things from Another World:

Felicia Day returns to her Internet and comics sensation The Guild with an all-new Guild one-shot spotlighting the Knights of Good’s most mysterious member, Tinkerballa!

While some of the other Guild members have gotten a little too involved in each other’s offline lives, Tink has fiercely guarded her privacy, and the Knights of Good still know almost nothing about her. When they begin to pry, the Guild gets more than they bargained for… but is any of it true? Joining Felicia Day for these tall tales are Kristian Donaldson, Jeremy Bastian, Wellinton Alves, Tim Seeley, and Adam Warren!

Order Your Copy Today!

A Teenage Psychic Mixes On-the-Job Romance with Invading Aliens in Arina Tanemura’s “Mistress Fortune” Manga from VIZ Media

from VIZ Media:

VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), one of the entertainment industry’s most innovative and comprehensive publishing, animation and licensing companies, will delight shojo manga (graphic novel) fans with the release of Arina Tanemura’s Mistress Fortune on February 1st. The new single-volume story will be published under the company’s Shojo Beat imprint, is rated ‘T’ for Teens, and will carry an MSRP of $9.99 U.S. / $12.99 CAN.

Fourteen-year-old Kisaki Tachibana has psychic powers. She works for PSI, a secret government agency that fights aliens. She’s in love with her partner Giniro, but PSI won’t allow operatives to get involved. Just when Kisaki thinks she may be getting closer to Giniro, she finds out she’s going to be transferred to California!

“We’re excited to release Mistress Fortune for current and new fans alike,” says Nancy Thistlethwaite, Editor. “Arina Tanemura pulled from her experience of visiting San Francisco, the home of VIZ Media, as well as San Diego Comic-Con for this manga. Her huge following of readers here will have fun with this story that takes place in both Japan and the United States.”

Arina Tanemura began her manga career in 1996 when her short stories debuted in Ribon magazine. She gained fame with the 1997 publication of I.O.N, and ever since her debut, Tanemura has remained a major force in shojo manga with popular series Time Stranger Kyoko, Full Moon, and The Gentlemen’s Alliance † (all published by VIZ Media). Full Moon and another Tanemura manga, Kamikaze Kaito Jeanne, have also been adapted into animated TV series.

For more information on Mistress Fortune, please visit ShojoBeat.com.

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The Gripping Sci-Fi Thriller “Gantz” Premieres Across the U.S. This Thursday, January 20th in a Special One Night Only Event

from VIZ Pictures:

Don’t miss the very special one-night-only screening of Gantz, premiering at 333 theatres across the U.S. and presented by NCM Fathom and NEW PEOPLE, on Thursday, January 20th, 2011 at 8:00 p.m. ET / 7:00 p.m. CT / 6:00 p.m. MT / 8:30 p.m. PT (tape delayed). The sci-fi thriller, which is based on a hit anime/manga series, is opening in the U.S. nine days ahead of its wide release in Japan on January 29th.

Tickets (for all locations except Hollywood, CA) are available at participating theater box offices and online at FathomEvents.com. For a complete list of theater locations and prices, please visit the web site (theaters and participants are subject to change).

As part of the release, NEW PEOPLE will welcome Gantz lead actors Kazunari Ninomiya (Letters from Iwo Jima) and Kenichi Matsuyama (Death Note, Detroit Metal City), for an in-person appearance for the premiere of the film at the Mann’s Chinese 6 in Hollywood, CA. Immediately following the Gantz screening, Otaku USA Editor-in-Chief Patrick Macias will conduct a live interview session with Kazunari Ninomiya and Kenichi Matsuyama that will be telecast to theatres across the country. Fans have the opportunity to submit questions for the actors at GantzMovies.com.

Kazunari Ninomiya, best known in America for his role in Clint Eastwood’s 2006 blockbuster, Letters from Iwo Jima, is both an actor and a singer. He is also world-renowned as a member of the Japanese boy band “Arashi,” which topped Japan’s music charts in 2009 with the three best-selling singles. Kenichi Matsuyama is currently one of the most sought-after actors in Japanese film and he has won several awards including Japanese Academy Awards Best New Actor (2007) and Most Popular Actor (2009). Matsuyama is widely recognized for his part as L in Death Note (2006), Death Note II: the Last Name (2006) and Death Note: L, change the WorLd (2008) and also for his portrayal of Johannes Krauser II in the outlandish rock and roll comedy, Detroit Metal City (2009).

Gantz (English dubbed) is based on a hit manga series created by Hiroya Oku and tells the story of childhood friends Kei Kurono and Masaru Kato, who are accidentally killed while trying to save another man’s life. Rather than find themselves in the hereafter, however, they awaken in a strange apartment in which they find a mysterious black orb they come to know as “GANTZ.” Along with similar abductees, they are provided with equipment and weaponry and manipulated into playing a kind of game in which they are sent back out to the greater world to do battle with alien beings, all while never quite knowing whether this game is an illusion or their new reality.

VIZ Media Debuts “MÄR” on VIZAnime.com and Hulu

from VIZ Media:

VIZ Media announces the launch of MÄR (rated ‘T’ for Teens) available on VIZAnime.com, the company’s premier website for anime, as well as the streaming content provider Hulu (Hulu.com), starting on Monday January 17th.

VIZAnime.com and Hulu will stream for FREE episodes 1-5 of MÄR (subtitled). Two additional FREE new episodes will launch each Monday.

MÄR is based on the hit manga series by Nobuyuki Anzai (creator also of Flame of Recca), published in North America by VIZ Media. An ordinary middle-school boy with an overactive imagination, Ginta Toramizu dreams about fairy tales and make-believe lands. One day at school, a gate appears and he enters the World of MÄR, the world of his dreams. Within the World of MÄR exist ÄRM: accessories with unique powers. Soon, Ginta stumbles upon Babbo, an ÄRM that can speak, and learns that he has been summoned to this mythical world to stop the Chess Pieces, a group of rogue soldiers, from destroying the World of MÄR. Now part of Team MÄR, Ginta and Babbo fight in War Games against the Chess Pieces to save the MÄR World. But will Ginta’s mission be compromised by his ally’s secrets?

To learn more about MÄR anime and manga series, please visit VIZAnime.com or ShonenSunday.com (free Chapter 1 manga preview available).

YALSA Names Ten VIZ Media Manga Titles to Its 2011 Great Graphic Novels for Teens List

from VIZ Media:

VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), one of the entertainment industry’s most innovative and comprehensive publishing, animation and licensing companies, is proud to announce that ten of its manga (graphic novel) titles have been selected by the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) as among 2011’s Great Graphic Novels for Teens. The annual list highlights titles that exemplify the quality and range of graphic novels appropriate for teen audiences. The books, recommended by the association for those aged 12-18, meet the criteria of both good quality literature and appealing reading for teens.

Among these, Saturn Apartments, which is published by VIZ Media’s Signature imprint, was ranked among YALSA’s 2011 Top Ten Great Graphic Novels for Teens. For more than 50 years, YALSA has been the U.S. leader in selecting books, videos and audio books for teens.

VIZ Media titles featured on the 2011 YALSA Graphic Novel list include:

Afterschool Charisma Vol. 1 by Kumiko Sukane
Rated ‘T+’ for Older Teens
At St. Kleio Academy, all of the students are clones of famous historical figures. Are the clones doomed to repeat the fate of their genetic progenitors, or can they create their own destinies?

Biomega Vol. 1 by Tsutomu Nihei
Rated ‘M’ for Mature
In a nightmare vision of the future, the N5S virus has swept across the earth, turning most of the population into zombie-like drones! Zoichi Kanoe is humanity’s last hope, and he’s not even human!

Bokurano: Ours Vol. 1 by Mohiro Kitoh
Rated ‘M’ for Mature
Saving the world is hard. Saving yourself is even harder.

Cross Game Vol. 1 by Mitsuru Adachi
Rated ‘T’ for Teens
A poignant coming-of-age centered around a boy named Ko, the family of four sisters who live down the street, and the game of baseball!

House of Five Leaves Vol. 1 by Natsume Ono
Rated ‘T+’ for Older Teens
An out-of-work samurai finds himself drawn into a mysterious gang known as the Five Leaves.

Library Wars: Love & War Vol. 1
Original concept by Hiro Arikawa; manga story and art by Kiiro Yumi
Rated ‘T+’ for Older Teens
In the near future, the federal government creates a committee to rid society of books it deems unsuitable. The libraries vow to protect their collections, and form a military group to defend themselves — the Library Forces!

Maou: Juvenile Remix Vol. 1
Original story by Kotara Isaka; manga story and art by Megumi Osuga
Rated ‘T+’ for Older Teens
What do you do when the city’s savior is actually a devil in disguise…?

Natsume’s Book of Friends Vol. 1 by Yuki Midorikawa
Rated ‘T’ for Teens
Natsume can see the spirits and demons that hide from the rest of humanity. Moving to the small town where his grandmother grew up, he discovers that he has inherited more than just the Sight from the mysterious Rieko.

not simple by Natsume Ono
Rated ‘T+’ for Older Teens
A young man with a fractured family history travels from Australia to England to America in the hope of realizing his dreams and reuniting with his beloved sister.

Saturn Apartments Vol. 1 by Hisae Iwaoka
Rated ‘T’ for Teens
A Top 10 Selection
A touching, character-rich vision of an intriguing new world. Mitsu takes on his late father’s dangerous job as a window washer on the Ring circling the earth where all humans have been relocated…

The complete list of YALSA 2011 selections is available at: ala.org/yalsa/booklists.

“YALSA is the leader in recommending high-quality literature, including books and media, and we are very gratified to have so many of our titles featured on the organization’s latest list of Great Graphic Novels for Teens,” says Brian Piech, Senior Director, Marketing, VIZ Media. “Millions of teens read manga from their local school and public libraries each week, and we hope these selections give librarians and their patrons a trusted resource for some of the best and latest from the exciting world of manga.”

For more information on these and other VIZ Media manga titles, please visit: viz.com.

VIZ Media Launches 2011 with a New iTunes Anime Promotion for “Buso Renkin” and “Vampire Knight Guilty”

from VIZ Media:

VIZ Media rings in 2011 and expands its current anime promotion on iTunes in the U.S. (iTunes.com) to include the premieres of Buso Renkin and Vampire Knight Guilty. To celebrate the debuts, you can download the first full episode of both series for FREE from now thru February 1st. All subsequent episodes are available to rent for only $0.99 each, or to own for only $1.99 each.

Please visit itunes.com/anime for complete details.

Buso Renkin (rated TV-14) is based on a popular 10-volume manga series by Nobuhiro Watsuki (Rurouni Kenshin) and introduces audiences to Kazuki Muto, a high school student who thinks he’s saving a girl from a monster, but it turns out that he’s the one who needs saving! Kazuki is stabbed and killed while fighting a homunculus, a malevolent creature that feeds on humans. A girl, Tokiko Tsumura, revives him by replacing his heart with an alchemical device called a kakugane. With this device, Kazuki can create his own Buso Renkin, a powerful alchemical weapon in the form of a huge lance, capable of destroying homunculi. With his new weapon, Kazuki decides to join forces with Tokiko to eliminate the evil homunculi and destroy their master, the strange and eccentric Papillon Masked Creator!

Vampire Knight Guilty (rated TV-14) is the second season of the hit gothic romance based on the bestselling manga series about a high school populated by a class of vampires. Yuki is torn between the two people she cares for most when Zero is accused of Shizuka Hio’s murder and Kaname refuses to attest to his innocence. Drawn deeper into the world of vampires, Yuki struggles to recall the events of ten years earlier but fails time and again. Kaname evades Yuki’s questions about the past, but when her visions of blood grow more frequent and intense, the past may come to light whether she wants it to or not!

For more information on these and other animated titles from VIZ Media, please visit VIZAnime.com.

The DC You-niverse

from GeekChicDaily:

In your head, it starts with you getting a nice entry-level gig at Wayne Enterprises. Evenings, after the dayjob is done, you put on a costume and head out to slobberknock your adversaries. Saturday night, maybe you get lucky and chat up a Wonder Twin at a keg party; Sunday is spent icing plasma burns and perusing the late edition of The Daily Planet. The buildings tower above you, even as your legend grows… yes, you live in the DC Universe.

C’mon. We all know you’ve long harbored elaborate fantasies about what you’d do if you could somehow slip inside the DCU. Now’s your chance to fire your therapist and make those dreams a (virtual) reality: DC Universe Online goes live today. The game’s backstory is a bit twisty (think time travel, alien overlords and a dead Superman) but an awesomely-animated cinematic lays it all out. You play as a hero or villain that you create and customize, and every player gets an iconic DC character (like Supes, Batman, Lex Luthor, or the Joker, depending) who sends you on assignments and group missions.

Presumably your super-mentor also answers practical queries like “What’s the best Gotham laundromat for dry cleaning tights?” Alternate gaming options let groups of players square off against each other, and there’s even the ability to throw down as your favorite DC character. Basically the only thing the game doesn’t let you do is spend a quiet afternoon playing fetch with Krypto the Superdog. But hey, this is the first version. One never knows what the future might hold… could the next DC legend be you? DC Universe Online is live now.

Fates Are Sealed in a Final Showdown as Epic Manga Adventure “InuYasha” Concludes

from VIZ Media:

VIZ Media has announced the release of the final installment of Rumiko Takahashi’s longtime bestselling manga (graphic novel) series, InuYasha, on January 11th. Fans won’t want to miss even a single page of the action in Volume 56, Curtain of Time, which is rated “T+” for Older Teens and carries an MSRP of $9.99 U.S. / $12.99 CAN. InuYasha is published under VIZ Media’s Shonen Sunday imprint.

Kagome, a modern-day high school girl, is pulled into Japan’s ancient past! There, her destiny is linked to a dog-eared half demon named InuYasha. Together, they battle evil demons who seek to acquire the shards of the legendary Shikon Jewel and wield its incredible power. But can Kagome and InuYasha stop feuding with each other long enough to save the feudal or modern world — let alone both?

In the climactic showdown, the demon Naraku’s true intentions are finally revealed! Then, Kagome is swallowed up by the Meido. Is she finally beyond her friends’ reach? And will the final battle over the Shikon Jewel draw InuYasha and Kagome together… or pull them apart forever?! Find out in the exciting concluding volume!

The spotlight on manga creator Rumiko Takahashi began in 1978 when she won an honorable mention in Shogakukan’s annual New Comic Artist Contest for Those Selfish Aliens. Later that same year, her boy-meets-alien comedy series, Urusei Yatsura, was serialized in Weekly Shonen Sunday. This phenomenally successful manga series was adapted into anime format and spawned a TV series and half a dozen theatrical-release movies, all incredibly popular in their own right. Takahashi followed up the success of her debut series with one blockbuster hit after another — Maison Ikkoku ran from 1980 to 1987, Ranma ½ from 1987 to 1996, and InuYasha from 1996 to 2008. Other notable works include Mermaid Saga, Rumic Theater, and One-Pound Gospel. These, as well as her newest manga series, Rin-ne, are also published in North America by VIZ Media.

Also catch InuYasha anime episodes — for free — on VIZAnime.com.

More information on InuYasha, or other Shonen Sunday titles from VIZ Media, is available at ShonenSunday.com.

CES 2011: Announcing Batman x MIMOBOT and DC Comics Super Hero Flash Drive Collections!

from Mimoco:

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Galaxy Raiders – A New Sci-Fi Web Comic Debuts

Galaxy Raiders

from Galaxy Raiders:

StarDate: 11:01:01

Welcome to the new Earth year, 2011! This day marks a joyous occasion as we launch the first page of the new web comic, Galaxy Raiders. Following the launch of the comic is the launch of the new Galaxy Raiders website. Currently the features of the website are very slim, but we are still working on growing and improving them further.

One feature we would like to point out is the Transmission Feed. We ask you to send in your transmissions and distress calls, which will then be displayed on the homepage. Simply tweet us @GalaxyRaiders.

Please let us know what you think and find us on Twitter to stay up to date with all the latest updates!