Tag Archives: dark horse comics
Nominations for Eisner Awards Include Six Manga Titles
Nominations for the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards 2013 have been announced, and six manga titles are up for two different awards. Five of these manga titles are nominated for Best U.S. Edition of International Material – Asia, and Katsuya Terada’s The Monkey King Vol. 2 (Dark Horse) has been nominated for Best Painter/Multimedia Artist (interior art).
The Monkey King is based on the classic 16th century Chinese fantasy adventure Journey to the West. Terada’s take on the Monkey King legend is a barbaric and beautiful tale, which The Portland Tribune called “a Buddhist version of Conan the Barbarian.”
Best U.S. Edition of International Material – Asia:
Barbara, by Osamu Tezuka (Digital Manga)
A Chinese Life, by Li Kunwu and P. Ôtié (Self Made Hero)
Naoki Urasawa’s 20th Century Boys, by Naoki Urasawa (Viz Media)
Nonnonba, by Shigeru Mizuki (Drawn & Quarterly)
Thermae Romae, by Mari Yamazaki (Yen Press/Hachette)
Voting is held online, and ballots will soon be open on the website. The voting is open to all comic book industry professionals. Voting will close at midnight on 12 June, and the winners will be announced at a ceremony on 19 July at Comic-Con International. A full list of nominations is available here.
Blade of the Immortal Manga Ends After 19 Years
Hiroaki Samura will write the final issue (#219) of his 19-year-old manga, Blade of the Immortal (Mugen no Jūnin), in the February 2013 issue of Kodansha’s Monthly Afternoon magazine on 25 December. The manga was launched in the same magazine in December 1993, and its first 29 volumes have 5 million copies in circulation.
Dark Horse Comics recently published the 25th volume of the manga in North America this August. The manga was also adapted into an anime television series in 2008, which was subsequently released in an English dubbed version.
Blade of the Immortal is a historical manga that follows an immortal samurai, Manji, who’s intent on making amends for his past deeds by killing 1000 evil men. Only by killing these evil men will Manji be free of his curse and end his immortality, which he desperately craves. It seems that Manji will get his wish with the manga’s end in December.
Dark Horse to Publish “The Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Historia” Encyclopedia
Dark Horse Comics has confirmed they have the publishing rights for The Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Historia, which was originally published in Japan. The encyclopedia contains the full historical timeline of Hyrule and will be released in America on January 16 2013 for $34.99; it will later be released in the UK and other parts of Europe.
The 248-page hardcover will also feature an introduction by Zelda creator Shigeru Miyamoto, an official chronology of the Zelda games, Nintendo concept art, a making-of about the Zelda franchise and a comic by The Legend of Zelda manga artist Akira Himekawa.