Yesterday J.K. linked to photos from New York Comic Con of character sketches for the X-Men and Wolverine OEL manga titles, due out in spring 2009 from Del Rey Manga and Marvel.
Now the fine folks at Del Rey Manga have provided us with those sketches: Kitty Pryde, The Beast, Iceman and Nightcrawler from the shojo X-Men, by Anzu, and Logan, Tamara and Vincent from the shonen Wolverine, by Wilson Tortosa.
X-Men will be written by Raina Telgemeier and Dave Roman, and Wolverine by Antony Johnston. You can read more about the titles, and the creators, here.
The rest of the character sketches can be seen below:
I think Nightcrawler might actually work better as a manga character. Beast is pretty funny too.
Comment by TimGunn — April 22, 2008 @ 1:46 pm
Beast justs leave me speechless (although it is pretty funny), and “Teen Wolvie” is almost as odd…
Again, I gotta pass. Not that I’ve ever read a manga book anyhow. I even passed on Batman: Death Mask. If they ever reprint it so it can be read left to right I might give it a try.
If Batman (or Star Trek, last year) couldn’t get me to try manga, nothing ever will.
Comment by Shaun — April 22, 2008 @ 1:52 pm
So, Beast is Totoro?
Comment by Niko — April 22, 2008 @ 1:56 pm
I don’t like Manga and this didn’t change my mind!
But I must admit that Beast looks funny and kinda cute
Nightcrawler looks okay…
But I’ll pass!
Comment by Green Ghost — April 22, 2008 @ 4:13 pm
So, Beast is Snorlax?
Comment by Sean — April 22, 2008 @ 8:35 pm
I use to be into manga when I was a kid, but not so much any more. I’ll pass on this simply because it looks like they’re doing somekinda pretty boy manga to get girls to read comics.
Comment by SDJoyce — April 22, 2008 @ 8:49 pm
Can you say yaoi?
Comment by Lameo — April 22, 2008 @ 9:00 pm
That’s STILL better than Hank’s current look.
Comment by Erich — April 22, 2008 @ 9:07 pm
Uh, why is Nightcrawler built like a 12 year-old girl?
Chalk up another confused mangaphobe.
Comment by Chieftan — April 22, 2008 @ 9:07 pm
The beast….. seriously, if I wasn’t laughing so hard I might bemoan the ruining of a classic character. But Wolverine might just work and that sketch of Nightcrawler is how he should be draw.
Comment by Micah — April 22, 2008 @ 9:20 pm
Reminds me of doodles that a friend of mine did in the 8th great. Of all the things you could do with Iceman, it’s nice to see that no creativity was involved in making him look like every other manga boi out there. In the words of MadTV’s Tank……pass!
Comment by Justin — April 22, 2008 @ 9:21 pm
Why don’t they just make “manga” instead of making comics in a manga style?
And since I don’t have the time to read the old article, just what is the format of these books?
Comment by Banman — April 22, 2008 @ 9:25 pm
Never really cared for manga, just too stylised for my peronal tastes. Having said that, there is something very endearing about that design for Beast.
Kitty Pryde does the opposite though, I’ve never got the fascination with cat ears on girls…
Comment by Alex Holt — April 22, 2008 @ 9:25 pm
got to say i really hate real comics (please dont hate me im not being mean im just trying to make a point) but this looks really good and i thing i would convert from tokyopop to marvel if they keep putting stuff like this out beast kitty and night crawler are all soo cute =^-^=
Comment by Kitty — April 22, 2008 @ 9:38 pm
well, moebius recently said
“The manga is a machine of war without scruples. It has divided the world in market segments and is taking advantage of the weakness of the young men. It is a mental chewing gum, attracts but destroys the brain. And, which is worse, mines the freedom of the creators, putting them to the service of the imperialistic interests of their country. The worst thing of everything is that there is no way of stopping it. It would be necessary a third atomic bomb”
what else could i add?
Comment by Mr. Franks — April 22, 2008 @ 9:51 pm
This is different…but I like it. The Totoro-Beast cracks me up, especially his tie. You can count me in for this one!
Comment by Ye Olde Iowa — April 22, 2008 @ 9:52 pm
lol
Comment by Brett — April 22, 2008 @ 10:14 pm
Why can’t people appreciate the merits of both manga and American comics? Is it really so rare for someone to greatly enjoy both like I do? I like Kitty’s look she reminds me of a Ko-Gal/Scene girl which is a look I’m into. Beast just made me laugh. Oh and that Moebius quote has to be one of the most pretentious things I’ve ever read.
Comment by Justin — April 22, 2008 @ 10:29 pm
LOL!
Everything is better when its Japanese!
‘Eff humen Beast, gray Beast, ape Beast and cat Beast.
Asian Beast is the best I’ve ever seen.
3rd mutation, lets go!
Comment by eddie young — April 22, 2008 @ 10:51 pm
Woo, that’s a relief. For a moment there, I didn’t think we’d see any new Wolverine projects other than his own series, his second own series, The series called Logan, the upcoming Ultimate Wolverine Origin, New Avengers, Ultimates 3, Uncanny X-Men, X-Men Volume 2, X-Force, and the upcoming Wolverine Movie starring Hugh Jackman.
Hugh Jackman, he’s playing a Canadian and he’s AUSTRALIAN. I never understand these crazy casting decisions.:)
OH yeah, why is it there’s a huge wall of Manga books at my local book store and a small section in the bottom of a row for American graphic novels?
Comment by Alex Rules — April 22, 2008 @ 10:58 pm
All they need now is a little Storm who flies around on a little Goku cloud.
Comment by Gambit8370 — April 22, 2008 @ 11:25 pm
pheww….as good as it looks…i still unable to say that Anzu is a good manga drawers..cause her “pretty boy” styles pretty much ruined Nightcrawler’s and Iceman’s Earth-616 concepts. Dunno if the manga concepts is totally new….
Comment by Zenstrive — April 22, 2008 @ 11:30 pm
i don’t understand why people have such a problem with manga. while i don’t read it, i can appreciate it as an art and story telling style. people who go all insane saying “you’re ruining everything” need to relax and remember that manga is a lot bigger that they think (4.6 BILLION in 06 alone)
Comment by replica2618 — April 22, 2008 @ 11:49 pm
This gets a meh from me, even as a manga fan.
I like the Miyazaki style Beast, though. That’s about it.
Comment by gohanwinner — April 23, 2008 @ 1:16 am
I personally like both manga and western comics and am female both genetically and by inclination. As far as the drawings go the one of beast annoys me but that’s nothing new. The rest are alright and I defy anyone who says they look bad to do better.
As for being converted to manga, what’s with the idea that you have to like all of it to read one title? Pick it up, give it a read and if you don’t like it put it down. If your so scared of the big pretty eyes that you wont touch any of it then your problems go a lot deeper then general dislike of a style.
As for weather I’ll pick this one up, the jury’s still out on that. I’m not inclined to judge a story by preliminary art alone. I place a good deal of important on the story and will have to see if it measures up.
Also, as for Moebius it sounds like he feels threatened by manga because of its general mass appeal and mainstream acceptance. So I’m just going to write that off as sad and in poor taste. I don’t care for the suggestion of the use of nuclear explosives for any purpose.
Comment by AtomicPen — April 23, 2008 @ 2:03 am
So, where/when did Moebius say this? Just did a google search and the only hit that came up was a comment by a Mr.Franks on April 22 on an Newsarama article about manga-style Wolverine and X-Men.
Comment by Matty — April 23, 2008 @ 2:15 am
Not a huge Manga fan, but I’m not a manga-phobe either, loves me some Hellsing. That said, by the gods, when did Wolverine become bishonen? It’s kinda disturbing, though I can’t complain about Nightcrawler.
Comment by Coralskipper — April 23, 2008 @ 2:29 am
I have always enjoyed the technical art style of manga.. But for some reason I dont enjoy what I am looking at here.. I thought Wolverine was X23 at first.. IMHO I think that Manga would do Xmen justice in a darker style. I just dont see it with lighter funny Xmen..
Comment by Angael — April 23, 2008 @ 2:30 am
>>So, where/when did Moebius say this?
I’d like to see some attribution too. Hasn’t Moebius worked with manga artists like Otomo before?
I Googled “manga Moebius atomic bomb” and I turned up yesterday’s Lying in the Gutters, where Rich has as his Quote of the Week: “It would take a third atomic bomb to stop manga.” It’s attributed to Moebius and hyperlinked to this site: http://www.elmundo.es/papel/2008/04/20/cultura/ Which not only requires a subscription to read the relevant article, but is also written in crazy foreign-talk
Can we get a translation? Can we get some better context if this is in any way accurate?
Comment by Dave F. — April 23, 2008 @ 3:47 am
Most of the renditions didn’t do it for me, though I liked the reimagined Nightcrawler. I’ve enjoyed reading both comics and manga for over 20 years, and am a fan of Moebius’ art, but his comments (as quoted by comment #15) make me sad. That’s exactly how people used to talk about comic books! And his comment about dropping a “3rd atomic bomb” (which sounds like a reference to the two bombs dropped on Japan in WWII) are in very poor taste and smack of racism.
Comment by Josh — April 23, 2008 @ 3:49 am
Please can we have that Beast as his next form in the comics? I reckon he should move into a different body rather than just go back to ape like everyone says. This is perfect!
The rest look pretty generic, but Beast is awesome!
Comment by Zombie Uatu — April 23, 2008 @ 3:49 am
Yes! I love Beast! Marvel would be stupid if they passed up the idea of a stuffed animal of beast. Have him stuffed softly and have his fur be really soft and smooth. I would buy one. It would be a huge sale success.
Comment by monkeyscribble — April 23, 2008 @ 4:02 am
moebius said it last week in Barcelona comics fair. i only found it in this blog
http://blog.adlo.es/2008/04/al_llegar_a_cierta_edad_se_decantan_por_el_chaleco.html
Comment by von neumann — April 23, 2008 @ 5:05 am
wtf
Comment by dddf — April 23, 2008 @ 5:43 am
beast looks like a hamster haha…
Comment by Dennis — April 23, 2008 @ 5:52 am
I don’t like Manga myself but I like the Logan concept. It works for a young Wolverine.
Beast is ROTF funny. The rest of them are not my taste.
I might check out the Wolverine book though, as I’m curious as far as what they’ll do with his origin.
Comment by Kaz — April 23, 2008 @ 6:04 am
Totoro-Beast rules! I will give this a shot… I like where it’s headed.
Comment by Cartoon Jay — April 23, 2008 @ 6:11 am
Let’s put things into perspective. Moebius is not just a respected comic artist all over the world (including Japan, where LOTS of top artists like Katsuhiro Otomo, Jiro Taniguchi and Hayao Miyazaki have already spoken about the admiration for its work), but he is also VERY sucessful comercially on its native France. His most popular work outsells any manga there! No sales envy here. He ALSO worked directly for a japanese publisher, writing the Manga Icarus with Jiro Taniguchi. So he knows more about the manga industry than ANY of you.
OK, that said we are looking at that out of context. I’m not sure about which manga he was talking about, but considering that he has in the past appreciated lots of manga (usually of the more artistic kind), I’ll bet that he was talking mostly about the crass commercial manga that makes up for 90% of the manga releases in France (and in the US, for that matter).
Best,
Hunter (Pedro Bouça)
Comment by Pedro Bouça — April 23, 2008 @ 6:12 am
That should be 616 beast. Like now.
Comment by Aaron — April 23, 2008 @ 6:12 am
Iceman looks like a hermaphrodite.
Comment by Wilbur Lunch — April 23, 2008 @ 6:42 am
i hate manga
Comment by kirk — April 23, 2008 @ 6:51 am
Beast’s stripes looks like a zipper!
And Vincent is supposed to be the Sabretooth analogue, yeah?
Comment by Wilson — April 23, 2008 @ 7:35 am
I knew they’d go the Miyazaki route with Beast.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v97/MasterSplinter/Beast/NekoBeast.jpg
Comment by Beast — April 23, 2008 @ 8:34 am
The work for Wolverine is actually quite competent. It has a strong sense of motion and personality. This could be one hell of a fight comic.
Oh man, the X-Men stuff is so horrible. Doing a Kogal cat theme for Kitty Pryde? Designing Iceman with “cold, emotionaless eyes”? Copying a dude from Vampire Knights for Nightcrawler? Copying _Totoro_ for the Beast? Did they just show the artist pictures and not let them know there was also a movie and stuff?
OEL manga constantly amazes me with the parade of hilariously incompetent shit it’s willing to try to make people spend money on - that’s why Chuck Austen went to TokyoPop when not even Marvel and DC would have him! - but this is a fantastic new low. No wonder Japanese artists look down on OEL stuff, these designs aren’t even doujinshi-caliber work.
Comment by Beppo the Super-Chimp — April 23, 2008 @ 9:13 am
Um, not to particularly defend Anzu or Chuck Austen necessarily, but I would avoid using the line “not even Marvel and DC would have him” as if they’re the only companies capable of producing decent comics.
Comment by Lianne — April 23, 2008 @ 9:37 am
Beast looks ridiculous.
Iceman looks like some cross between a man and woman that isn’t quite hermaphrodite either.
Seriously this junk doesn’t even belong on the travesty that is Saturday morning cartoons.
I’ve never cared for Mangna before and this surely doesn’t help. This crap just looks like the usual gender unspecific bull that is processed like anything mechanical. Where is there anything inspired, or original here?
Comment by Tom — April 23, 2008 @ 9:40 am
Some of this looks like your typical “American artist trying desperately to draw in the manga style and not quite getting how it works” stuf - but Beast is so fucking adorable I want to squeal.
Comment by Chris McFeely — April 23, 2008 @ 9:47 am
Um, not to particularly defend Anzu or Chuck Austen necessarily, but I would avoid using the line “not even Marvel and DC would have him” as if they’re the lowest companies capable of producing decent comics. Not getting picked up by Marvel and DC in no way means an artist doesn’t have what it takes to do a good book - it means Marvel and DC don’t want him/her for whatever logical or arbitrary reason they decide. Period.
That said, yeah, Beast is way too Totoro than I’m comfortable with, rip-off-wise.
Comment by Lianne — April 23, 2008 @ 9:49 am
Gotta disagree with Erich–I think that Beast’s current look is infinitely better than his “blue furry ape” look. Although, if he were to further mutate into a giant badger (or whatever the hell he is here), THEN I might have a slight problem with it.
Comment by Roosevelt's Ghost — April 23, 2008 @ 10:20 am
So, Kitty Pride is Nana Oosaki (Nana)? o.O’
Comment by Ikari Léo — April 23, 2008 @ 10:37 am
This is beyond bad. These designs are just flat out disgusting and a huge insult to the characters.
Comment by Gag — April 23, 2008 @ 10:41 am
Sometimes I think publishers try to hard to grab on to the manga craze. Even as someone who already reads a lot of manga, I have to admit I probably wouldn’t even give this a chance; the designs are too typical shoujo for me. But in the end, art aside (and it’s good art, just not my style) it all depends on how good the story is.
Comment by Req — April 23, 2008 @ 10:58 am
Oh god! Oh god no! They took my beloved X-Men and adapted them to a style I’m not a fan of! I do NOT like this! I will just tear it apart for being manga!
Seriously people, this isn’t even in continuity. It’s not hurting ANYTHING. Don’t read it if you don’t want, stop acting like this is some sort of travesty.
Comment by KingMattress — April 23, 2008 @ 10:59 am
Now, I’m not an expert in manga nor a manga fanatic, but I can’t believe people who say they won’t even try manga. Especially when they say “Not even Batman could make them turn.”
There are fantastic original stories that people are ignoring because, what, they aren’t Star Trek or Batman? Yeah, Batman:Death Mask probably isn’t going to be very good, but Death Note is pretty damn good and is worth reading.
There are so many good comics out there that aren’t in the super hero genre, try them!
And reading the panels right to left really isn’t that big a deal if you can also tie your shoes. It takes about 3 mintues to get used to, and it’s much better than flipped art.
It’s like people who don’t watch foreign movies because they have subtitles — it just makes me angry.
Comment by Miles — April 23, 2008 @ 12:07 pm
Ok… As far as I like Wolverine I hate his bishounen-version. He’s just one of this characters, which won’t look good as bishie. D: And well, Kitty looks pretty “out of character” for me.
I love both manga and Marvel comics, but I won’t buy shoujo X-men. No way!
Comment by Mai Takeru — April 23, 2008 @ 12:19 pm
Actually, I think a lot of the negative attitude boils down to the fact that the new “manga-styled” versions of the character looks nothing like the old version.
Honestly, I guess I’d be mad too, but I’ve never been a fan of superhero comics, most likely because I tried manga first. So, this is the first time these things have hit my eyes and they look pretty fine. There’s enough skill and feeling in them to make me say that I’d like to see them. It’s made me interested in the stories, so on the bright side, this is opening the story to a bigger audience. If it was horrid, that’s another thing, but the story and plot is what counts, and I’ll be looking for that.
But in all honest, the art is really quite attractive for shonen/shojo styled works. It’s a little bit “generic” but like I said, it’s passable, and the story is what counts. If it is able to do what the old storylines of Wolverine and X-Men did, coupled with decent art, it should be great.
Comment by Michelle — April 23, 2008 @ 12:30 pm
Hmn. I’m not a huge fan of X-Men (my main exposure comes from the 1990’s cartoon and video games) but I am a fan of Japanese manga. So I’ll try and be somewhat neutral here.
What I get from these designs is half good, half not very promising. The Wolverine characters are actually pretty well done. Logan looks pretty cool if more handsome than I imagined, and Vincent (Sabretooth?) has a very Badass Rival vibe to him. Tamara is good too, but she doesn’t seem to have any analogue.
I’m not sure about Anzu’s designs though. Maybe it’s just that I’m not a fan of shoujo. I’m not pleased with the fact that Beast looks like a shameless knockoff of Totoro. You can make a fuzzy blue ape guy cute in another way, I think, so this just smacks of laziness and tracing over other peoples’ designs. Nightcrawler looks all right, but I think Iceman looks like any “stoic” yaoi manga character ever. Kitty… um, again, she feels painfully generic, somehow, as if she’s comprised of bits and pieces of other girl characters in the same way that Iceman feels like a composite of various other bishounen.
Comment by maikeru — April 23, 2008 @ 12:31 pm
Crap, crap and more crap…
Comment by KevinJT — April 23, 2008 @ 12:38 pm
Kitty Pride is goth, Beast is a Totoro, and Wolverine is clean cut. The X-Men manga is going to be some serious fail.
Comment by R.K. — April 23, 2008 @ 12:40 pm
Is it really bad whenever a new version of something comes out? It reaches a different target audience. For fans of the original they have that, it’s not intended to be yet another retelling of a classic story but something entirely different. I always enjoy new interpretations whether they work or not, someone gets to reimagine a classic icon in their own view.
Some good examples are the black Spider-Man suit, blowing up the Enterprise in Star Trek, or bringing in a new Robin after Jason Todd was killed off. Loyal fans shout sacrilage at the momennt of first seeing them and later they become a loved part of the character.
Though I do enjoy everyone being so passionate about characters they enjoy. Let the hate mail begin!
Comment by Sifu Eagle — April 23, 2008 @ 1:15 pm
I like that Wolverine! She’s so darn cute!
Comment by Dawn — April 23, 2008 @ 3:50 pm
What a bunch of haters. This is just a taste of the future, wherein Eastern graphic storytelling has influence upon its Western counterpart and vice versa. In the present, where the trend in American super hero comics seems to be alternate versions and alternate universes in which the many well established characters like Spider-Man or Batman see their origins and likenesses revisited and re-imagined, this manga-influenced version of the X-Men seems not only a logical step in its progression but a positive step in the evolution of graphic storytelling as a medium. In other words, saying “I don’t like manga and I never will,” or some like comment about Western comic books, ultimately is completely irrelevant. Forget what you know and look at what’s happening, for goodness’s sake. It’s fascinating and exciting to see the X-Men treated to an Asian makeover of sorts. On that note, can’t wait to see Batman: Gotham Knight this July!
Comment by Pablo_X — April 23, 2008 @ 4:10 pm
I love manga and I love comics and I love the X-men but I hate this.
Thanks, Marvel, for insulting women comic fans everywhere. No really, don’t try and make your regular comics better by not writing misogynistic rubbish throughout them, and attract women and girls to your marketshare the logical way! We wouldn’t want to intrude into your little boys club by suggesting you improve the overall quality of your titles. God forbid anyone ever publish anything of virtue which both genders can enjoy.
No, please, continue trying to shake not-so-shiny things in our peripheral vision, in the hope we will Go Away and leave you alone to continue writing WHORES WHORESWHORESWHORES… because that’s not patronising at all, now is it?
Comment by Sinny — April 23, 2008 @ 4:29 pm
What??? I just have to cringe at Kitty wearing a Nine Inch Nails T-Shirt though.
Comment by JESUS CHRIST — April 23, 2008 @ 5:05 pm
Sinny:
I guarantee you I would never write mysogynistic rubbish, or anything whore-like. And I’m the co-author.
Comment by Raina Telgemeier — April 23, 2008 @ 5:35 pm
Needs more fanservice - for both guys and gals.
Comment by dirk diggler — April 23, 2008 @ 7:19 pm
Now…look. I’m neutral about manga - not a hater, not a lover. But I’ve got to tell ya: Totoro/Snorlax doesn’t appeal to me at all. I mean, isn’t he supposed to agile and jumpy and somewhat quick?
Young Wolverine does NOT work, not for me at least. Unless the manga takes place in the 19th century. But then again all those other characters wouldn’t be alive. Oh, well.
Iceman feels way too generic - I almost tought it was just another design for Nightcrawler.
So…I’ll pass this one. Marvel might want to learn one thing or two about conversions with the Witchblade anime.
Comment by Pygmy — April 23, 2008 @ 8:49 pm
Wow. I love manga, and I love US comics, but this is…horrible looking. I’m so sick and tired of artists trying so hard to make ‘manga’ and all they end up doing is throwing every disgusting, over used stereotype from the genre into it. Seriously? Kitty has kitty ears? Are we serious here?? There’s a lot more range and serous depth in manga aside from what’s there in pokemon people. It’s not all cat girls and gross over exaggerated big mouths and girl looking guys, but that’s all I ever see from these artists who are trying to copy the style, rather then be influenced by it to create something new and serious and interesting.
Also, speaking as a girl, it’s really not necessary to gross ‘bishoujo flowing hair rose petals’ xmen up to make it interesting for my gender. All you need to do is learn how to write girls realistically, instead of the ridiculous, all over the place, no idea how girls react to shit dribble we usually get, and lay off the ho looking ladies and crazy buff looking wrestler guys.
Comment by unhappy — April 23, 2008 @ 10:42 pm
As a fan of both manga and comics I’m more than a little perturbed by the immaturity of the designs. I could have taken that Kitty drawing right out of my 8th grade notebook.
Nightcrawler has promise and Wolverine needs a little polishing, but the rest are desperately lacking personality. Beast is… well, you’re either going to love or hate the design, and I’m not a fan. Why does he look like an overstuffed badger?
Comment by Jenny — April 24, 2008 @ 12:31 am
GET SOME HAIR ON WOLVERINE THIS INSTANT. STUBBLE, ARM HAIR, BACK FUR, CHEST FUR. HE IS A HAIRY BASTARD, HE DOES NOT GET SUGAR WAXES AT BODY LOGIC.
Comment by hairs — April 24, 2008 @ 3:15 am
Regarding the shoujo ones, I was expecting more out of a professional artist. Not expecting CLAMP level of versatility or Yazawa Ai level of fashion detail here, but there are good artists out there, like Rem. That looks more like a middle-schooler sketch, an attempt to stick the X-Men name to generic manga designs rather than drawing according to their characters. Severely disappointed here.
Comment by Anya — April 24, 2008 @ 6:57 am
Here’s a question; will this publication be printed in traditional Marvel/DC comic book format, or in the manga tankouban, left-to-right collection of chapters?
Comment by Pablo_X — April 24, 2008 @ 10:43 am
Both the new character designs for the upcoming X-Men manga and Moebius recent Japan bashing rant are awfull.
Comment by alpha 7 — April 24, 2008 @ 12:30 pm
I was already vocal many months ago when sketchs and the concepts were shown months ago .
It was awful then , its even worse now .
I’m a fan of both comics and manga , even more of manga … and yet i find the work proposed here awful .
Why ? Let’s skip over the technical facts that those arent manga … i’m sick of that debate , and sales figures of those crappy kind of hybrid kinda agrees with me .
The problem here , especially with the shojo version , arent the ideas at their core - thought i would do something quite different - the problem here is with the level of the work and designs .
It’s amateur hour . The shojo one especially looks like anything a high school girl fan of shojo , would draw while bored during math classes .
Wether its in a generic style or unique one , if you want to compete with manga , at the very least do something that looks professional .
Aslo again , i feel that you should do things differently .. bringing the asian sensibility to the comics genre doesnt mean forcibly transforming spiderman into a ninja , giving him a mecha robot , or Jean grey a magical wand … Thats actually the kind of gross stereotype that would offend most manga fans . They already got that in spades , done well , why would they care about it mocked and ridiculed with comics characters ?
Things like the actual characters without much changes , but with the manga feel , storyboards , pacing and management of actions scenes would be difference enough .
Comment by Sesshomaru — April 24, 2008 @ 12:55 pm
Anzu is a fellow comic artist from my country, hope her luck, but it’s take more to do title on iconic characters, not only from “fresh assumption”
It will be good if the title is not X-Men
Comment by Eric Wu — April 24, 2008 @ 1:21 pm
All the designs look awesome - LOVE that Beast!
You people really need to chill out - there’s room for all kinds of interpretations of these characters, and it’s not like anyone is coming over to your house to rip up all your Dave Cockrum comics and replace them with these new versions.
Comment by Ryan Dunlavey — April 24, 2008 @ 2:29 pm
What do you mean Batman: Death Mask ‘probably isn’t going to be very good’? It’s brilliant, one of the best ever Batman comics. I blogged about it here: http://rodmckie.blogspot.com
I like what you say about Death Note though, I have a post on it and a link to my teeny manga blog where I look at the movies and the anime and the books. The Death Note machine is awesome.
Comment by Rod McKie — April 24, 2008 @ 5:15 pm
if you really love comic, you won’t care where it comes from. good comic is good comic, no matter what style is applied to it.
the wolverine looks alright to me — the kind you expect as a main character of a girl-oriented manga. but the kitty pride and beast are, frankly, a bit… worrying.
and don’t generalize manga. there are a lot of manga types out there, with different styles and themes. not just superheroes!
let’s suspend our judgment, wait until the comic is really published. then we can really say things about it.
Comment by blaster — April 24, 2008 @ 8:52 pm
“don’t generalize manga. there are a lot of manga types out there, with different styles and themes. not just superheroes!”
I just agree.
But the characters visuals could be a little more original… all of them look alike some another anime/game/manga character everybody’ve seen before.
Like I said: Kitty Pride is Nana Oosaki, from Nana? Looks sooooooooo alike.
And this Vincent guy… is he Terry Bogard from the game Garou: Mark of The Wolves? o.O’
Comment by Ikari Léo — April 24, 2008 @ 10:54 pm
I really like the Beast design and the Nightcrawler design looks nice too.
Comment by B|ackPanther — April 24, 2008 @ 11:58 pm
These just kind of make me think of a kid who hasn’t been exposed to much manga or anime trying to recreate characters in the bold, obvious, overused stereotypical archetypes found in those media, and then declaring that he’s creating authentic manga. Cat ears? Really? Bishi Wolverine? Really? So, let me guess, Xavier’s female students wear colorful sailor uniforms in battle, too? And Colossus transforms into a 30 foot tall mech? ::yawn:: Good thing Mageneto is already a bad guy with long white hair and a cape. No work will need to be done adapting him…..
Comment by FifthDream — April 25, 2008 @ 12:39 pm
Both the new character designs for the upcoming X-Men manga and Moebius Giraud’s recent anti Japanese rhetoric are awful.If Marvel wants to cash in on the manga boom so badly they should do what DC is doing with it’s CMX imprint.Marvel should publish licensed manga under a CMX like imprint.
Marvel can also follow Stan Lee’s example and create new titles that have nothing to do with the Marvel universe and get Japanese artist to draw then.Turning Spiderman into a Kamen Rider clone,turning Iron Man into a Gundam like mech and turning Kitty Pryde into a cat girl is a crass and tawdry way of cashing in on the Manga boom.
Comment by alpha 7 — April 25, 2008 @ 6:28 pm
“Turning Spiderman into a Kamen Rider clone,turning Iron Man into a Gundam like mech and turning Kitty Pryde into a cat girl is a crass and tawdry way of cashing in on the Manga boom.”
Um… there is no Spider-man Kamen Rider clone or an Iron Man mech in this series. It’s just X-Men, man.
Comment by Ayanami — April 26, 2008 @ 8:06 pm
This is awful. As a girl, I’m deeply insulted. I’m going to say it’s probably NOT going to actually have any of the appeal of shojo, it’s just going to take that crappy art, slap it on there and go “here, girls! you like this manga stuff, right?”
I think the Anzu stuff is less an attempt to cash in on the manga market, and more an attempt to cash in on the FEMALE market that manga’s opened up. What a disgusting, blatant bid to get females to buy the books. Guess what? IT ISN’T GOING TO WORK.
Comment by cap — April 26, 2008 @ 8:13 pm
As someone who reads manga and has generally grown up with Asian styled art, I actually find Anzu’s designs pretty authentic and attractive.
In general it sounds like folks are trying to nitpick style that they don’t like anyways. Furthermore,
I’m not sure why everyone slaps the label “OEL artist” on her when she has been born and raised in Indonesia.
Oh well. It seems like this book wasn’t meant for most of newsrama’s audience anyways.
Comment by Sherl — April 26, 2008 @ 10:52 pm
“Um… there is no Spider-man Kamen Rider clone or an Iron Man mech in this series. It’s just X-Men, man”
I know that. I was just trying to say that turning Marvel characters into anime, manga and sentai show stereotypes is a bad idea.
Comment by alpha 7 — April 26, 2008 @ 11:38 pm
Wonder if this will be more successful than the last time X-Men went Manga….
Comment by GQ — April 27, 2008 @ 7:57 am
Well, i find some of these designs pretty attractive. I’m a professional illustrator with enough years of art studies, and i think several of the characters look expressive enough, and not as horribly generic as some people here have said.
It’s just a matter of taste.
As a female fan of regular x-men, as well as a shoujo manga lover, i’m gonna check ‘em out. Especially the x-men one.
Comment by Wintermist — April 28, 2008 @ 12:09 am
“Cold, expressionless, empty eyes”. On Robert “Class Clown” Drake. Because, you see, his power is related to ice, therefore he has to be cold!
If this isn`t automatically using manga stereotypes instead of trying to know a damn about characters themselves, I don`t know what is.
Comment by Jae — April 28, 2008 @ 10:39 am
““Cold, expressionless, empty eyes”. On Robert “Class Clown” Drake. Because, you see, his power is related to ice, therefore he has to be cold!”
I dunno, I don’t think ANZU knows much about X-Men, at least, not from what I’ve seen her descriptions of the characters.
Nevertheless, she’s not doing any writing for it, so it’s a moot point whether she’s an expert on the series or not. Raina and Dave are writing this, so if you want to judge based on what REALLY matters (the story) see what their ideas for the series are instead of what the artist thinks.
Comment by Ayanami — April 28, 2008 @ 5:05 pm
Yes, but when the art is ugly, the series does suffer. Granted, great art cannot save a series (Goddamn Batman is proof), but it certaintly doesn’t help. One look at this and you can tell Marvel just wanted to run their characters through the Manga Clichetron 9000 and post the ensuing artwork to attract a female audience that has no interest in reading X-Men now or ever.
Hardcore X-Men fans have posted comments from “This is stupid” to “I threw up in my mouth, I hate manga.” Manga readers don’t have any desire to read X-Men now or ever. This is a losing venture just like the Mangaverse was.
Comment by Beat — April 29, 2008 @ 4:21 pm
Normally I’m very open to try new artistic styles and aproaches in well known characters, whether they are American, Japanese, Mexican, European, etc.
But these designs SUCKS with capital S!!!! specially Totoro…er… McCoy.
I love american comic books, I like manga ( mostly shonen, mecha and lets say ” male ” stuff, no girlie b.s for me, please) I like the combination of both when they are properly executed ( Otomo on Batman comes to mind) but these….. are UGLY
Comment by karmix — April 29, 2008 @ 7:44 pm
“But these designs SUCKS with capital S!!!! specially Totoro…er… McCoy.
I love american comic books, I like manga ( mostly shonen, mecha and lets say ” male ” stuff, no girlie b.s for me, please)”
But if that’s your attitude toward shoujo, then it’s pointless of you to complain about the designs for the X-Men manga since it’s targeted toward girls in the first place.
Comment by Ayanami — April 30, 2008 @ 9:02 am
From a storytelling standpoint, I don’t see this treading any new ground in an appealing way. It’s going to be a cheap effort at a regular cliche magical girl/boy story with X-Men nerdery thrown into the background dialogue instead of cliched manga nerdery. Probably high school romance reverse-harem style for girls a la Fushigi Yugi (possibly InuYasha if we are all very very lucky, and even then it will be bad), and “boy’s adventure” RPG style a la Final Fantasy for the guys. Much like the various “Bruce Li”s and “Little Dragon Lee”s of the world shortly after Bruce Lee’s death, it will not only not succeed, it can only do harm to Marvel’s reputation if it doesn’t just fade away without notice in a matter of months. This being said, I do and have read manga marketed to both men/boys and women/girls, and I can say without hesitation that a lot of manga sucks just like a lot of western comics suck (including some of “X-Men”s exceedingly long run, I don’t discriminate) regardless of target audience and gender.
The division between genders is also an odd choice for a western interpretation of manga (read: poorly thought out path of least resistance), because said split is a social construct, and the lines drawn between what is for girls and what is for boys are very different in Japan than in America.
The art itself isn’t bad; it’s perfectly decent as far as manga-style goes. The “Wolverine” series stuff looks less annoying than the X-Men stuff, and I’m a girl, so I guess that marketing already failed. …but it’s all just a deadly, deadly trap! I refuse to touch Wolverine-centric stuff because it invariably sucks. However, the stylization of the characters in both series feels like the artist is trying to give an impression of very shallow bits and pieces of Japanese culture, so that it seems like a “real” manga– which is just cultural snobbery, but whatever, it is an issue– but I feel like I’m expected to squeal in Japanese to describe the characters, and be thrilled at the inclusion of “accuracy”. Super obnoxious, especially in the “X-Men” designs! I may be a girl nerd, but I am actually a nerd, not just for comics. -5 “Femme Points”.
Money-wise, I can only see the trendy kids who only like manga even giving the series a second look if it was under a different title with different mutant characters (like New Mutants or X-Factor) and released in black and white graphic novel format instead of colorful monthly.
Comment by Genevieve — May 3, 2008 @ 5:09 am
This trash is not mangá, at least the style is similar to comics.
All they want is money from manga fandom, with their neverending stories (at least when it still makes money).
I hate comics, there’s no sense, no logical, just an excuse to sell.
Comment by Kadu — May 6, 2008 @ 7:02 pm
It’s funny how all these “fans” are jumping the gun on this project, being so sure it won’t succeed and it’ll suck, etc etc whiny etc. All that’s been shown for it is the basic premise and the character designs, nobody (except the respective writers) know what will happen in it. So, just wait until it comes out to judge it and, you know, whine about it some more.
Comment by Ayanami — May 7, 2008 @ 9:35 am
There’s a description of Kitty’s manga incarnation here: http://activeanime.com/delreyblog/?p=134
Doesn’t seem cliche or misogynistic like a lot of people keep saying. She gives off a ‘Genshiken’ vibe and I think that’s a *good* thing.
Comment by SuperStaff — May 8, 2008 @ 4:28 pm
Terrible - Very Gay lookin
Comment by George — May 11, 2008 @ 3:00 pm
is vincent supose to be sabertooth? still cool.
Comment by person — May 13, 2008 @ 11:47 am
manga is better than ameri-comics
Comment by marvel sucks — May 16, 2008 @ 1:03 am
manga is better than ameri-comics
Comment by marvel sucks — May 16, 2008 @ 1:05 am
manga is better than ameri-comics
Comment by marvel sucks — May 16, 2008 @ 1:05 am