Marvel is celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Marvel Mangaverse with five weekly one-shots releasing throughout September, bookended by a two-part story from writer Joe Kelly, his son Jack Kelly and artist Kenny Ruiz.
The Mangaverse launched in 2000 as a line of one-shots presenting manga-inspired re-imaginings of Marvel characters, and this anniversary event picks up as if the line had been publishing continuously ever since.
“Every week my dad and I talk for hours about everything that’s happening in our favorite comics and manga, so being asked to do this for Marvel has been an honor,” said Jack Kelly.
The original Mangaverse kicked off with Marvel Mangaverse: New Dawn, written and drawn by Antarctic Press founder Ben Dunn. It introduced a female Iron Man, a kaiju Hulk and President Steve Rogers. A sequel, New Mangaverse, followed in late 2005 and early 2006. The line was a mixed bag, with an ambitious concept but an uneven execution, with its alternate-universe Spider-Man becoming the most enduring character to emerge from it thanks to all the Spider-verse books we’ve had in recent years.
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