As the mystery of the murderous Titans, grotesque giants who have all but wiped out the human race, continues to unfurl in Hajime Isayama's blockbuster manga, Kodansha Comics is readying a new look at the epic of young Eren Jaeger, bringing in some of comics' greatest talents from outside of Japan for "Attack on Titan Anthology." The publisher previewed the anthology for Free Comic Book Day, and now Kodansha is prepared to reveal a bit more at Comic-Con International in San Diego. On hand for the panel are Kodansha editor Ben Applegate, Kate Leth, Jeremy Lambert, Brendan Fletcher, and Ronald Wimberly, with Jody Houser joining later. CBR will have live updates, so make sure you don't venture outside this page!
Applegate began with an announcement about a deluxe edition of "Ghost in the Shell," the first three volumes with original Japanese sound effects and right to left orientation for the first time. Kodansha will also publish a deluxe box set of "Akira," all six volumes in hardcover, in right to left with original sound effects.
After a trailer for the anthology, Applegate showed pin-ups from Kevin Wada, Paulo Rivera, and Afua Richardson. Michael Avon Oeming will contribute a story, as will Fletcher, Cameron Stewart, and Babs Tarr, which will be set in at a convention. Asaf and Tomer Hanuka have a short, and Evan Dorkin will do gag strips. WImberly's first image from his story appeared, which seems to show a Titans puppet show. Wimberly said there are many real-life cameos in the story, including an appearance by a well-known person Applegate described as "a certain orange American."
Sam Humphries and Damion Scott are doing a story Applegate described as "Roald Dahl meets Attack on Titan. "The adults don't come out of this story intact," Applegate said.
Other teams include Simon Spurrier, Kate Brown, and Paul Duffield; Faith Erin Hicks, whose tale "Begins as a serious AoT drama and then goes somewhere completely different;" an in-universe travelogue from Genevieve Valentine and David Lopez; Scott Snyder and Rafael Albuquerque, whose story Applegate said "is incredibly timely and very dramatic;" Phil Jimenez and Gail Simone, with Jimenez also doing a Diamond-exclusive cover. Paulo Rivera will do an exclusive cover for Books A Million and its Fried Pie distributor, Faith Erin Hicks will have an exclusive at Barnes and Noble, and there will be a New York Comic Con exclusive cover by Paul Pope. "This is only part of the image," Applegate said of the reveal on screen.
Discussing the appeal of the "Attack on Titan" manga and anime, the creators spoke enthusiastically of the technique and storytelling.
“It’s kaiju, it’s giant robots, it’s body horror--It’s a synthesis of a lot of different genres,” Wimberly said.
“You think you know what happens in stories – the protagonist definitely survives, right?” Leth joked.
“Those tiny panels,” Wimberly said. “As an artist, some of the things he’s doing are really interesting as an artist. That’s a rhythm.” Applegate said he would like to rotate all the captions 90 degrees to more accurately reflect the Japanese reading experience.
As to how to describe it to a new reader a la an elevator pitch, Wimberly offered, "It's like 'Evil Dead' meets 'Evangelion.'"
"The Si Spurrier story is all about" the titans' childlike element, Applegate said. Wimberly added, "hey, if you just found a bunch of delicious things to eat, wouldn't you look like that too?"
Leth joked that editor Janine Schaefer prompted her to "add more murder."
"As someone who grew up on 'Sailor Moon' and CLAMP, I thought, 'oh, this is anime, this will be fine," Leth said. Applegate recounted some of his notes to Leth about killing major characters.
"My main note for Ron was 'less S&M,'" Applegate said.
"I basically pitched a graphic novel," Wimberly said. "You're doing 'Attack on Titan,' you want to do a whole year of it."
As Wimberly departed, Babs Tarr joined the panel.
"When I do get into horror, I really like the descent into madness, the unreliable narrator," Leth said, "so our story will do a lot of that.
Source : CBR
Comments