With Joe and Jack Kelly, Cody Ziglar, Kenny Ruiz, Mirka Andolfo, More; Covers by Yuji Kaku
Marvel Comics will mark the 25th anniversary of the Marvel Mangaverse (a.k.a. Earth-2301) with a five-issue event that will run on a weekly schedule in September 2026. The event will consist of five one-shots, all with covers by manga artist Yuji Kaku, the creator of the VIZ Media series Hell’s Paradise: Jigokuraku. Two comics by the father-and-son team of Joe and Jack Kelly and artist Kenny Ruiz will bookend the event, which is based on the assumption that the Mangaverse has been operating continuously for the past 25 years.
Here’s the lineup:
- Marvel Mangaverse: Web of Blood #1, by writers Joe and Jack Kelly and artist Kenny Ruiz (on sale 9/2);
- Marvel Mangaverse: Iron Knight #1, by writer Cody Ziglar and artist Kei Zama (9/9);
- Marvel Mangaverse: Arcane Avengers #1, by writer Ashley Allen and artist Mirka Andolfo (9/16);
- Marvel Mangaverse: Ghostlocke #1, by writer Alyssa Wong and artist Michael Yg (9/23);
- Marvel Mangaverse: Web of Destiny #1, by writers Joe and Jack Kelly and artist Kenny Ruiz (9/30).
Web of Blood and Web of Destiny feature Spider-Man (Miles Morales), Weapon X-Tremis (Laura Kinney), and Legion (Illyana Rasputin), who are wrestling with the response to a coming apocalypse, questioning whether they can prevent it or will simply bring it on faster. Iron Knight will be set in new Chicago and feature Riri Williams and Moon Knight; Arcane Avengers will introduce the title team, a group of yokai-fighting sorcerers led by Bucky Barnes, the Winter Soldier; and Ghostlocke will feature the title character fighting Carnage.
“Every single creator contributing to this celebration are huge manga fans themselves, and many have either come from international manga backgrounds, or have been heavily influenced by manga in their own creative journeys,” editor Lauren Amaro said in a statement accompanying the announcement. “Of course, none of this could exist without the source material that has inspired our creators, so when it came time to cast the main covers, the first person to come to mind was acclaimed mangaka, Yuji Kaku Sensei, who I’ve had the pleasure of working with on Phases of the Moon Knight. Kaku Sensei collaborated with the writers by taking their initial story pitches and character descriptions and creating an absolutely amazing set of covers, setting the tone for each character’s design and helping to modernize Marvel Mangaverse as we return to it 25 years after its debut.”
The original Marvel Mangaverse ran from 2000 to 2002 and featured an alternate universe with manga-style character designs and storytelling (see “More Manga at Marvel“). C.B. Cebulski, now Marvel’s Editor-in-Chief, was a consultant on the project and was subsequently hired as an associate editor. Marvel published a complete collection in 2017 (see “Marvel Collects the ‘Mangaverse’”).
Click Gallery below for covers and characters!
Source: ICV2
