The good folks at Viz have provided me with the details of their forthcoming release of TEKKON KINKREET: BLACK & WHITE ALL IN ONE EDITION, the all new edition of Taiyo Matsumoto’s fantastic manga. Previously released in English under the Pulp banner as BLACK & WHITE, the three-volume series was a little-seen gem from one of Japan’s most talented and innovative manga-ka. Now, in conjunction with the forthcoming animated adaptation of the story from Sony Pictures, Viz are re-releasing the entire series in one mammoth volume, in a format that even surpasses the Japanese edition of this book.
The book will be a softcover with dustjacket, similar in to Viz’s release of Matsumoto’s (unfinished) series NO.5. The above image is the front cover of the dustjacket featuring one of the series’ young protagonists, Black. The back cover (which I can’t show you, sorry!) will feature the other protagonist, White. Purists may note that this image is not the same as the Japanese cover for this edition, but fret not! Underneath the dust-jacket, the physical book will have a close approximation of the Japanese cover, shown here.
What else is in store for this edition, that will make it an absolutely essential purchase, even for people who bought it the first time? Here are the official stats on the collection:
Official title: TEKKONKINKREET: Black & White
Price: $29.95
Release date: September
Official Movie Site: http://www.sonypictures.com/homevideo/tekkonkinkreet/index.html
Size: 7 1/8″ x 10 1/8″, the same size as the recent re-release of Nausicaa
Orientation: Western Style, L-to-R
Bonus Material:
– Poster Insert, Measuring 7 1/8″ x 20 1/4″, in full colour
– Approximately 12 full colour manga pages. In colour for the first time in North America, and even the Japanese All-in-One edition did not feature these pages in colour!
– Foreword Q&A with TEKKON KINKREET movie director Michael Arias and screenwriter Anthony Weintraub.
This is just-about the best presentation of this material that I can think of, and the material itself is among my favourite manga ever (if not my favourite stuff). I’ve posted about Matsumoto and BLACK & WHITE before, and this September you’re going to to get your opportunity to pick it up for yourself and find out what all the fuss is about. Make sure you do!
The TEKKON KINKREET: ALL IN ONE EDITION is in Previews NOW! (the Booster Gold Cover, not the Black Canary Wedding Cover). Reserve a copy with your local comic book store owner before this Tuesday when their orders are due! Unless you shop at The Beguiling, because we’re ordering like 150 of these.
– Christopher
Can’t wait. Set one aside for me buddy.
Thanks for the reminder, Chris! I totally just pre-ordered it. ^__^
Man, I am 1000% excited for this comic. The movie looks pretty great as well.
Awesome. Props to Viz for making my double-dip worth it, though I probably would have bought it even if they printed it on toilet paper. Shame the film is supposed to be mediocre.
Looks like they’ve flipped one of the images, as the line over the eye changes sides from one cover to the other.
Good catch! I would imagine that since the interiors are flipped, the cover image is flipped as well. That red cover is ACTUALLY from the Japanese edition, who knows? The english version might be flipped too.
– Chris
Any idea why it’s being printed L-to-R? Simply because that’s how it was printed in PULP and it’s easier/cheaper to re-release it that way?
John- I think the prevailing wisdom amongst publishers is that any book intended for an older AND more mainstream audience than your average manga, can’t be bothered to learn how to read books L to R. It’s hard to argue that, because the most successful ones–the Tezuka from Vertical and the Tatsume from D&Q–have been flipped.
(That and this was already flipped, re-sound effect’d, and lettered back in the day. I can imagine they’d like to keep the bottom line looking as nice as possible considering that there’s no way it’s gonna do SJ numbers…)
It will be interesting to see how the audience in the States will respond to this animation film.