Today, during the Marvel panel at C2E2, Editor-in-Chief C.B. Cebulski unveiled details regarding Marvel’s Ultraman comics based on Tsuburaya Productions iconic hero. Titled, The Rise of Ultraman, the series is scheduled to launch later in 2020, and it will revisit the original 1966 tokusatsu series. The book will be co-helmed by writers Kyle Higgins and Mat Groom, with art by Francesco Manna. In additional, promotional art for the series is illustrated by Ed McGuinness, and Matthew Wilson.
Fans of Power Rangers should recognize Kyle Higgins for his incredible run on Boom! Studios’ Mighty Morphin Power Rangers comics, as well as his work on Winter Soldier. Whereas, Mat Groom is known by tokusatsu fans for his podcast, Ranger Danger, or his run with Image Comics’ Self/Made. Then as for Francesco Manna, he recently worked on illustrating Dan Slott’s Fantastic Four comics. We have quotes from the two writers regarding their love and knowledge of Ultraman, and the tokusatsu genre:
“A few years ago, thanks to my time on Power Rangers, I was able to discover and learn more about tokusatsu. With its wildly different conventions and inspirations, tokusatsu — and Ultraman in particular — has been a huge source of joy for me. It’s a genre so ripe with possibilities, even down to what we conceive of in the structure of Super Hero storytelling. It’s both an honor and a privilege to bring Ultraman to Marvel.” – Kyle Higgins
“Monsters in fiction have been embodying all that is dark and scary in our world for as long as we’ve been telling stories. But I don’t think anybody understood the immense scale of our most pressing problems quite like Eiji Tsuburaya. He imagined the darkness looming overhead as tall as skyscrapers— alien and unknowable and ANGRY. But he also imagined us being able to stand up to those monsters, by rising above our worst impulses and embracing a nobler way of being. He imagined ULTRAMAN. What does that mean in this complex, contradictory world of lies? We’re going to find out…” – Mat Groom
Now, this is an incredible follow up to the initial announcement made in November 2019, that Marvel Comics and Tsuburaya Productions were collaborating together. However, knowing that our team is tokusatsu fans themselves just confirms that The Rise of Ultraman is guaranteed to take off. We at Hero Club cannot wait to see new stories based on the iconic characters from the original Ultraman series, and we can only hope it expands to the other series. Nevertheless, please stay tuned for more details on this comic title in the coming months!
Source: Marvel, Ultraman Galaxy
