My New Manga Series, Announced at Tor.com
Posted on April 1, 2012 Posted by John Scalzi 53 Comments
Okay, so here’s an announcement that I’ve been sitting on for a while, which I can finally tell you about:
I’m doing a manga series.
It’s a format I’ve been curious about for a while — we had planned a manga series around Old Man’s War a few years ago, but it had gotten hung up on contractual issues — so to be finally able to say that a project is under way is really exciting. In fact, I don’t think I’ve been this excited about a project for a whole year.
Tor.com has all the details, plus the absolutely fantastic cover art by artist Madeleine Rosca. Really, she has done a spectacular job, capturing the look and feel of the project. I simply could not be happier about the work she’s done.
So, what are you waiting for? Go! And I hope you love this manga project as much as I do. I expect great things from it. I can’t wait for you to see it.
Update: Some people have noted the date as questionable, so let me just say this: We know most major publishing projects aren’t announced on a Sunday, but we had reason to believe we were about to be scooped on our own project by a comics site. And of course we couldn’t have that. I hope this clears up any confusion.
I thought for sure you were going to announce the publication of Old Man’s Navy.
See, now, that would just be silly.
Keep it up, you’re going to end up writing these things.
Hayden’s quote is the best.
The cover art IS awesome.
You know, all of your fans would love to buy these.
You’re just being an evil tease now.
I was anxiously looking for where to buy the trilogy, then I remembered…
I am going to adapt Tor’s statement below for multiple uses! Best April Fool’s so far.
“By leveraging our our best-of-breed holdings in the Scalzi mindspace we expect to facilitate new opportunities to monetize our subcultural platforms. Through granular 24/7 frictionless architectures we will embrace-and-extend our web-ready eyeballs into impactful relationships. As ever, Tor is proud to be at the forefront of the new wave of the cutting edge.”
Make a Braille version of this manga series and take my money!
This would actually sell very, very well…
WILL sell very very will, I think you mean to say.
I’ll wait for the novelization.
Screw you ;). And screw April, too.
Very well done.
The first three pages are just one continuous narration box, yes?
What a sellout. I remember when SWotND first came out, it was an edgy, indy series that spoke to relevant social issues like night, and dragons. This adaptation is just dumbing it down to the lowest common denominator. Boo, Mr. Scalzi.
The kittens chewing on the human arm in the 1st volume makes the entire endeavour worthwhile.
Ah! A complete sell-out! How could you do this to your legions of dedicated SWotND fans! I’ve lost all faith in you with this announcement. It wouldn’t surprise me to hear that the next thing you’ll be releasing are fuzzy, big-eyed, manga plush dolls of the Dragons!!! Taking what was once dark, dangerous, deadly – the epitome of dragonness – and reducing it to a huggable toy for tots! Scalzi, you’ll curse the day that you decided to sell out yourself and your fans this way. Yes, this day last year was the start of something beautiful, amazing, wonderful, extraordinary, beautiful, but today, one year later, it all falls to ruin.
Shut up and take my money!
I hope the opening sentence stays intact.
Patrick’s strategic vision is breathtaking in it’s depth and boldness, and, dare I say, unparalleled in its expression of holistic understanding of granular fulfillment issues.
The blonde skull priestess fighting with a fork made my day.
Shoot. I forgot to ask if this is the Spank Chronicles project.
Shut up and take my money.
I have to agree with the comment (over at Tor) that the single best thing about the covers is the little dude with the bucket of chicken. There is ALWAYS time for chicken, no matter how dire the situation.
Eh, I’ll wait for the movie adaptation.
We’ll need to get at least one week into April, without this being denounced as an April’s Fool, before I’ll believe it. It’s just too convenient that the day that you get close to getting scooped and therefore have to announce it, happens to be on Aplri 1st. It’s the kind of thing I wish were true, though.
Not only a bucket of chicken…there’s also a martini glass on that same cover. Most excellent.
Why is there not a 3D version of this movie at my multiplex already?
I hate when my eyeballs are extended and impacted. Or even embraced.
While reading the excerpt and looking at the covers I am now laughing my ass off out loud in a coffee shop! I hope this doesn’t make people think I am not really writing an AMAZING NEW NOVEL that will change literature forever, because I totally am.
diaf. I hate this day…….
(Please don’t actually diaf…)
I love this! The attack kittens, KFC buckets, and fork fighters are fantastic. I always come to Whatever first thing the first of April.
It isn’t that we don’t trust you, we just remember a big announcement of a new project exactly one year ago today. It also had Tor.com providing support.
Heh. Tor.com does a mess of these every first of April and they are always hilarious.
Also, the phrase that pays is going to be “Shut up and take my money!” (Hmmmm…that has a rhythm to it…)
I’m still waiting for the English translation of book 3. I hope the manga doesn’t ruin it for me.
You know you should be careful John! You keep this up and you’re going to end up actually writing the trilogy. And we’d have to buy it. Then there would you be?
Meanwhile I’m sure the Nidu are up to something that Harry Creek, Robin and their hacker friend Brian have to handle again. And I’m sure that needs documenting too.
Hm. Maybe a mash up between Shadow War and Android’s Dream world?
D: Are you suggesting that Tor isn’t really going to publish these? John would be crushed if they did that to him just for the sake of a joke. They wouldn’t really be that cruel, would they?
A few local SF cons sometimes scedule a joke track of program items in a non-existant room. It frequently turns out that one of these program items is the most desirable one in the time slot.
Of course the first sentence will be in the Manga. There will be a special first sentence issue.
Your know Scalzi, If you actually were to make a manga called Shadow War of the Night Dragon, it would be just like you to announce it on April 1st.
I’m still waiting for the Scalzi/Brian Herbert Dune-Prequel-prequel Old Man’s Spice.
I love the spoon-wielding critters on the Dream of the Fire Wolf cover.
Fred, with an aftershave marketing tie-in, right?
Well played, sir. Well played.
Next Tor’ll announce its erotica imprint Torrid, its Mexican food sideline TORtas, its new mascot the TORtoise, and its theme song “Tor” (sung by Natalie Imbruglia)…
It’s a shame Gravatar avatars are so small, because otherwise I’d be all over making an avatar out of the human flesh eating kittens!
Ah. See, the funny thing is that I was thinking “Cool! Scalzi’s going to be writing some sort of space opera graphic novel thing!” And then it was a joke. Which is a shame, since I would actually buy that graphic novel.
Aww.
This would have been pretty cool to see…
Now I want a Fire Wolf!
I don’t have anything to say that Scott Lynch haven’t said already so I just come to ask about the dark future of Nebula voting. Do something now when there’s still time (and you are still in power)!
I would buy and read the heck out of this series! There were a lot of nice grace notes on the covers, but I particularly liked the “flesh”-tone bandaids on the dark elf as a searing yet heartfelt meta-commentary on minstrelsy in fantasy.
At the least, there should be T-shirts made of the covers, so Ms. Rosca can pay off her student loans.
Shut up and take my money!
I’m “meh” on OLD MAN’S SPICE and OLD MAN’S NAVY, but I’m really looking forward to OLD MAN’S RIVER.
I imagine the first few frames of the first book are going to use rather a lot of ink…
[Deleted because you need to speak with a forked tongue to comment on this thread, and someone with half a tongue obviously isn’t forking gonna be able to. –nJS]
Are those Badgers with spoons on the cover of Book 3? Is that a “My little Uni” on the cover of Book 2? I’m not a huge Manga fan, but I want posters of those covers!
Nicely Done, to your whole production team, sir.
Can you truly call this manga? It looks more… french…
Ian, Why something as small as a RIVER? What about OLD MAN’S SEA? It has really big fish.
Uh…Isn’t the title “Shadow War of the Night Dragon”S” “??? (Dragon is plural)