Marvel wants to give classic comic book characters like Spider-Man, The Fantastic Four and Wolverine an anime-style makeover.
According to the New York Times, the comic giant has hooked up with renowned Japanese animation studio Madhouse to develop anime versions of some of their characters for 4 new series, debuting in the spring of 2010. There are as yet no plans to bring the series across the Pacific Ocean.
Spider-Man, Iron Man Goes Anime
Rather than just taking the American characters and concepts into the Japanese milieu, said Simon Philips, Marvel International's president, the two companies hope to create “something that is part of the fabric of (Japanese) society.” This means re-imagining the back stories and redesigning the look of Marvel’s stable of characters to reflect Japanese culture.
“It will create an entire parallel universe for Marvel,” Phillips said.
“Marvel today is so open-minded,” said Jungo Maruta, president and chief executive of Madhouse, through his interpreter, Alex Yeh, the studio's chief operating officer, to the New York Times. “Marvel gives creators freedom to fly.”
Madhouse has become one of the better-known anime houses since its inception in 1972. Some of its better-known properties include Yoshiaki Kawajiri's Vampire Hunter D, the Tokyo Tribes manga series, created by Santa Inoue; and Satoshi Kon's acclaimed feature film Paprika.
“We are very excited to be involved,” Mr. Yeh said showing off several manga-influenced drawings of Iron Man the company has already produced. Mr. Yeh said working on the Marvel characters is different from his past experiences with American entertainment companies.
“Although they say, ‘I want Japanese anime,’ it’s not what they actually want," Yeh said, taking a swipe at DC Comics' recent production of Batman: Gotham Knight, which gave the classic character an anime look, but with American-style stories and themes. "(The other companies) want a hybrid between Japanese and Western animation.”
The Madhouse connection is more than just a way for Marvel to freshen up their old school comic characters like Captain America or Thor. Index, a company that provides content for mobile phones, owns Madhouse.
Marvel is interested in getting their comics onto cellphones, which has become a popular way for gadget-crazy Japanese teenagers to access media and entertainment.
Phillips said the upcoming anime series will be adapted into manga form, and will also be available for downloading onto cellphones.
Fun Fact: This isn't the first time Marvel has tried modifying their characters for the lucrative Japanese market. In the late 1970's, the company tried to translate existing Spider-Man comics and sell them in Japan.
When that plan bombed, Marvel recruited acclaimed manga artist/writer Ryoichi Ikegami (Mai, the Psychic Girl) to write and illustrate an entirely different back story for Spider-Man. Peter Parker became Yu Komori, a Japanese high school student with a similar backstory. Unfortunately, the manga makeover appealed to no one, and Marvel pulled the plug on the series after 31 issues.
(Thanks to JoBlo's Mike Sampson for turning me onto this Fun Fact)
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