News New Ultraman comics coming 2020 from Marvel

[Kai "the spy"]

CBR| Marvel to Publish New Ultraman Comics in 2020

Marvel and Tsuburaya have announced this deal together at the Tokyo Comic Con. They didn't give a lot of further information, neither on release window, nor on creative teams. Even the promotional art by Alex Ross seen above is re-used from a series of promotional poster art Ross did for the Ultra Series quite some time ago.

My guess is that the deal was struck just shortly before the Comic Con, so they didn't have time to get new promotional art.

Anyway, Marvel has quite a line of licenced comics now, with Star Wars, Conan, and now Ultraman. Also, this is another step for Tsuburaya in making the Ultra Series an international franchise.

One thing, though, there's a line in the CBR article:

"Now, as we enter the 2020s, [Ultraman]'s making his way to American comic books thanks to Marvel."

This gives the impression that there never were American Ultraman comics before. In fact, there was a licenced comic book in the early 90s based on the Australian co-production "Ultraman: Toward the Future" (aka "Ultraman Great"). There have also been some Asian comics based on Ultraman released in North America, from the Hongkong "Ultraman TIga" comic series released by Dark Horse to the recent Manga series from Viz (which is the basis to the Netflix show).

In any event, I'm quite looking forward to this.

 

[Shaka Zulu]

I hope that this works, and that Ultraman can even be a member of the Avengers.

 

[JD]

Any word on whether or not they will be able to incorporate him into the Marvel Universe. They have brought Conan over, but haven't, to my total shock, have not done any crossovers with Star Wars.

 

[Shaka Zulu]

Ultraman should be easier to incorporate into the MCU (Marvel Comic Universe) than Star Wars; after all, Godzilla was incorporated into the Marvel Universe when there was a Godzilla comic book featuring him in the '70's.

 

[Kai "the spy"]

I think they might try something akin to their Conan approach. Have the main Ultra title(s) not related to the rest of the MU, but then have one version on some Avengers team. They'd probably create their own new Ultraman character for that, though.

But that's pure speculation. As I said before, there was very little information presented.

 

[JD]

Yeah, I read the announcement on Marvel.com and there is no mention of crossovers.
I've never watched Ultraman, but I've been considering it. Where would be a good place to start? I'm mainly wanting to stick to the ones on Crunchroll or ShoutFactorTV:
Max
Orb
X
Geed
Leo
Gaia
Nexus
Mebius

 

[Kai "the spy"]

Well, the original show is available from Mill Creek Entertainment in the U.S., both as DVD/BluRay and streaming on Amazon for $0.99 per episode. A couple of shows are available on the Amazon Toku Channel, among them is "Ultraman Mebius", which was my personal introduction. It was the return to the original timeline from the shows from '66 to '80 after 25 years, so it presents the classic concepts and universe, but without expecting the audience to know it already.

 

[Kai "the spy"]

Marvel has announced a 5-issue mini-series to launch in late 2020.

They got Kyle Higgins and Mat Groom to write, and they have some experience translating Tokusatsu TV into comics, as they have been writing Boom's Power Rangers comics. Higgins has also written a few fill-in issues at Marvel, and has done several DC Comics, particularly Nightwing and Batman Beyond.

Art will be done by Francesco Manna, who has worked on several books, like Marvel's Avengers, Old Man Logan, Tony Stark Iron Man, Cloak & Dagger, Champions or Amazing Spider-Man, as well as other comics like Crossed, Dejah Thoris, Witchblade, Doctor Who, or Knight Rider.

 

[Samurai8472]

Some images from Marvel's upcoming Ultraman series

https://twitter.com/rangerdcast/status/1233911571463602176

 

[The Lensman]

I literally just watched this episode of Ultra Q tonight!

I've picked up the steelbook editions of Ultra Q, Ultraman, UltraSeven and Return of Ultraman.

Haven't much time lately to watch anything, and I wanted to watch some Ultraman, but decided I wanted to view everything in order, even though Ultra Q is not part of the Ultraman universe proper.

I watched the original Ultraman as a very young kid in the early 70's, and in an age when Asian stuff wasn't as prevalent as it is now, Ultraman (and Speed Racer & Battle Of The Planets) were revelatory. Like the original Trek, there's just something about the original Ultraman that fires on all cylinders. Everything about it is cool to me.

But I also wanted to get a taste of the larger Ultraverse, as I've not seen anything beyond the original, so I picked up UltraSeven and Return of Ultraman and will probably get the later Ultra shows that filled out the 70's as well as they have a lot of team ups with previous Ultramen, according to my reading. I've seen some stuff from later era (90's and 00's) shows and I guess if you're a 90's kid, those will work better for you. But the FX just look like video produced crap with low budget tv CGI and overly detailed and plastic looking outfits. Too much like Power Rangers and similar shows.

I prefer my cheap looking stuff to be on film, models with strings, a guy in a painted wetsuit and animated beam effects. For some reason it just works better for me. Even the movies have some really low grade CGI, especially in some of the flying sequences, and I'd prefer the plastic model of a guy flying to that.

But I like the idea of exploring the larger Ultraverse, and like the idea that a later Ultra show was someone's first and favorite. The original is mine, and I'm looking forward to revisiting it. I am a little disappointed that the blu-rays' don't have the original English dub, as that version is the one I'm nostalgic for. Luckily I found the complete series on DVD with the English dub for 10 bucks. On my watch through, I will be subtitles only for consistency sake.

As for Marvel...I could see them incorporating a version of Ultraman into their universe, most likely a version that won't give them any issues when they eventually drop or lose the license. They did it with Godzilla when I was a kid (Hercules toppling Godzilla was one of the coolest things I read in a comic as a kid and the image has always stuck with me).

But I fucking despise Marvel incorporating Conan into the modern era. There's just something obnoxious about it to me. Ah well, I'm not reading them anyway.

 

[Kai "the spy"]

 

[JD]

Is this going to be their own original new Ultraman or one from one of the shows?

 

[Kai "the spy"]

Is this going to be their own original new Ultraman or one from one of the shows?

Well, from the looks of it, it's the '66 Ultraman. The two officially released art pieces (covers?) show the design of that Ultraman:

The two Kaijus shown are Baltan and Gomora, both of which appeared in the '66 show.

Also, the designs shown at C2E2 (see @Samurai8472 's post above) show not only the uniform from the original show's SSSP, but one of the characters is labeled as "Shin Hayata", which was the name of Ultraman's human alter ego in that show.

The other two design sheets show new characters in new uniforms, though, so this might be some kind of sequel to the original show?! In any event, I'm sure Marvel will do the book so you don't need to have too much knowledge on the history of the original show.

But if you'd like (and why wouldn't you), the recently released BluRay box is about $ 25 on Amazon. Some episodes also have been uploaded on YT, though not on any official channel, so I won't put any links here. They still should be easy enough to find.

 

[JD]

I only go for official stuff. The Ultraman set is one that's on my radar.

 

[Kai "the spy"]

I only go for official stuff. The Ultraman set is one that's on my radar.

Good choice.

 

[JD]

I remembered after my other post that I did watch the first episode of Blake's 7 through an unofficial Youtube post and plan on watching more that way in the future. It was because it was literally the only way I could find to watch it, it was not streaming for free or to purchase anywhere, and the only DVD I could find aren't playable on my region specific DVD player.
That is my one time I break that rule, if there is absolutely no other way to watch a show that I really want to see.

 

[Leroy]

Does anyone have dates on when this will be on the stands? (My google-fu is weak)

My history with Ultraman consists of being familiar with the series that aired in the early 90's I even have the action figure to this very day! I admire the character design.

I decided to start by watching the first three series on blu-ray (Ultra Q, Ultraman, and Ultraseven) I got the regular edition blu-ray sets and I recommend them. I know mill creek is normally known for budget releases but these sets have a premium quality to them not unlike a criterion release. Note there are two releases available for the older Ultra shows one with a steelbooks case and one with a normal viva elite style blu-ray case. I went with the standard release because the steelbooks stack their discs and I find it a nuisance.

I'm watching Ultra Q and so far having a good time with it, it's like the Twilight Zone and the showa era Godzilla films had a baby!

If streaming is more a thing I see that there is a Toku channel on amazon as well as a separate service.

 

[Kai "the spy"]

There's been no specific release date, only a vague "late 2020" announcement.

 

[Samurai8472]

New Ultraman revealed. The series will be called "Ultraman Z"

https://news.tokunation.com/2020/03/25/introducing-ultraman-z-66449

The newest Ultra Hero is Ultraman Zett, the disciple of Ultraman Zero, who is now celebrating his tenth anniversary! An admirer of Zero, Zett worked hard to become a member of the “Inter Galactic Defense Force.” With a passion inherited from his teacher Zero, Zett is an Ultraman who always looks forward and forges ahead.

In this series, our protagonist who transforms into Ultraman Zett is Haruki Natsukawa (played by Kohshu Hirano), a member of the anti-monster robot force “STORAGE”. The twenty-fourth* Ultraman TV series Ultraman Z features a story in which Zett and Haruki will grow together. Please look forward to this latest series!

 

[JD]

I noticed reading about it, that a lot of the seasons of Ultraman seem to involve Ultramen from past seasons. Do they do that much with Super Sentai and Kamen Rider?