Marvel’s Spider-Man and Japan’s Most Iconic Hero Join Together for the First Time in Cross-Cultural Comics Event
August 13, 2024 – Comic fans, get ready for the ultimate mashup! Available today, Japan’s greatest superhero, Ultraman, and iconic Marvel Super Hero Spider-Man are uniting for the first time in ULTRAMAN: ALONG CAME A SPIDER-MAN, an epic serialized Japanese manga from Shogakukan that was created with the newest generation of Ultraman fans in mind. Distributed in the United States by VIZ Media via their digitalVIZ Manga app, fans can dive into chapters 1 and 2 now, with new chapters released every Tuesday. To add to the excitement, the latest chapter each week will be available for free, and readers can subscribe to VIZ Manga to read the full series. This release is part of a major cross-cultural event following the recent announcement of Marvel Comics’ ULTRAMAN x AVENGERS series, which is debuting tomorrow.
In Japan, the series will be distributed through CoroCoro Comic, a Japanese monthly comics digest published by Shogakukan, which is famous for having launched such blockbuster properties as Doraemon and Pokémon. Placing Ultraman: Along Came a Spider-Man in its pages honors both properties.
In ULTRAMAN: ALONG CAME A SPIDER-MAN, on Marvel Earth, Spider-Man joins forces with the Avengers to battle Doctor Doom in New York City, but when several civilians are killed in a building collapse as a result, Spider-Man becomes demoralized and finds himself whisked away in a strange spacecraft called the Interdimensional Train. Doctor Doom stows aboard and both find themselves in the Tokyo of the Ultraman universe! Witnessing Ultraman battle a giant Kaiju, Doom craves the Giant of Light’s power and joins forces with Alien Mefilas and his army of Kaiju from the Monster Graveyard to steal it.
Japanese publisher Shogakukan, in collaboration with Tsuburaya Productions and Marvel Comics, is releasing ULTRAMAN: ALONG CAME A SPIDER-MAN, marking the first time that Ultraman and Marvel’s most renowned character Spider-Man join forces in a Japanese manga. Written by Shigenobu Matsumoto and drawn by Tomo Hirokawa, the manga features one of Marvel’s greatest supervillains of all time, Doctor Doom, who joins forces with Ultraman arch-nemesis Alien Mefilas and his cadre of destructive Kaiju, with cameo appearances by The Avengers. Marvel Comics Executive Editor Tom Brevoort and Tsuburaya Fields Media & Pictures Entertainment’s Transmedia Producer Jeff Gomez served as creative consultants for the series.
The release coincides with the debut of Marvel Comics’s ULTRAMAN x AVENGERS, an epic four-issue crossover event bringing together the greatest hero of Japan and Earth’s Mightiest Heroes for an epic battle against the most powerful supervillain of them all—Galactus. The miniseries is penned by Kyle Higgins (THE RISE OF ULTRAMAN) and Mat Groom (THE TRIALS OF ULTRAMAN, MIGHTY MORPHIN POWER RANGERS) and drawn by Francesco Manna (THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN). This series marks the fourth Ultraman installment with Marvel penned by Higgins and Groom and continues a landmark collaboration between Marvel Comics and Tsuburaya Productions.
VIZ will also publish a print edition of the complete ULTRAMAN: ALONG CAME A SPIDER-MAN manga in the United States, set to hit retail in Summer 2025.
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