This weekend New York Comic Con was the setting for updates on two intriguing cross-cultural projects...

When Del Rey's partnership with Marvel to produce manga versions of Wolverine and the X-Men was announced late last year, I was admittedly excited... but also wary.  As editor/publisher Dallas Middaugh pointed out at New York Comic Con yesterday, this is the first-ever case of Marvel licensing its properties for adaptations of this sort to a U.S.-based comics publisher.  There was plenty that could go wrong, I thought.  Would the end result just be gimmicky?  Or would we see something that simply amounted to "manga-flavored" versions of regular Marvel titles?

However, after checking out the first character designs from these projects and listening to the Del Rey team discuss the storylines, I'm back to being fully excited.  We'll see how the actual scripts turn out, but right now there are plenty of reasons to be optimistic...

+The Wolverine art by Wilson Tortosa is obviously an inspired re-imagining of the character.  Tortosa, a Filipino artist who has previously worked on Tomb Raider among other titles, has effectively cast Logan-san as a rebellious teen.  With his black leather jacket and unruly-yet-perfect long hair, the character looks lean and rangy (and even *gasp* taller than usual), but is unmistakably Wolverine.    

+X-Men as a shojo manga might first seem like a strange way to rework the property, but suddenly, with a focus on Kitty Pryde, it all starts to make sense.  Artist Anzu, who hails from Indonesia and whose work I'm looking forward to on the upcoming horror title The Reformed, has done a solid job translating the X-teen into the typical sunny-side-up aesthetic of the genre.  No big (but pleasant) shock here as with Wolverine, but that's probably because the character has traveled a shorter distance in her "cultural" transformation. 

+As far as the story elements are concerned, it quickly became clear just how savvy the editorial decisions have been.  Wolverine's "bad boy" persona is simply being rechanneled into a different archetype.  And the X-Men was always, at heart, about a group of extraordinary school kids, which naturally falls squarely within manga territory.  The shojo angle here is neatly provided by the fact that Kitty is the first girl to attend Prof. X's academy.  

All right, now moving on to Stan Lee...

The Marvelous One was in fine form on Friday afternoon as VIZ Media (partially) unveiled his collaboration with Shaman King's Hiroyuki Takei.  This was at a press-only "media event," but you would scarcely have noticed this fact were it not for all the A/V equipment:  the air was thick with unabashed fanboy adulation of Lee.  (Not to say that I don't share the sentiments... just that I hide them better.)

Also on hand to celebrate the same-day Japanese publication of a 32-page Ultimo "prologue" in a special issue of Jump SQ were editors Takanori Asada and Joel Enos, and Shonen Jump Editor-in-Chief Marc Weidenbaum.  Much was made of the "historic" nature of teaming Lee and Takei, but actual substance* was sometimes lacking--there was very little story art on display.  That's not to say that the Q&A didn't provide several fascinating and insightful moments, mostly as a result of examining the different cultures' styles when it comes to creating comics.  For example, it was noted that Takei and his editors had to get used to including American-style narrative caption boxes in a concession to their eventual U.S. readership.  No word yet, by the way, re that English language pub date, but it was announced that the U.S. publication would follow "pretty closely" to the Japanese.

In any case, here are some of Lee's best bon mots from the event:

"You all didn't know I was so fluent in Japanese.  Neither did I."

On the genesis of the project, Lee recounted telling Japanese friends, "You know, we [Americans] do much better comics than you do..."

"I'm glad I'm not an American comic book publisher.  If I had to compete with something like that"--holding up Ultimo--"I'd be going out and getting drunk right now."

To the translator conveying questions to Asada:  "Just be sure you mention my name enough..."

On looking over one of the Japanese copies on hand:  "I think one of the words is spelled wrong in Japanese."

On collaborating:   "Takei put his own imprimatur" on the story.  "It's just based on what I wrote but it's his interpretation.  I'm seeing my story in a different way."  Lee contrasted this approach with his experience in American comics, in which he always has "a pretty good idea" of how the finished product will look.     

*Here's a story synopsis from VIZ's press release:
"The ULTIMO story: High above Farmless City, citizens are stunned by the sudden
appearance of two floating figures. Are they human boys, monolithic robots, or
something much more strange? As the battle ensues between them, destruction and
devastation fall on the hapless city. One figure is Vice, and seems to be as evil
as his name implies. The other is Ultimo, intent on trying to stop Vice from wreaking more havoc. But who are Vice and Ultimo really? Where did they come from? A
new mystery begins with the fate of the world possibly hanging in the balance!"