Just Imagine Stan Lee Creating The Ultimo Universe

Deb Aoki confirmed that the special supplement in the latest issue of Jump SQ II (which features the debut of Stan Lee and Hiroyuki Takei's Ultimo (no, not that Ultimo)) does feature Japanese artists' interpretations of Lee's most famous co-creations, characters from the Marvel universe:

I got a hold of a copy of Jump SQ II, and it's a treat to see some of the Hiroyuki Takei's manga illustrations as well as several Shonen Jump manga artists drawing their take on Lee's creations, Spiderman, Iron Man and more.

(Actually, upon futher investigation, I see that Deb's 4/19 report on Viz's Ultimo press event had already mentioned this with even more details:)

there's a mini-color insert featuring an interview with Lee and Takei-sensei and some amazing color illustrations of Spiderman, Doctor Doom, Doc Octopus and Iron Man done by manga artists Tatsuya Endo (Tista), Yamato Yamamoto (Kure-nai), Yutaka Minowa (Ninja Scroll) Yusuke Murata (Eyeshield 21) and Masakazu Katsura (Zetman).

Since I couldn't think of any store in the Twin Cities area that would carry Japanese magazine imports, I turned to, uh, other means to satisfy my curiosity. So far I've only been able to find one illustration, Yusuke Murata's interpretation of Spider-Man, which looks more like a poster for the Spider-Man 2 movie than a tribute to the characters from the comic:


I was wondering if Marvel has promoted this at all on their end but couldn't find any mention of it anywhere on their site. (They do mention Stan Lee's receiving "the first-ever New York Comics Legend Award" at NYCC 2008, though.) Wouldn't this be something a lot of "crossover" fans (i.e., fans of both anime/manga and superheroes) might find interesting? Wouldn't Marvel be interested in trumpeting this as indicative of the universal appeal of their characters? It just strikes me as odd that Marvel didn't try to ride the buzz on this at all.

UPDATE: Deb Aoki was kind enough to provide this complete breakdown of what's in the Jump SQ II Stan Lee supplement:

• Tatsuya Endo (Tista) – Spider-Man
• Yamato Yamamoto (Kure-nai) – Spider-Man
• Yutaka Minowa (Ninja Scroll) – Doctor Doom
• Yusuke Murata (Eyeshield 21) – Spider-Man and Doctor Octopus
• Makakazu Katsura (Zetman) – Iron Man
• Plus a 2 page spread explaining who Lee is and his creations, and a 2 page spread with an interview and photos with both Lee and Takei.

Thanks, Deb!

Labels: Manga, Marvel, Missed Opportunities?

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