Requiem: Manga and more!

The Manga editors spent a year searching for the right team to do Requiem justice

Artist Seban’s vision of Requiem

The Manga creative team adapting the Requiem series are working on their fourth Manga book, so it’s well on its way! How Manga is actually published in France is new to me but I’m assuming there will be a Japanese version and a simultaneous French version from Editions Glénat. Then the publisher who has the English language Manga license will do the UK/USA version.

So I’m guessing an English version could be available in late 2025.

This means Manga Requiem is going to be ahead of the Panini English language physical reprints of Requiem Vampire Knight – which will eventually happen – but so far I haven’t got any firm publication dates.

Meanwhile there is the digital English language version of Requiem available from us at Millsverse.

I’m thrilled with the way the Manga version has been produced. The Manga editors spent a year searching for the right team to do Requiem justice. As they explained to me:

The Manga storytelling is so different from the French BD style

that the Manga creator will not just copy the storyline and redraw it with a Manga graphic style, but they will need to edit the story to tell it very differently.

They will not censure the violence or modify the concepts, 

but maybe change the order of the scenes, add more dialogues or interaction between the characters.

That’s one of the main challenges on this project.The Manga version needs to respect the core, the soul of the universe.

And they have definitely succeeded!

So story-wise, there’s a certain simplification on some plot elements of my original story, and expansion on others, all of which I thoroughly approve of. They have more space, so the pacing is not as compressed as it is for France or the UK comic market. Thus, for every original 48-page volume of Requiem, there is likely to be two volumes of Manga, to allow the creators to explore the detail and emotions that Olivier and I originated. For example, Requiem's initiation into becoming a vampire takes place over six pages in our original, whereas the Manga version goes into more detail, occupying roughly an entire volume.

In art terms, there’s new visual interpretations which you can see even from these early samples. As the story proceeds we also see some new visual elements – something that was especially important to Olivier. So the Requiem universe is actually being enhanced with this Manga edition.

The creative and editorial team are all highly professional and we have regular Zoom meetings – usually every couple of months – linking us in Spain, France, USA, Japan and Bolivia –  to discuss  these story and art details.

So I can’t avoid lamenting – why aren’t we able to produce such ambitious projects in the UK  and with the same level of professionalism? Okay, if this Manga project succeeds – and all the indications are that it will – it  will do well for all of us financially, in a way that is rarely possible from 2000AD. But it’s not just about the money, it’s also about respect, which costs nothing and – for me – is worth its weight in gold. The French Manga publishers want to ensure we are all happy, so any concerns any of us have are carefully listened to and quickly remedied.

That’s a rare and exhilarating feeling for someone like myself, coming from a lifetime in the British comic industry where editorial all too often regard creators like myself as ‘difficult’ or ‘troublemakers’ and respond to legitimate concerns with indifference, passive aggression or just simply ignore them.

The lessons will never be learnt, they’re too deeply ingrained in the English comic publishing soul, so there’s no point in saying more. But notice I say England, because Scotland is another country (which I hope to come back to, probably next week).

So, moving on, let me introduce the Manga creatives:

Seban is a thirty-year-old Bolivian Manga artist based in La Paz. One Manga fan told me that the ‘very distinct feeling of Manga can only be captured by a Japanese illustrator.’ Well, I have to disagree. I think Seban ticks all the Manga boxes and then adds something amazing of himself!

Victor Santos is a highly experienced Spanish scriptwriter and cartoonist who works mainly for the USA. He is in charge of the script side. His CV is almost as long as mine, so you may well have come across his award-winning work already.

They’re all a huge pleasure to work with and I would guess if Requiem Manga succeeds, it will lead to other Manga adaptations of Olivier’s work.

For example: SHA. 

Currently the English language physical edition of  SHA Volume One is the subject of our Kickstarter campaign – with just two weeks to go! There’s a deluxe edition which is exclusive to Kickstarter and a standard edition, which will be on sale afterwards. We have all sorts of exciting add-ons available for both. Volumes 2 and 3, completing the series will quickly follow.

Do check us out!

In other news, Olivier is currently about to start work on Requiem 13, which concludes our first series. There’s also a deluxe version of the entire Requiem series being produced by another publisher, which should be available next year. 

And I’m finalising plans with another French artist to do a new story set in the Requiem universe. The new format favoured by Glénat are single books of around 100-120 pages. That’s what seems to sell best these days. The artist in question had recently had such a book out – on an historical theme – which sold 80,000 copies!

Yeah, you read that right – 80,000 copies!

As a history buff, I’m envious! I fear in the UK, a 100-page historical graphic novel, even if drawn by a well-known and well-loved UK artist, would sell what? 5,000 copies? I’m probably being wildly optimistic.

So we have high hopes that this Requiem spin-off story will do equally well. We’re still at the synopsis and character sketches stage, but I hope to be able to say more about it soon. Ah, sod it – I’ll say a bit more now!  The artist’s characters have that high definition, insights and realism that was Joe Colquhoun’s unique trademark. Perhaps that’s why this artist is a best-seller in France. And his hardware has a historical realism combined with the fantastic in a way we would normally only associate with Kevin O’Neill. It’s exciting because he’s usually an historical artist, so my science fantasy story is a new departure for him.

And it all started with SHA, where my long-running collaboration with Olivier first began.  

So do have a look at my unboxing video of the proofs for SHA. You’ll see SHA is like a classic Golden Age 2000AD story. Even though the SF, 2000AD-style visual ideas in it actually came from Olivier, not me! For example, the physically obese character Big Max reminds me of the lurid characters Kevin O’Neill used to draw.

And there’s the ultimate horrible death game that appears in SHA Volume 2. I thought Death Game 1999 (Action), Harlem Heroes and Inferno had the last word to say on death sports, but Olivier came up with something new and brilliantly visualized. All in ‘the best possible taste’ as Kenny Everett used to say.

SHA is like a great Netflix series you somehow missed the first time around and can now sit back and enjoy.

You won’t be disappointed, I promise!