In the July 11th Shonen Jump newsletter, Viz has announced that both Stan Lee and Hiroyuki Takei will be at their panel at the San Diego Comic Con, in San Diego, CA, USA. The panel will take place in Room 10 at 10:30am until 11:30am. Takei’s appearance is a last minute addition that had not been announced, or promoted prior. At Anime Expo, a few weeks ago, Viz hinted at that Ultimo will have a strong presence at their panel at SDCC. This panel will cover Viz’s entire Shonen Jump line, not just Ultimo. In the panel description, at least Stan Lee will give a short comment about working on Ultimo. There are currently no scheduled autograph sessions, or Q&A sessions with Hiroyuki Takei and Stan Lee.

However not confirmed, it’s likely that Viz will have their own interview with Hiroyuki Takei and Stan Lee, and will release this interview in Shonen Jump in a few months. Viz will most likely license “Heroman,” another manga Stan Lee is working with that will start up in Japan next month. Another possible announcement is that the Ultimo anime might start production soon, however, this is just a guess. It is unlikely that any Shaman King news will be announced at this time. Whatever does happen at this panel, though I won’t be there, I will do my best to report on everything that will be said.

Last year, at the New York Comic Con, Stan Lee made a surprise visit to help promote the soon to be released Ultimo manga. Viz is also having a contest starting on July 15th, where you can send in your questions to be answered by Hiroyuki Takei and Stan Lee. Link: http://shonenjump.viz.com/askultimo/ Unlike with the Mentalite in Japan, Hiroyuki Takei will not personally read all these messages, as Viz will most likely filter these messages and pick which ones to give to him.