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Ultimo manga “Part III” will be coming soon

Viz has recently updated it’s website with a bunch of interviews and pictures from San Diego Comic Con 2010. You can read the full articles below:

http://shonenjump.viz.com/features/index.php?id=408

One of the biggest announcements is that “Part III” of the manga will be coming soon, starting in chapter 21, which will be released in JumpSQ in October. This would be the first chapter in volume 6 of the manga. Currently, chapter 20 will be released in Jump SQ on September 4th in Japan. This chapter would also complete the 5th volume of manga, which will be released in November 2010.

SDCC 2010 – Hiroyuki Takei & Stan Lee to appear at SJ Panel

On Saturday, Viz’s Shonen Jump panel will be from 10:30am to 11:30am in Room 9 at San Diego Comic-Con International. Attending the panel will be the following people:

Hiroyuki Takei (Creator of Shaman King, Jumbor, and Co-creator of Ultimo)
Stan Lee (Head of POW Ent., Co-Creator of Ultimo)
Mr. Kosuge (小菅) (Editor at JumpSQ)

We will have full coverage of the panel relating to various Takei series throughout the weekend. Please check back often.

Takei & Stan Lee return to Comic-Con 2010 [UPDATED]

Last year at the San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC), Hiroyuki Takei and Stan Lee both made a surprise appearance at the Viz Media panel to promote the recently added Ultimo series to Shonen Jump. This year, both will be making a return appearance to Comic-Con. Stan Lee is already confirmed as a special guest to the convention, and there was a full page ad in the latest Shonen Jump issue.. Hiroyuki Takei is currently being brought as a panelist for Viz Media’s panel, however, an additional signings panel (like last year) is likely as well. Takei will most likely there to promote Ultimo volume 2, which is released in the USA on July 6th with Shaman King volume 29. There is a chance that Viz could license Takei’s new manga series “Jumbor” or the reprint editions for Shaman King (Kang Zeng Bang) for English release by Viz.

Stan Lee will be at the convention all weekend long. Takei will only be at the convention on July 23rd and July 24th. One of the days will be for the Viz Media panel, and the other day will most likely be for a signing event. It is unknown if Stan Lee will be at the same signing as Takei.

During the Anime Expo panel today, Viz Media promoted both Shaman King volume 29 and Ultimo volume 2. They did not mention Hiroyuki Takei will be at SDCC. However, Stan Lee will have a special Ultimo volume signing at the Barnes & Noble at The Grove at Farmers Market in Los Angeles. The signing starts at 7pm.

Viz will be at SDCC booth #2813 for the entire weekend. You can view a portion of the panel from last year on Viz’s website. Shaman King Nation will continue to follow this story and any news announced at the panel.

UPDATED on 7/9:

Viz has also sent out a press release detailing Stan Lee’s signings of Ultimo at Comic-Con with some new details. Viz’s Shonen Jump panel will be on Saturday July 24th from 10:30am to 11:30am in Room 9. The press release didn’t mention Hiroyuki Takei’s appearance. The signings will take place on July 24th at 1:15pm at Viz’s booth. Also, if you are one of the first 60 people to buy Ultimo volume 2 from Viz’s booth, you will receive a ticket to get it signed by Stan Lee (and Takei) on July 24th.

Stan Lee to Sign Ultimo vol 1 at Rock’n Comic-Con 2010

Stan Lee, the co-writer of the manga series Ultimo will be at the Rock’n Comic-Con 2010 in Los Angeles, CA this Saturday. The location is the Pasadena Convention Center (300 East Green Street), Booth 402 from 2-3PM on May 29th. Volumes of Ultimo can be purchased on the spot for $9.99 (no tax). This convention is not to be consfused with the San Diego Comic-Con (July 22-25th, 2010).

Source: http://www.mania.com/stan-lee-signing-ultimo-this-weekend_article_122883.html
Additional info: http://www.rockncomiccon.com/

Interviews with the creators of Ultimo

With Hiroyuki Takei’s and Stan Lee’s latest appearance at Comic Con, several interviews were conducted with the two creators. Below are three interviews with them. Some of the questions and answers came from Viz’s Shonen Jump panel that both were at.

4 page interview with Lee and Takei: http://manga.about.com/od/mangaartistinterviews/a/stanlee_hiroyukitakei_2.htm

1 page interview with Lee: http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/15526.html

1 page interview with Takei: http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/15527.html

Ultimo is currently up to chapter 3 in Viz’s monthly Shonen Jump magazine with the latest issue currently on newsstands.

Takei and Lee at SDCC on 7/24

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.

Ultimo, new series with joint US-Japan release

On April 18th “Ultimo” the joint created manga by Stan Lee and Hiroyuki Takei will be released in Japan. However, in a press release sent out by Viz today, some new information has been annouced.

On April 18th, the same day as the release in Japan, Stan Lee will be at New York Comic Con along with Takanori Asada (Editor, Jump SQ.), and USA’s Shonen Jump Editor-in-Chief Marc Weidenbaum to give some new information about the series. The annoucement at the time, will be that Viz has plans to release this manga series in the USA via their monthly Shonen Jump manga magazine. As an exact time of release has not been set, but it may only be a few short months after it’s release.

In the press release, Stan Lee states, “I am deeply honored for this great opportunity to collaborate with an award-winning artist/writer of the stature of Hiroyuki Takei. I enthusiastically expect that the combination of an American story-telling style merged with Takei-san’s acclaimed Japanese style will result in our joint creation ‘ULTIMO’ presenting an original, exciting type of manga that will appeal to comicbook fans around the world”.

Along with this press release, several new facts and a summery of the story has been revealed:

This is a prologue chapter (meaning there will be more chapters)
32 pages in the starting chapter
3 color pages (a single color page, followed by a double color page spread)

Summery of the 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 falls 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!

It is interesting to note, that “Vice” is the name of one of Takei’s characters in “Jyuki Ningen Jumbor” and “Ultimo” was original created by Stan Lee. However, neither of these characters appear to be connected to the Ultimo storyline. It’s fairly ironic that “Takei’s character” (Vice) will be playing the part of the antagonist, since Takei dislikes making characters that are “pure evil.” While Stan Lee has a tradition of creating characters with a more “dark side” and his “Utimo” is playing the line of the “good character.”

SQII cover image

Along with this press release, the Japanese JumpSQ website also updated with some new Ultimo information. These come in the form of new images featuring the 2 main character. Please click the “Read rest of this entry” to view all the High Quality resolution image from the Ultimo section on the JumpSQ website.

With it’s not-yet-annouced US release, Ultimo will released in Jump SQII on April 18th in JumpSQ. You can have a chance to win a hand signed copy (by both Stan Lee and Hiroyuki Takei) of this issue by going to the following website, provided by Viz’s Shonen Jump website: www.shonenjump.com/ultimosweeps. Future chapters will most likely be in future JumpSQ issues. A set date has not been annouced yet or confirmed.

Shaman King Nation will continue to monitor this news story for both Japanese and English releases.

Updated on 4-06 and 4-07 for fixing dates.

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The Skilled Machine Boy Ultimo

On Monday 24th, 2008, the official Jump SQ website updated it’s preview page. By clicking on the following link, you can scroll down and view the image that will be the pin-up poster in the next Jump SQ issue and a small promo banner image lower on the page.

Link: http://jumpsq.shueisha.co.jp/yokoku.html

A translation of the title can be ”The Skilled Machine Boy Ultimo,” but this is hardly an official title. “Ki Ko Douji Ultimo” is another way of calling the Stan Lee X Hiroyuki Takei oneshot manga. For future reference, Shaman King Nation will refer to the manga as just “Ultimo.”

Based on the last image released and based on how the title is formed, it seems that this manga will have many parallels to Takei’s last manga series, “Jyuki Ningen Jumbor.” It appears that characters will fight with some type of modified hands. Either these people will be called “Ultimo” or possibly the main character is named “Ultimo.”

Ultimo will be released in the Japanese Jump SQ II on April 18th.

New Hiroyuki Takei Joint oneshot manga

From the latest Jump SQ issue, hitting stands on March 4th, is a brand new advertisement, which states that on April 18th, a special Jump SQ edition will be released. Within this special issue is a special, one time only manga, drawn by BOTH Hiroyuki Takei and Stan Lee! For those who are unaware, Stan Lee has worked on the following American comics:

Jump SQ, since it’s launch has had several manga artists working together on special oneshot mangas, but this is the first time an American artist has had his work published in Jump SQ. Oneshot mangas tend to be be around 60 pages in length, but no number of pages were released with this ad.

As soon as we have more information on this developing story we will update here on Shaman King Nation!