The pint-sized pink puffball Kirby is jumping from video games to manga - and making his English-language comics debut - with the appropriately titled Kirby: Manga Mania.
"Kirby joins iconic arch-frenemy King Dedede and other characters Dark Matter, Jukid, Gooey, Chef Kawasaki, and more to venture out into the picturesque world of Dream Land," reads Viz's description of Kirby: Manga Mania. "Get stuck in a haunted hotel with Kirby, save King Dedede from a toy transformation, or get a glimpse of Dream Land in the 22nd century—just take a deep breath and hop in!"
Kirby: Manga Mania is a collection of the best manga stories of the character, which have until now never been officially been available in English.
"This is my first best-of collection. I selected the funniest stories out of the Kirby manga series' 25-volume run," says writer/artist Hirokazu Hikawa in the announcement. "I also drew the series' first brand-new chapter in 11 years, as well as some bonus comics. I hope you'll enjoy those too."
Here's a five-page preview of Kirby: Manga Mania:
Hikawa is best-known in Japan for his 25-volume Kirby run, titled Kirby of the Stars: The Story of Dedede in Pupupu. This is the first time any of this has been made available in English, after a canceled attempt by Viz over a decade ago.
If you're a comics fan like me, you might think/hope that Kirby is somehow based on comics' Jack Kirby, but I have to break the news to you… it's not. Kirby was named in honor of an American lawyer, John Kirby, who worked for Nintendo in the mid '80s.
Kirby: Manga Mania goes on sale on June 8.
Kirby fan, are you? Kirby Fighters 2 was added to the Nintendo eShop late last year.
