News

Comic-Con Int'l to Host Ikki Mag Editor Hideki Egami

San Diego's Comic-Con International (CCI) has confirmed that Hideki Egami, the editor-in-chief of Shogakukan's Monthly Ikki manga magazine, will appear at the convention on July 25 at Viz Media's Ikki panel. Before launching Ikki, Egami edited such alternative manga fare as Utsurun Desu., Kuma no Pūtarō, and Even A Monkey Can Draw Manga (Saru demo kakeru Manga Kyōshitsu) at Shogakukan and its Weekly Big Comic Spirits magazine. He was also involved in more mainstream works such as Gekka no Kishi, Tokyo University Story, and Ping Pong.

As Ikki's first editor-in-chief, he launched the magazine as an irregularly published spinoff of Big Comic Spirits in 2000. Due to its popularity, it became a regular magazine under the revised name Monthly Ikki in 2003. Under Egami's leadership, the magazine published such acclaimed works as Children of the Sea, House of Five Leaves, Dorohedoro, Bokurano: Ours, I'll Give It My All... Tomorrow (Ore wa Mada Honki Dashitenai Dake), Sexy Voice and Robo, Ride Back, Happiness, Freesia, Dosei Mansion, and Noramimi. Viz has confirmed that it will serialize at least the first five of these titles on its new English-language Ikki website. Depending on reader interest, Viz plans to publish print editions of some of these titles. (Viz already publishes Sexy Voice and Robo in English.)