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Viz to Release All You Need is Kill Graphic Novel, Battle Royale Essay Book
posted on by Crystalyn Hodgkins
North American manga distributor Viz Media announced at San Diego Comic Con on Thursday that it will release a graphic novel adaptation of Hiroshi Sakurazaka's All You Need Is Kill novel. The company also revealed that it will release a Battle Royale essay book, and the company will also release Koushun Takami's original Battle Royale novel with a new translation.
Nick Mamatas (Move Under Ground) will be adapting Sakurazaka's story, and Lee Ferguson (Green Arrow, Miranda Mercury) will be drawing the art. The one-volume full-color graphic novel will be available on May 6, 2014 for US$14.99. Sakurazaka's original novel follows a battle-armored soldier who finds himself dying and re-incarnating over and over again. Warner Bros. Pictures is adapting Sakurazaka's novel into a live-action film that is set to open in the United States on June 6, 2014 after opening in select international theaters on May 30, 2014. The film stars Tom Cruise, Emily Blunt, Charlotte Riley, Kick Gurry, and Marianne Jean-Baptiste. Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity, Mr. and Mrs. Smith) is directing the film, which has been renamed Edge of Tomorrow.
Viz Media published the novel in English to launch its Haikasoru imprint for Japanese science fiction and fantasy in 2009. The book's cover art was drawn by Yoshitoshi ABe (Serial Experiments Lain, Haibane Renmei).
Viz Media's Haikasoru imprint will be releasing the Battle Royale: Remastered novel on April 1, 2014 for US$16.99. The imprint will release The Battle Royale Slam Book: Essays on the Cult Classic Novel by Koushun Takami on the same day for US$15.99. The essay book will include essays from science-fiction, horror, and thriller writters including Brian Keene, John Skipp, and Catherynne M. Valente. The essays will explore the depth and details of the novel as well as the controversies surrounding the novel, and the manga and live-action film adaptations.
