News

Udon Licenses Haruhi, Vocaloid, Growlanser Art Books

North American publisher Udon announced at its New York Comic Con panel on Friday that it licensed two Haruhi Suzumiya Illustrations books, three Vocaloid Character Graphics Collection books, the Growlanser: Art Works book, and Midori Foo's Book of Pictures. All will be released next year. (The Haruhi Suzumiya and Vocaloid cover images presented here are from the Japanese releases of these books.)

Haruhi Suzumiya Illustrations: Spring & Summer and Haruhi Suzumiya Illustrations: Autumn & Winter offer both artwork from the anime and promotional art from magazines and materials, all divided by seasonal themes. Spring & Summer will arrive in the second quarter of 2013, and Autumn & Winter will follow about three months later in the third quarter.

Vocaloid Hatsune Miku Character Graphics Collection: CV01 Edition, Vocaloid Kagamine Len & Rin Character Graphics Collection: CV02 Edition, and Vocaloid Megurine Luka Character Graphics Collection: CV03 Edition each assembles over 150 art pieces of Cypton Future Media's popular virtual idols from more than 30 artists. They will ship in the second and third quarter of 2013.

Growlanser: Art Works showcases the illustrations of Satoshi Urushihara from the tactical role-playing game franchise. The 176 pages also feature game covers, character designs, merchandising artwork, rare promotional pieces, creator commentary, and an exclusive interview with Urushihara and the games' development team. This book covers Growlanser I through VI and will hit stores next February.

Midori Foo's Book of Pictures has over 300 pages of illustrations from the namesake artist. Her work has appeared in video games, light novels, trading card games, art collections, and such illustration magazines as Kikan S Magazine and FELLOWS! This book will arrive in the second quarter.

Update: Udon will also publish a tribute art book for Blizzard's World of Warcraft massively multi-player online role-playing game (MMORPG). The publisher and Blizzard will accept contest submissions from November 1, 2012 to January 15, 2013, and the book will debut in a special limited-edition hardcover edition at San Diego's Comic-Con International 2013.