The first volume of Atsushi Kaneko’s Search and Destroy manga series will be published by Fantagraphics and MSX: Mangasplaining Extra for a release on July 23, 2024, just ahead of the upcoming San Diego Comic Con International event.
Fantagraphics first licensed the manga in July 2023, and was serialized in English via the Mangasplaining Extra newsletter later that August. Ben Applegate translated the manga and Phil Christie was credited as the letterer.
Anime Trending was provided with a four page preview of Search and Destroy that can be viewed below.
Kaneko’s Search and Destroy is described as a “cyberpunk thriller” retelling of Osamu Tezuka’s Dororo manga series that was published from August 1967 to October 1969. The manga is officially authorized by Tezuka Productions and was originally serialized in Micro Magazine Publishing’s TezuComi magazine from October 5, 2018 to March 5, 2020. Three volumes were released in total.
Atsushi Kaneko’s artwork will also be featured in an upcoming art exhibit show at the Vanilla Gallery, which starts on June 22, 2024. The exhibition will feature a number of rough manuscripts, setting drawings, and mind maps of his past manga works, as well as his latest digitally drawn title EVOL.
🔻今後の展示🔻
— ヴァニラ画廊 (@vanilla_gallery) May 31, 2024
カネコアツシ 原画展side-B 『アンコントローラボー』
📆2024/6/22～7/21
🔗https://t.co/1gil0FXCLu
これまで手掛けてきた漫画作品のアナログ原稿の数々や、デジタル作画で描く最新作『EVOL』まで展示すると共に、設定画やマインドマップなども展示を行い、作品の根幹を探ります。 pic.twitter.com/u2d35m2GAu
Kaneko is best known for his punk rock-infused storytelling and cult classic manga such as Bambi and Her Pink Gun and Soil. He has been influenced by a wide range of genres and artists, including Daniel Clowes, Charles Burns, punk rock music, and the films of David Lynch.
Fantagraphics describes the synopsis of Search and Destroy as:
This is a tale of rage. Rage against hypocrisy, injustice, exploitation, and the wrongs done to a child who grew into a righteous killer….Complete in three volumes, Search and Destroy transplants the vengeful action of Dororo from feudal Japan into a dystopian future where mercenary robots known as “creatures” serve the human elite and victimize the city’s scrabbling, desperate masses. The violent death of one of these creatures connects an orphaned thief named Doro with a mysterious girl in a stinking animal hide that conceals deadly cybernetic implants. Who is this mysterious girl? How is she killing, one by one, the city’s most twisted and powerful creatures?
The manga is the latest title to be published by Fantagaphics in partnership with MSX — a publishing initiative run by Deb Aoki, Christopher Butcher, and Andrew Woodrow-Butcher that comes from the popular podcast Mangasplaining.
More information about the first volume release of Search and Destroy and its pre-order details can be found on Fantagraphics’ official website.
Source: press release
