Western comic book publisher ABLAZE is releasing a comic book based on the legendary series Saint Seiya in English-speaking territories.
Titled Saint Seiya: Knights of the Zodiac – Time Odyssey, the comic’s name reflects the name of a previous English adaptation of the original Saint Seiya anime. French creators Jérôme Alquié and Arnaud Dollen are the creative team on the series, with the former having previously on a comic book version of the iconic Leiji Matsumoto manga Captain Harlock. The story of Time Odyssey features Seiya and the other knights of Athena fighting against the evil god Chronos, who creates a Doomsday Clock that threatens the history of all life on Earth.
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The other creators involved include Gerald Parel, Jon Lam, Creees Lee and Ramon Perez, who will work on variant covers. Saint Seiya: Knights of the Zodiac – Time Odyssey originally launched in 2022 through the manga magazine Champion Red. Afterward, it was given an official French release through publisher Kana, with the new English release by ABLAZE making it the first English “comic book” in the franchise that’s not in manga form.
Saint Seiya was created by Masami Kurumada, with the original manga debuting in 1985. Focused on a group of “saints” devoted to the goddess Athena, the series combined colorful action and designs with an adventurous take on Greek mythology. The franchise grew massively popular, becoming just as influential as other anime and manga from the era such as Dragon Ball Z and Sailor Moon. Since then, it’s had several sequels and spinoffs. While this success was never quite replicated in the United States, Saint Seiya remains a landmark property both in its native country Japan and other regions such as Latin America and especially France.
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This French and European popularity is what supposedly led to the franchise’s modern revival. Jérôme Alquié worked on a fan film adaptation of the Saint Seiya manga’s “Hades” story arc, which is rumored to have been the reason that Toei made an official OVA version of the storyline. This OVA was one of many new additions to the franchise in the past two decades that have helped to revitalize its place in the pantheon of anime. The most recent anime was the CGI Netflix series Knights of the Zodiac: Saint Seiya. Likewise, a live-action movie adaptation mostly based on the Netflix incarnation was released as Knights of the Zodiac in the West, with the movie titled Saint Seiya: The Beginning in Japan.
ABLAZE Publishing has localized several comic books from across the globe for Western audiences. These include the Filipino supernatural crime comic book Trese and South Korean manhwa series The Breaker, among other titles. The publisher has also released adaptations of The Cimmerian, with these books featuring Robert E. Howard’s Conan the Barbarian noted for being uncensored compared to the ones published by Marvel Comics.
Source: ABLAZE Publishing via Anime News Network
A French comic book adaptation of the legendary anime series Saint Seiya: Knights of the Zodiac is being released in English by ABLAZE Publishing. Read More