Online comic book platforms Marvel Unlimited and VIZ Manga are to begin cross-promotions that are aimed at expanding fandom in the genre.
The move follows the 2022-23 collaboration between Marvel Comics and Viz Media that extended stories from the Marvel comics universe into the Japanese manga format, in a handful of titles.
Subscribers to the VIZ Manga digital service can now access titles featuring fan-favorite characters including “Deadpool: Samurai,” “Wolverine: Snikt!,” “Spider-Man: Fake Red” and “Marvel’s Secret Reverse.” Later in the year other Marvel-manga crossover titles will be added including “Spider-Man: Octo-Girl” and “X-Men: The Manga: Remastered.”
To launch their cross-platform cooperation, VIZ Manga and Marvel Unlimited will offer each other’s U.S. subscribers free of charge access for one month, running to April 16. The free co-promotion is a limited time offer, but the partnership will continue and the Marvel titles remain on VIZ Manga.
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Backed by VIZ Media, VIZ Manga is a leading digital manga subscription service operating in English-speaking territories. It currently has over 10,000 chapters featuring legendary manga creators across a wide range of interests. New chapters are free and are published simultaneously with Japan.
The Marvel Unlimited app is a one-stop destination for over 30,000 comics spanning the entire Marvel Universe.
In “Deadpool: Samurai, Iron Man invites Deadpool to join the Avengers’ new Samurai Squad on a trip to Tokyo.
Created by Nihei Tsutomi, “Wolverine: Snikt!” sees Wolverine as the lone hope of the last remaining humans in a ruined dimension as they fight to survive against robotic organisms.
In “Spider-Man: Fake Red,” high schooler Yu is failing his classes and striking out socially, but everything changes when he dons one of Spider-Man’s discarded costumes. He realizes that he is out of his depth when powerful enemies appear, but with the real Spider-Man nowhere to be found, the city needs someone to save it.
In “Marvel’s Secret Reverse,” Yu-Gi-Oh! creator Takahashi Kazuki’s match-up between Iron Man and Spider-Man, Tony Stark travels to Japan to attend a gaming convention, but the inventor of a world-famous card game company is not what he appears to be.
And in “Spider-Man: Octo-Girl” Spider-Man’s biggest rival, the evil genius scientist Doctor Octopus, emerges from a coma in the body of a Japanese middle school girl.
“X-Men: The Manga: Remastered” is a remastered and reissued version of the “X-Men: The Animated Series” that had been out of print for several years. In the fall, it will return to print and digital formats.
“Deadpool Samurai” comic book
Deadpool Samurai: © 2021 MARVEL