I can finally talk about how I conquered the Kairu!

Late last year the awesome Joel Enos got in touch with me about a new line of comics/manga/graphic-novels he was starting up at Viz, one of the largest and most notable American publishers of translated Japanese manga (they do Naruto, One Piece, House of Five Leaves and most of the other manga you might have heard of). He was in the process of getting things together for a new series based on the hit cartoon Redakai: Conquer the Kairu, and he wanted me to pitch!

Joel picked up what I was putting down, and before I knew it, I was writing the main stories for not one, but two of the upcoming volumes of Redakai: Conquer the Kairu. I’ve been working on them for months, so I’m super-relieved to finally be able to talk about them in public, seeing as the new series was just announced today. And most exciting of all is that my first story, called “Invasion of the Gilfreem” is going to be in the very first volume, which comes out in October of this year.

I had a blast writing this series and learning more about the Redakai universe. For those not familiar, it’s similar to  Yu-Gi-Oh in that there’s a tie-in collectible card game. Kind of like Magic: The Gathering for kids, with lots of monsters, sound effects and explosions – so right up my alley basically. My story in this first volume is about 70 pages, and tells the story of a mysterious alien race called the Gilfreem, who come to Earth in search of Kairu. Naturally, there’s quite a bit of fighting, and I had an absolute blast writing it.

Even if you hate me and everything I stand for though, you should still pick up the first volume of Redakai come October, as you can just ignore the words and stare slack-jawed at the pretty, pretty art by the fine folks at Write Height Media (including my Gear Monkey partner-in-crime Nate Lovett!) and Zack Turner. BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE! This first volume also features a story by my super-talented fellow former Marvel editor Mike Raicht (of Stuff of Legend fame!), with art by Dan Ciurczak! Exclamation point!

It’s kid-friendly, has beaucoup aliens and monsters, and is based on a popular television show, so you know you’re going to buy this thing. May as well go preorder it now on Amazon, right?