As part of their 40th anniversary celebration, Dark Horse hosted a panel at New <a href="https://comicvibe.com/neca-brings-alien-romulus-most-uncomfortable-creature-to-new-york-comic-con/” title=”NECA Brings ‘Alien: Romulus’ Most Uncomfortable Creature to New York Comic Con”>York Comic Con to reflect upon the publisher’s long history of releasing Manga and Manhwa, and to tease its future. Moderated by the delightful and on-point Ally Raney, Dark Horse’s Publicity Manager, the panelists included Tim Wiesch, Head of Publishing and Business Development; Will Woodward, Social Media Associate; and Will Carter&Aidan White, who joined the panel later to discuss one of the publisher’s new projects.
The panel started with a brief discussion of the origins of manga at Dark Horse with Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima‘s Lone Wolf and Cub. In particular, the way in which Frank Miller’s presence as cover artist helped it explode in the West.
When discussing the modern appeal of manga, the panelists noted the obscure in America, wildly popular internationally genres of BL and Shojo. They discussed a desire to make their omnibus manga collections feel like they would belong in the series they’re reprinting – Berserk is a tome, Lone Wolf is like a Japanese text from the 17th century, etc. There was a real focus on the wide variety of possibility within the field, how it doesn’t just appeal to men in their 50s.
The panel highlighted the numerous awards the publisher has won recently, including Best Publication Design at the 2025 American Manga Awards for Planetes Deluxe Edition Book 1, the 2026 Eisner for Best US Edition of International Material – Asia for Purgatory Funeral Cakes, and the Ringo for Best Presentation in Design for Lone Wolf and Cub Deluxe Edition. There was special note made of Carl Horne’s influence on the design work as well as his fascination in manga as a historical object. “It’s manga and gangster rap with him,” noted Wiesch.
With Lone Wolf and Cub, there was a lot of work that went into the development. Pages had to be restored and rediscovered in Italy, and the Deluxe Edition is the first time where it’s published in English in the manga right-to-left format. At the heart, this is done out of love. “We put out the editions we want,” noted Wiesch. They have been developing the works with all the small details from page style to the paper used. They want to allow fans to afford comics without having to go on eBay, added Woodward.
Both Wiesch and Woodward noted the relative obscurity of Berserk, and how its dark nature makes it rather hard to recommended. And yet, as Wiesch noted, “It outsells [Batman] 10 to 1.” And Woodward reflected that “Berserk made me sob… there’s a moment, 30 volumes in, that made me cry for an hour.”
Among the upcoming releases discussed at the panel was a deluxe edition for Gantz, a series by Hiroya Oku about the cruel, uncaring universe where life and death are meaningless in the face of a points-based system. It will be released on April 6, 2027. Wiesch noted, “We have a long history with Gantz and have done a lot of deluxe editions in the past… we were surprised by how popular it was.” Woodward, meanwhile, said he’d been requesting the deluxe edition of Gantz since he started working at Dark Horse.
Additionally, Vampire Hunter D is going to be remade as a Western style comic, with art redone to work within the format. Creator Hideyuki Kikuchi will be illustrating a new story
Vampire Hunter D: The Rose Princess will be released on June 29, 2027.
A new deluxe edition forGou Tanabe’s adaptation of HP Lovecraft’s The Dunwich Horror, translated by Zack Davisson, will be released on November 3, 2026. And the still serializing in Japan adaptation of HP Lovecraft’s The Case of Charles Dexter Ward will be released on March 30, 2027. Also announced at the panel was The Outsider and Other Early Adaptations (including a work by Chekov), which will release July 6, 2027.
A second edition of Yoshitaka Amano’s Deva Zan will be released on March 2, 2027 with a new cover.
In more slice of life fiction, The Sky is But One Roof of the World by Kenji Tsuruta will be released on April 6, 2027.
A prequel to the hit Netflix Animated series, Blue Eye Samurai, was announced at the panel. Subtitled Cry of the Yurei, the book will be written by K. Perkins and Mike Johnson with art by Aviv Or. The series will begin releasing on February 3, 2027 with covers by David Mack, Ito, and Angela Wu.
Another new series was announced called Martial War, by Carter, White, and Shaman King creator Hiroyuki Takei. The book is about a young boy who saw Ninja at war. Now grown, the boy finds the world disdaining ninja as nothing more than bloodsport. When our hero gains the power of Ninja, life goes drastically wrong. Carter and White joined the panel to discuss the book. “We presented [Takei] with a world,” noted Carter, “and he was like, ‘Hell yeah, let’s do this.’” “I think what drives us is our love for these stories,” White mused. Martial War will be available in the US first on April 6, 2027.
Stay tuned to The Beat for more news from NYCC ’26.
