Comic question: Will there be an Attack of the Clones manga?

I was very impressed with quality of the manga adaptations of the first four films. They were able to show a broad range of emotions especially well, in some cases, better than the actual film. For example, Luke returning home to the Homestead, Luke's rage and grimness when fighting Vader the second time, and Vader's redemption were all fabulous. The action was wonderful as well, it'd be awesome to see an Attack of the Clones manga. The tusken slaughter would be incredible, as would the final duels. Anakin's conflicting emotions would probably come through better as well, since it's drawn, not acted.

 

Well, this is actually a specific item contained in Dark Horse Comics' Company FAQ:

"Will you be publishing a Manga version of Star Wars: Episode II?

As no Japanese publishers have done a comis adaptation of Star Wars: Episode II, Dark Horse will not be doing an English translation."

However, things aren't actually as bad or as absolute as the faq would suggest.

From Randy Stradley, Star Wars Editor for Dark Horse Comics on 4/4/03:

"Regarding manga: Though the manga sell fairly well here in the States, they do not sell as many copies as our Western-style comics. With the manga adaptations of ANH, ESB, and RotJ, Dark Horse was able to make a go of publishing them because we were just buying rights to the film negatives from the Japanese publishers, as opposed to paying to produce the work from scratch. For TPM and AotC, no Japanese publisher signed up with Lucas Licensing to produce adaptations. There was talk of Dark Horse hiring Japanese artists to produce manga versions, but when we crunched the numbers we realised it was a non-starter.

FYI, we are in discussion with a Japanese publisher to co-produce new Star Wars manga, but it's still early days. No telling at this point where it will lead. I'll keep you posted."

If you really want to see something like this - PT manga - my recommendation to you would be to write Dark Horse Comics and let them know about your interest:

Dark Horse Comics
Attn: Randy Stradley
10956 SE Main Street
Milwaukie, OR
97222

 

Hmm... So the Episode I manga was from scratch? That's interesting, I guess we'll have to wait until the Japanese artists make it before we buy the rights to it.