VIZ Media To Publish Award-Winning ’20th Century Boys’ In A New ‘Perfect Edition’

VIZ Media announces the release of Naoki Urasawa’s award-winning manga 20^TH CENTURY BOYS in a deluxe new omnibus edition on September 18^th. 20^TH CENTURY BOYS: THE PERFECT EDITION Vol. 1 will be published exclusively in print and includes two complete volumes of the original 22-volume epic manga series in a deluxe omnibus edition featuring new cover art and select pages in their original color presentation. A final volume titled 21^st CENTURY BOYS: THE PERFECT EDITION concludes the two-time Eisner winning story. Volume 1 will carry a print MSRP of $19.99 U.S. / $26.99 CAN. Future PERFECT EDITION releases of the series will be published by VIZ Media on a quarterly basis.

As 20^TH CENTURY BOYS begins, humanity, having faced extinction at the end of the 20^th century, would not have entered the new millennium if it weren’t for them. In 1969, during their youth, they created a symbol. In 1997, as the coming disaster slowly starts to unfold, that symbol returns. This is the story of a group of boys who try to save the world.

“20^TH CENTURY BOYS is one of Naoki Urasawa’s best known and most beloved works,” says Mark de Vera, Editor. “Urasawa has become one of the most respected creators not only among manga fans but also among a widespread comics and graphic novel fanbase around the world. We invite new and longstanding fans to enjoy the PERFECT EDITIONS of this extraordinary manga series.”

Naoki Urasawa’s career as a manga artist spans more than twenty years and has firmly established him as one of the true manga masters of Japan. Born in Tokyo in 1960, Urasawa debuted with BETA! in 1983 and hasn’t stopped his impressive output since. Well-versed in a variety of genres, Urasawa’s oeuvre encompasses a multitude of different subjects, such as a romantic comedy (Yawara! A Fashionable Judo Girl), a suspenseful human drama about a former mercenary (Pineapple ARMY; story by Kazuya Kudo), a captivating psychological suspense story (MONSTER; also published by VIZ Media), a sci-fi adventure manga (20^TH CENTURY BOYS), and a modern reinterpretation of the work of the God of Manga, Osamu Tezuka (PLUTO: URASAWA X TEZUKA; co-authored with Takashi Nagasaki, supervised by Macoto Tezka, and with the cooperation of Tezuka Productions; published in English by VIZ Media). Many of his books have spawned popular animated and live-action TV programs and films, and 2008 saw the theatrical release of the first of three live-action Japanese films based on 20^TH CENTURY BOYS.