Lead: The Marvel Kadokawa manga line is officially live, with five original Spider-Man, Spider-Gwen, Venom, Deadpool and Iron Man series now serializing on Kadokawa’s KadoComi site in Japan.
What happened
Marvel used its “Marvel Comics: House of Ideas” panel at New York Comic Con on October 10 to detail the first wave of MARVEL | KADOKAWA, the joint manga project Kadokawa first announced at San Diego Comic-Con on July 25. Marvel’s executive editor of Asia originals C.B. Cebulski appeared alongside Kadokawa chief editor Kenta Matsui and comics editor Naofumi Mashino.
The five launch titles and their artists are:
- Spider-Man: Shibuya Cross Line by tokitokoro, a new Tokyo-set story about high schooler Haruto Hachidori, who is bitten by a spider at a small shrine and crosses paths with Daredevil while investigating a string of murders.
- Spider-Gwen: Her Big Debut The Manga by Ryūsei Yamada, following Gwen Stacy as Ghost-Spider while she juggles her police officer father and her band.
- Venom: Lethal Protector The Manga by Peperon, a manga take on Eddie Brock’s fall and his bond with the symbiote.
- Deadpool: Millionaire With a Mouth The Manga by Hōsuke Momoi, in which Wade Wilson becomes a merch-selling Avengers superstar.
- Iron Man: I Am Iron Man The Manga by TERU, a retelling of Tony Stark’s Afghanistan origin.
The first part of each opening chapter is free to read on KadoComi. Kadokawa’s July announcement said the series would run on KadoComi first and later be collected in print volumes. Outlets differ slightly on the start date: Famitsu reports serialization began on October 10, while Anime News Network describes the launch as Sunday in Japan. Either way, all five are readable now.
Why the Marvel Kadokawa manga line matters
This is Marvel resetting its Japanese manga strategy almost overnight. Shueisha’s contract with Walt Disney Japan for Marvel manga ended on September 30, and Shueisha removed titles such as Spider-Man: Octo-Girl and Deadpool: Samurai from digital stores at the end of September. Sho-Pro Books’ deal to publish Marvel comics in Japanese ended in March. Kadokawa is now the main home for new Japanese-made Marvel stories, and Cebulski moving into an Asia-focused editor role signals this is a long-term bet rather than a one-off promotion.
The mix of titles is also telling. Shibuya Cross Line is a brand-new Japan-set story with a new lead, while Venom: Lethal Protector and I Am Iron Man rework familiar arcs and origins for manga readers who may know these heroes mainly from the films. For artists, that split is the interesting part: you get to see how Japanese creators translate Marvel’s broad-shouldered American house style into manga paneling, screentone and expressive faces. The Spider-Man key visual alone, with its sharp ink hatching and speed lines, is a good study in how a Western costume reads through a manga lens.
It also arrives as Marvel’s games side leans into anime-style fighters such as Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls, so the company is clearly courting the same audience from several directions at once.
What we know vs what is rumored
- Confirmed: five MARVEL | KADOKAWA series are serializing on KadoComi with the titles and artists listed above, per Kadokawa, Famitsu and Anime News Network.
- Confirmed: Kadokawa plans print volumes after web serialization, per its July announcement.
- Unconfirmed: an official English release. No English publisher or simultaneous English release has been announced.
- Unconfirmed: a second wave. Famitsu frames these five as the first lineup and says later waves are something to look forward to, but no further titles have been named.
What happens next
Watch the MARVEL | KADOKAWA site and its official account for chapter schedules and a second-wave lineup, plus any date for the first collected volumes. The bigger question for overseas readers is licensing: with Shueisha’s Marvel manga leaving storefronts, an English deal for these five series would be the next real milestone.
Sources: Anime News Network — Marvel, Kadokawa Launch 5 New Manga as Part of Partnership; Famitsu — MARVEL | KADOKAWA five new web manga begin serialization; Kadokawa Group — MARVEL | KADOKAWA project launch announcement; Bleeding Cool — NYCC: Marvel X Kadokawa: Spider-Man: Shibuya Cross Line by Tokitokoro