Legendary Comics announced today a new anime companion graphic novel to Pacific Rim: Blackout, revealing the cover, and even a brand new Pacific Rim: Ultimate Omnibus Collection!
Now available for pre-order exclusively on Kickstarter, the graphic novel tells an all-new adventure featuring fan favorite Herc Hansen in a prequel story based on the hit Netflix original anime series Pacific Rim: The Black and the Omnibus Collection brings four past stories together in one volume for the first time
Here’s the press release…
LOS ANGELES, July 19, 2021 – Legendary Comics announced today a new companion graphic novel Pacific Rim: Blackout and a new collection Pacific Rim: Ultimate Omnibus, both further expanding the epic mythology based on Legendary Entertainment and Guillermo del Toro’s blockbuster film franchise. Partnering with Rocketship Entertainment, Legendary Comics will also create limited editions of each book along with exclusive merchandise available only through Kickstarter.
From writer Cavan Scott (Star Wars: The High Republic and Shadow Service) and artist Nelson Dániel (Detective Pikachu, TMNT, Clue), Pacific Rim: Blackout allows readers to revisit the world of Netflix’s Original Anime Series Pacific Rim: The Black in an all-new prequel adventure featuring fan favorite character Herc Hansen. The PPDC Ranger returns as a world-weary jaeger pilot dragged into battle as an influx of kaiju threatens to destroy the Australian continent and all its inhabitants. Along with his niece Olivia, his copilot Cooper, and Marshal Rask, Herc faces brand-new kaiju of epic proportions while battling his own inner demons.
For the first time ever, the Pacific Rim: Ultimate Omnibus brings together New York Times best-selling Pacific Rim: Tales from Year Zero (presented by Guillermo Del Toro and written by Pacific Rim screenwriter Travis Beacham) alongside the sequels Pacific Rim: Tales from the Drift (written by Joshua Fialkov), Pacific Rim: Aftermath, Pacific Rim: Amara (both from Cavan Scott), and Pacific Rim: Blackout in a deluxe omnibus collection.
All together, the Pacific Rim graphic novels will run at 568 pages in a hardcover collection that showcases the vast array of the Pacific Rim universe. The collection features incentives and other collectible items only possible on Kickstarter and is available to backers for delivery this year before it releases into retail in 2022.
“The Pacific Rim universe is so rich with opportunities to tell all-new captivating stories, and we are thrilled to bring a new prequel adventure based on the popular Netflix anime series to fans,” said Robert Napton, Senior Vice President of Legendary Comics. “Showrunners Greg Johnson and Craig Kyle created such a strikingly beautiful and hauntingly dangerous story featured in the anime series, and I couldn’t think of a better creative team than Cavan and Nelson to capture this vivid storytelling and visual style to bring to the page. We are also thrilled to offer fans of the franchise a new collection that allows them to revisit past adventures.”
Cavan Scott remarks, “It has been an absolute joy to return to the world of Pacific Rim for this original graphic novel and to also provide a link between the original movie and the fantastic anime series. Herc’s story really resonates with me; a man who has seen the world change and his friends fall away as the monsters keep on coming. But he never gives in, never lets events he cannot control defeat him.”
If you’re like me and was asking yourself, “why Kickstarter?” Well, while Pacific Rim: Blackout and the Ultimate Omnibus will be distributed through traditional means, Legendary is looking to offer fans some of the rewards and limited-edition items that can only be offered on Kickstarter prior to the retail date. This includes stretch goals that are free to all backers, the deluxe slipcase, all-new enamel pin sets, and more surprises yet to be revealed. Plus, doing it this way will give fans the chance to be among the first to receive physical copies of the books.
Pre-order now at Kickstarter with the limited-edition books becoming available simultaneously with the book market editions in January 2022.
