Viz Media will expand its Viz Originals initiative to include Viz Originals One-Shots, which the company called, in a release, “bite-size original manga stories created locally by debut and up-and-coming creators.” The program, Viz Originals executive editor Fawn Lau told PW, follows “the successful methods that Japanese manga magazines use to discover new talent and support and showcase aspiring mangaka.”
Tapped to head the initiative is Hisashi Sasaki, the former editor-in-chief of one of the most recognizable of such magazines, Weekly Shōnen Jump. There, Sasaki oversaw the serialization of such series as Masashi Kishimoto’s Naruto, Tite Kubo’s Bleach, and Eiichiro Oda’s One Piece. In its release, Viz noted that it is the only publisher in the U.S. to offer manga-influenced creators the opportunity to work with a renowned Japanese manga editor while remaining stateside.
New one-shots will be added monthly to the VIZ Manga service. The initial lineup includes "Ancient Melody" by Jonathan Lareva, "Cinematic Certitude" by Naf, "The Stranger" by Liam Naughton, and "Skin & Bone" by Josh Tierney and Valentin Serber. The publisher added that successful one-shots—which run approximately 20–50 pages—will be considered as ongoing series, among other licensing and IP-related possibilities.
Viz Originals launched in 2020 to publish original graphic novels by artists inspired by manga and anime, and has since expanded its purview to publishing works by such mangaka as Haro Aso, Junji Ito, and Rumiko Takahashi. The imprint has published works in 14 languages across a myriad of manga genres made accessible via its Viz Manga digital platform, which is available in the U.S., Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, and the U.K.
