Marvel developing 4 anime properties

SAN DIEGO — Cort Lane of Marvel Animation, Masao Maruyama of Madhouse, Alex Yeh of Madhouse and writer Warren Ellis were on hand at the Marvel Animation panel to discuss Marvel’s forays into the anime world.

Clips were shown of the upcoming “Wolverine” and “Iron Man” projects, which will be written by Ellis.  Ellis indicated “Blade” and “X-Men” would be the other two properties developed for this project.

Lane said the project was “a re-imagining of key Marvel characters in the anime format.”

Yeh, translating for Maruyama, said the company was aiming for “a perfect marriage of traditional anime with Marvel characters.”

Ellis said he enjoyed the freedom, and money, he’d been given in animation.

“You get to do visual narrative with very few hurdles between you and the audience,” he said.

The Iron Man story will be set in Tokyo, Ellis said, and is about an unexpected clash of cultures and the history of weapon design.

Wolverine has its basis in the 1980s miniseries by Chris Claremont and Frank Miller.

Blade, a character Ellis said he’d never written before, would have ties to London and a more novelistic approach.

The X-Men was the final anime mentioned as being in development at the panel.

- Matt Price