Udon Entertainment has licensed Team Phoenix, a manga series by Spanish creator Kenny Ruiz that brings together characters created by legendary manga-ka Osamu Tezuka and puts a new spin on them.  The sci-fi series, which was created in collaboration with Tezuka Productions, was first published in Akita Shoten’s Bessatsu Shonen Champion magazine.  The story kicks off with Sapphire, a.k.a. Princess Knight, forming a band of space pirates to battle the Robot Alliance that currently dominates the universe.  They are joined by Black Jack and Astro Boy in subsequent volumes.

Udon will publish the first volume of Team Phoenix in November 2023 and plans to release a new volume every two months; the second and third volumes are scheduled for January and March 2024 respectively. The MSRP for each volume is $13.99.

Although Tezuka died in 1989, his work continues to attract interest.  Titan Comics publishes Atom: The Beginning, a new prequel to Astro Boy (see “Confessions of a Comic Book Guy – Just the Right Thing”), and ABLAZE Publishing recently licensed four original titles (see “Four Osamu Tezuka Manga Coming to English for the First Time”).

Click Gallery below for covers and preview!