The Pokémon franchise is about to receive a comic book made by an American company, as Pokémon: Detective Pikachu is being adapted into a graphic novel that will be released alongside the film.
Pokémon: Detective Pikachu is a comic book adaptation of the upcoming movie of the same name, which is being developed by Legendary Comics. Detective Pikachu is being made by Legendary Entertainment, of which Legendary Comics is a subsidiary and has produced comics based on some of their other films, such as Pacific Rim and The Great Wall.
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The Detective Pikachu comic will be an adaptation of the story of the film and will follow the story of Tim Goodman, as he teams up with a sleuth Pikachu in order to solve the mystery of his father's disappearance. The team behind the Pokémon: Detective Pikachu comic book is Nelson Daniel as the artist and Brian Buccellato as the writer. Nelson Daniel is best-known for his work on Judge Dredd and ROM for IDW, while Brian Buccellato has worked as a writer for series such as Detective Comics and The Flash for DC.
The Pokémon franchise is no stranger to comic book adaptations, with the Pokémon Pocket Monsters manga series actually predating the anime. There have been numerous different Pokémon manga released over the years, some of which have been in serialization since 1997, such as the Pokémon Adventures series.
The Pokémon: Detective Pikachu comic represents a rare instance of a Pokémon comic book being developed outside of Japan, which will give us a glimpse at westernized designs of the famous Pokémon in an official format, rather than the fan art seen all over the Internet.
A sequel to Pokémon: Detective Pikachu is already in the early planning stages, so we likely see more American Pokémon comics in the future. It's possible that Legendary Comics will be able to develop their own unique stories that are based on the Detective Pikachu movie, as they have done with movies like Pacific Rim.
The Pokémon: Detective Pikachu graphic novel is due to be released summer, 2019.