Kadokawa has revealed more art and story details for its Marvel Comics manga line, including what the upcoming Spider-Man and Spider-Gwen series will actually be about. The publisher shared the update on Wednesday alongside new concept art, and confirmed that the titles will launch on its KadoComi service before the end of the year.
The reveal is the clearest look yet at a partnership that has been taking shape since Marvel opened an “Asia Originals” editorial push, and it lands days after a rival Marvel manga programme at Shueisha wound down.
Who is making the Spider-Man manga
The Spider-Man manga is being handled by the artist Tokitokoro, who previously worked on Jeff the Land Shark. In July, the outlet Bleeding Cool reported that the book would be titled Spider-Man of Shibuya; Kadokawa said on Wednesday that the Japanese title is still to be determined, so that report should be treated as unconfirmed.
The story follows Haruto Hachidori, a high schooler in Shibuya who suddenly gains the powers of a spider. He swings freely through the Shibuya skyline without realising that a dark presence is lurking beneath the city.
Spider-Gwen’s creative team and premise
Spider-Gwen is being drawn by Ryūsei Yamada, whose credits include the Revenger manga adaptation and Disney Twisted-Wonderland: The Manga—Anthology. Its Japanese title is also still to be decided.
That book follows Gwen Stacy, an ordinary high schooler who plays drums in the band “Mary Janes.” After she is bitten by a radioactive spider, she gains superhuman abilities and chooses to protect the city as Spider-Woman — a choice that brings difficult decisions and conflicts with it.
Kadokawa also shared concept art for Daredevil and the Punisher, though neither has been attached to a specific title yet.
Five titles, and a launch on KadoComi
Kadokawa said the Marvel lineup will consist of five different titles. Bleeding Cool had reported in July that the collaboration would cover “five original manga volumes,” which lines up with the publisher’s own statement that five separate books are planned.
All of the works will debut on KadoComi, Kadokawa’s own manga service, before the end of 2026. That puts the launch window somewhere in the last three months of the year, though exact dates have not been announced.
Why the publisher changed
The context matters here. Shueisha announced on July 1 that its contract with Walt Disney Japan to publish manga adaptations of Marvel Comics characters would end on September 30. Five titles — Marvel x Shonen Jump+ Super Collaboration, Secret Reverse, Spider-Man: Octo-Girl, Spider-Man: Kizuna, and Deadpool: Samurai — were pulled from digital storefronts between September 28 and 30, and their physical volumes are also going out of print. All five had already finished serialising.
Sho-Pro Books, the Shogakukan-Shueisha joint venture, also saw its own contract to publish Marvel titles in Japanese end this year on March 31. Meanwhile Marvel has been reorganising its editorial side: on July 16 the company announced that Editor-in-Chief C.B. Cebulski would step away from the role to edit its “Asia Originals” line, with veteran editor Stephen Wacker taking over as Editor-in-Chief.
Put together, the two moves amount to Marvel shifting its Japanese-language manga output from the Shueisha side of the industry to Kadokawa — and giving one of Japan’s largest publishers a set of Marvel characters to build a new line around.
Why it matters
Marvel manga has mostly been a licensing story for the last several years: hit-and-miss experiments folded into other publishers’ lineups. A dedicated five-title programme on Kadokawa’s own platform is a bigger commitment, and putting Spider-Man and Spider-Gwen at the front is the safe, recognisable play — both characters already have strong console-and-film recognition in Japan.
The interesting detail is the localisation approach. A Shibuya-based, Japanese high schooler as Spider-Man, with a “dark presence” beneath the city, is a rewrite of the premise rather than a translation of Peter Parker’s story, which suggests the line is being built to stand on its own in the Japanese market first. Whether that approach travels back to Western readers will be the thing to watch.
For readers tracking Japan’s manga-licensing shifts, our coverage of the Dentsu and Kodansha partnership looks at the other direction of the same trend, and our roundup of Yen Press’s latest licensing wave covers how Western publishers are picking up Japanese titles.
Sources: Anime News Network, citing Kadokawa and Bleeding Cool
Featured image: Spider-Man concept art from Kadokawa’s Marvel manga line, via Anime News Network.
