W.I.T.C.H. is back (in North America)

[haruswirl]

Well this is something I wasn't expecting: W.I.T.C.H. graphic novels are now back with a new publisher in North America!  And they're being published by "Yen Press" (a publishing company best known for their translations of manga, manhwa, and the occasional graphic novel) which is honestly one of the most surprising aspects of this news.

It looks like they are really going all out with how much content they are releasing, since not only is each graphic novel about 250 pages long, but they are also being released in three volumes to complete each part (and all of the volumes of each part are being released on the same day).  It's also a neat touch that this series made its return on Halloween, which incidentally was the title of the first W.I.T.C.H. story.

Sadly, I haven't really seen very much acknowledgement of this news and I doubt I would have even heard of it if I hadn't been browsing on Comixology.  Still, hopefully this will allow fans of the comics, animated series, or even folks who have always been curious about these comics but were able unable to purchase them under their first English publisher have a chance to give this series a look! 

[Minotaur]

It's a comic series that is not based on any Disney cartoon, but it seems that Disney still owns the copyright. I knew it had been published in China before it was cut off, but never knew it has been adapted into animation. I wonder why Disney did not make the TV series in its own studio, since the art could be much better.

[haruswirl]

Dec 1, 2017 18:01:39 GMT Minotaur said:

It's a comic series that is not based on any Disney cartoon, but it seems that Disney still owns the copyright. I knew it had been published in China before it was cut off, but never knew it has been adapted into animation. I wonder why Disney did not make the TV series in its own studio, since the art could be much better.

Considering the fact it was originally published by "Disney Italia" I'm not surprised that Disney still owns the rights since it's technically always been their's.  As for why Disney did not do the animation in-house, it's probably for the same reason most animation for television programs from the USA aren't done in the States: it's cheaper for an overseas company to do it instead. 

[Hyaroo]

Dec 1, 2017 18:01:39 GMT Minotaur said:

It's a comic series that is not based on any Disney cartoon, but it seems that Disney still owns the copyright. I knew it had been published in China before it was cut off, but never knew it has been adapted into animation. I wonder why Disney did not make the TV series in its own studio, since the art could be much better.

Yeah... it's not a comic based on a cartoon, it's the other way around. ^_^ The cartoon is a different beast altogether, mind you... the plot is different, a number of the characterisations are different, and there are a handful of characters that appear in the comic that don't appear in the cartoon... as well as some characters that were invented wholesale for the cartoon but didn't appear in the comic. But, long as you don't expect a faithful adaptation of the comic, the cartoon is actually pretty good in its own right.