Captain Underpants is getting a manga adaptation. Oldboy is getting two deluxe editions. Matt Kindt takes on John Le Carré.
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Episode Transcript:
Captain Underpants goes Super Saiyan.
Oldboy gets deluxe editions.
Matt Kindt takes on John Le Carré.
This is Comic Book Club News for August 1, 2025.
Captain Underpants Gets A Manga:
Captain Underpants is a global bestseller, a cartoon, and even a movie. And now, Dav Pilkey’s signature creation will become a manga with Captain Underpants: The First Epic Manga, written and adapted by Pilkey with art by Motojiro, from Scholastic.
Said Pilkey, “It is a huge honor to see Motojiro’s rendering of the Captain Underpants illustrations into manga. His vibrant art inspired me to dig deeper, write new dialogue, and flesh out the story even further. Fans of the series will be thrilled about the new look and new content, and fans of manga will be impressed with Motojiro’s dynamic style. I am grateful to Motojiro for his help in taking Captain Underpants to a whole new level and exciting format that I hope will create a new generation of readers.”
If you’ve never experienced Captain Underpants before, the First Epic Manga focuses on best friends George Beard and Harold Hutchins, who manage to turn their school principal into the superpowered hero of the title. The new book will reimagine the first non-manga graphic novel, be presented in traditional English language order (left to right, versus manga’s usual right to left), and per PR, “include new and fun Flip-o-Ramas.”
Captain Underpants: The First Epic Manga will hit stores in U.S., U.K., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand on April 7, 2026.
Oldboy Gets Deluxe Editions:
They say the perfect Father’s Day present doesn’t exist, but then they’ve never seen the oversized Deluxe Editions of Oldboy being put out by Dark Horse Manga.
Perfect for daddies, daughters, or honestly, whoever, the classic series by writer Garon Tsuchiya and artist Nobuaki Minegishi will be collected in two new volumes: Oldboy Deluxe Edition: Book One and Book Two. Dark Horse’s translations previously won the 2007 Eisner Award for Best U.S. Edition of International Material.
The first book will collect — or “trap” if you will, for unknown reasons — the original four volumes, while the second book will collect volumes five through eight. The new printings will be packaged together in, per PR, a “sleek, deluxe hardcover format and features a new, noir-inspired cover made with metallic silver foil paper, and includes a ribbon bookmarker.”
Oldboy Deluxe Edition: Book One is 848 pages, 7″ x 10″, and will hit comic book stores on January 7, 2026, for $69.99. Oldboy Deluxe Edition: Book Two will hit comic book stores on March 25, 2026. And Father’s Day is June 21, 2026. Just for reference purposes.
Matt Kindt Takes On John Le Carré.:
The spy-filled world of writer John le Carré is coming to comics with John le Carré: The Circus—Losing Control, a new three-issue series by Matt Kindt and Ibrahim Moustafa from Dark Horse.
The new series focuses on The Circus, intelligence officers tasked with protecting Britain’s biggest secrets. Run by a man named Control, per the title of the book… Control goes missing. So it’s up to his assistant Maggie to save the day, while keeping Control’s absence a secret.
Said Kindt, “Getting asked to contribute a piece to John le Carré’s world of Smiley has been one of the greatest honors and responsibilities of my life. I wasn’t looking for this job but I was called into service. And much like Smiley, my heart is in the right place and hopefully that will be enough.”
John le Carré: The Circus—Losing Control #1 will hit stores on November 19.
For Comic Book Club News, I’m Alex Zalben. And maybe they want to look into whether music did it, because music makes me lose control.
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