'Pokemon Adventures' Collection Coming To Digital

The Pokemon Adventures manga is going digital, and will soon be available through most devices and [...]

By Michael Hein

The Pokemon Adventures manga is going digital, and will soon be available through most devices and online stores.

Pokemon Adventures is the longest-running manga or comic series in the Pokemon world. It follows characters based closely off of the original games -- Pokemon Red and Pokemon Blue -- and has the full endorsement of the games' orginal creator, Satoshi Tajiri. Last week, VIZ announced that they were finally bringing all of these stories to the digital market place. Over the next couple of months, the will be sold directly through VIZ, as well as on the Kindle, Noook, through iBooks, ComiXology and Google Play.


The first seven volumes of the acclaimed manga are already out, available for $6.99 each. VIZ has even posted a free preview on their store for those that want to get a taste of what they are in for.

These volumes follow trainers Red and Blue through the land of Kanto as they head for the ultimate competition -- the Pokemon League. Along the way, however, Team Rocket does its best to get in the way.

In August, volumes 8-14 will be available. These tell the story of Pokemon Gold and Silver versions, following a trainer named Gold through the Johto region.

In September, volumes 15-22 will go up for sale, encompassing the Ruby and Sapphire stories, and in October, volumes 23-25 will go up, offering a new take on an old classic with the plots of Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen.

October will also see the release of volumes 26-29, which tell the extended story of Pokemon Emerald. In November, the manga's take on generation four will come out in Pokémon Adventures: Diamond, Pearl and Platinum volumes 1-11.

The last batch will be released in December, including Pokémon Adventures: HeartGold & SoulSilver volumes 1 and 2, Pokémon Adventures: Black & White, volumes 1-9, and Pokémon Adventures: Black 2 & White 2, volumes 1-2. VIZ promises that starting in 2019 they will offer manga tie-ins to the Pokemon movies. The series will also have to catch up to the storylines of X &Y, Omega Ruby & Omega Sapphire and Sun & Moon.

"This is the comic that most resembles the world I was trying to convey," Tajiri once told VIZ of the manga. Pokemon Adventures has been running since 1997. It has been written by Hidenori Kusaka since the start. The first nine volumes were illustrated by Mato, at which point Satoshi Yamamoto took over.

The stories resemble those of the video games they are based on more closely than the mainstream anime did. The characters even age throughout the story, as Ash Ketchum never has.

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