Marvel Comics has created some of the biggest artists in the medium throughout its decades long history, but rarely do these artists cross over into the worlds of anime and manga, but one artist, Whilce Portacio of X-Men, Iron Man, and Incredible Hulk fame, has made the leap with a recent cover for a Naruto collection and would love more opportunities to draw manga! Going on record during an interview with Crunchyroll, Portacio dove into his history with the medium as well as properties he’d love to lend his talents to if given the chance.
Crunchyroll asked what manga series Portacio would love to test his skills on, with the legendary Marvel artist noting that he’d love to work on Fist of the North Star and Lupin The 3rd if he was given the opportunity
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“Just given my past, from being exposed to Miyazaki taking the Lupin character and doing that with him to, of all things, Fist of the North Star. He had that line ‘omae wa mou shindeiru.’ “You’re already dead!” “You’re already dead!”
Portacio also noted how his son’s love of the franchise that made Konoha a household name among anime fans helped him take a crack at Naruto for the cover of the upcoming Blu-Ray collection:
“Flashing forward to now, and my son being a big fan of Naruto — and I remember buying all these things at conventions for him — and VIZ exposing me to the movies and the manga and the art from the creator, and then finding out that this is a character that I would normally love; the kind of character I’ve been working on. I don’t ever get into this usually, but I’m of the feeling that you take any manga or anime character and expose me to them, and I’ll totally get into it.”
Portacio’s take on Naruto brought a western comics aesthetic to the world of the Hidden Leaf Village, giving both Naruto, his friends, and his villains a brand new look that definitely got fans of both comics and anime talking about how this interpretation looks in comparison to the original source material.
What manga properties would you love to see Whilce Portacio, and other comic artists, take a crack at? Feel free to let us know in the comments or hit me up directly on Twitter @EVComedy to talk all things comics, anime, and the world of Marvel!
