Viz Media Announces New Star Wars Tribute Art Book Featuring 45 Manga Artists

Viz Media has announced a new Star Wars tribute art book is on the way gathering art from 45 manga creators and illustrators! Although the Star Wars franchise has played in the world anime and manga in the past (especially through some of the official releases Viz Media has licensed previously), fans might have noticed how the franchise is starting to break out into this world even more as prominent creators in the anime and manga industries have put their own spin on the famous franchise like with the upcoming Star Wars: Visions anthology series coming to Disney+.

Now Viz Media is taking this in a cool new direction with the upcoming Star Wars: Tribute to Star Wars, a special new art book collecting works from 45 different illustrators. While the illustrators included are still very much a mystery, Viz Media’s initial announcement has confirmed works from Akira Himekawa, Taiyo Matsumoto, and Yoshikazu Yasuhiko will be a part of this new collection. Check out the cover art for the upcoming Star Wars: Tribute to Star Wars from Viz Media’s official announcement below:

These three artists are already a pretty huge deal. Not only has Viz Media worked with the Akira Himekawa creative duo in the past with licenses of The Legend of Zelda series, but fans might have seen their work as part of the special manga anthology, Star Wars: The Legends of Luke Skywalker. Taiyo Matsumoto is the creator behind series such as Ping Pong (which got an anime directed by Masaaki Yuasa), Tekkonkinkreet, and more. As for Yoshikazu Yasuhiko, the animator and artist has contributed to a ton of franchises over the years including the original Mobile Suit Gundam.

Star Wars: Tribute to Star Wars is currently scheduled to hit shelves in Spring 2022, and it’s only one of the many remixes on the franchise anime and manga fans will be able to check out within the next year or so. But what do you think? Curious to see Star Wars art through this new lens? Will you be nabbing this when it hits shelves next year? Let us know all of your thoughts about it in the comments! You can even reach out to me directly about all things animated and other cool stuff @Valdezology on Twitter!