Hey Udon fans!

Thanks so much for your continued support and enthusiasm for all our comics, manga, and artbooks! We get tons of feedback from you guys and gals online and at conventions,  and we hear all of it. We may not always have time to respond–and some stuff is still under wraps and so we CAN’T respond–but rest assured that we’re listening and always doing our best for you, whether you’ve just discovered us through our just-published Shigenori Soejima Artworks or Apple Selection Volume 1 art books, or you’ve been with us right from The Beginning with Street Fighter #1.

So let’s talk about “Out Of Print” books. We’ve been getting a lot of e-mail lately about books that have gone “Out of Print,” but are really just no longer easily available.

Sometimes there’s a gap between when we sell through the copies of a book we have printed, and when we print more copies. Sometimes this is only a week, and sometimes it’s 6 months or more. This is true for art books, manga, or our graphic novels. We print all of our books to have stock on hand for at least a year from their publication date, and sometimes for much longer. There is a long, long window of easy availability on our books, and we work hard to reprint books all the time. Sometimes you might have to wait a little while for that reprint, and we generally can’t tell you when that’s going to be until it’s (almost) already here, but except for our very cool, very deliberately limited edition books (and we always let you know about those ahead of time) most of our artbooks are still easily available from us, whether they were published last week or 4 years ago.

For the ones that aren’t easily available, well, here’s where a lot of you guys get upset. Independent sellers will always sell our stuff for whatever they want, but generally when a book is no longer easily available–even for a week–they’ll raise the price on their copies, sometimes outrageously. Obviously, we have absolutely no control over this, but it happens and there’s not much to be done and it’s not worth worrying about, here’s why:

There are thousands of copies of these books already in print. Sometimes tens of thousands of copies! Just because we don’t have any in our warehouse, that doesn’t mean that the copies in comic book stores, major book chains, or other online avenues have immediately disappeared! With a little googling this evening I was able to find copies of some of those “Out of print” books fetching outrageous sums – and they were still on sale for less than cover price!

So if you want to find an “Out of Print” book, here’s what we recommend:

1. Check out our webstore, http://udonstore.com. It’s FULL of “out-of-print” stuff!
2. Check the shelves of your local comic book shop. Comics stores order lots of our books, and there are likely copies available there. To find the comic book shop in your area, call 1-888-COMIC-BOOK or visit http://comicshoplocator.com/. Maybe don’t mention that it’s ‘out of print’ though, just in case.
3. If you’re visiting certain popular online booksellers and coming up empty, why not check bookstores in other countries? Amazon.ca (Canada) and Chapters.Indigo.ca (Canada) stock our books, and they often have copies available for cover price or less!
4. Visit us at conventions! We sometimes have rare or “out of print” books at our convention appearances.
5. Wait for a reprint. It only seems like waiting is terrible, but it totally builds character!

 
So to repeat: All of our books have thousands and thousands of copies in print, with the exception of clearly-marked, limited edition stuff (and if you’ve been hmming and hahing on our awesome Street Fighter Ultimate Box Set, well, you might want to hurry up…). While a book might no longer be EASILY available from your preferred online retailer, our books are still out there and not too hard to find with a little bit of searching. Good luck!

Again, we thank you all for your continued support and enthusiasm, and for reading this really long blog post! You guys rock.

Sincerely,

- The Staff of UDON

UDON artist Omar Dogan (Street Fighter Legends, Robotech, Vent) shows part of his working process in this video done for ImagineFX magazine. Enjoy!

PART TWO
PART THREE
PART FOUR

Check out more of his amazing work in the upcoming Girls Seven art book!

Mega Man fans Rejoice! The news that you’ve been waiting for is here, as Mega Man Official Complete Works is now back in print. We realize this book is going for some pretty crazy prices right now, and we’re just as happy as you are that there are now copies available for purchase at cover price.

We’ve also just reprinted Mega Man Zero Official Complete Works and Okami Official Complete Works.

All three books are currently available at Diamond for immediate reorder, if you’re a comic book retailer. Which means that as a customer, you can go ahead and special request this from any comic book store, and they can reorder it for you! You can find the comic book store nearest to you by visiting http://comicshoplocator.com/.

Copies of all of these books should make their way to Amazon, Barnes and Noble online, and other booksellers over the next 2 to 3 weeks. In the interim, here are the ordering codes for these books.

Mega Man Official Complete Works
Diamond Code: JUL091090
ISBN-13/EAN: 978189737679953999

Mega Man Zero Official Complete Works
Diamond Code: FEB073817
ISBN-13/EAN: 978189737601053499

Okami Official Complete Works
Diamond Code: MAY073783
ISBN-13/EAN: 978189737602753999

On a recent trip to Japan, Chris, Erik, and Steven Cummings of UDON had a chance to grab breakfast with MEGA MAN MEGAMIX and MEGA MAN GIGAMIX manga creator Hitoshi Ariga. Our breakfast was on the very day that Mega Man Gigamix Volume 3 was released in North America, the finale of Ariga-sensei’s massive Mega Man epic! Ariga-sensei was kind enough to answer a few questions for us on the end of Gigamix, and his future plans for the character.

UDON: Mega Man Gigamix has just finished publishing in North America with the release of volume 3. How long ago did you complete your work on Gigamix?

ARIGA: I finished the last page around the time of the Toronto ComicCon last year, which was in August, I think.

So you finished Gigamix and then got right on a plane to come to Toronto, Canada for the first time?

Basically right away, yes.

How did you feel about completing the story? Because it’s an epic story… were you glad it was finished or were you sad it was over?

I first started the story about ten years ago, so I kind of felt relieved that I finally got all the way to this point, to be finished. I actually came up with the finale of the book back in ’98, so more than 10 years ago.

When I was working on the book there were times when production on the videogame would pause, and then it would start up again. For instance, there was a long period of time between Rockman 8 and Rockman 9. So the publisher said, ‘because the game is not coming out, we don’t really need to make a new manga.’ Also, the magazine that was originally publishing my manga stopped carrying Megaman all together, so that was another delay.

What was your favourite part of the Gigamix story?

My favourite part is where the Earth robots fought the space robots. Wily and Light, they are basically enemies. But when a bigger enemy showed up, they had to join forces and fight together to defeat it. It’s a very difficult nuance, to explain the relationship between Lightand Wily, the ties that bind them together.

Like Magneto and Professor X? They were friends and now they’re on opposite sides but they still have that dynamic of friendship, that respect and understanding, in their relationship.

Something like that. Wily and Light, they’re friends but then they’re enemies, and yet even as enemies, there’s a way in which they’re sort of friends.

What new projects are you working on right now?

At this moment, I am working on a couple things that I can’t really mention, unfortunately. I’ve also been helping on some game work. I am looking forward to doing more Mega Man stuff, but there is nothing that has been announced yet. And of course, it is important to me that Gigamix has reached a North American audience at last.

Do you have a message that you’d like to send to your North American fans?

When I was working on Megamix, I was thinking to myself, ‘wouldn’t it be great if we could release an English version?’ Since Rockman and Mega Man are popular in North America, I kept thinking it would be really great if this manga could be released so those fans could read it

In fact, the reason why I titled the book Megamix was because of the “Mega”, since I had the American Mega Man in mind. Originally the book was supposed to be called Rockman Remix, but since I had that North American Mega Man in mind, I went ahead with using Mega in the title instead. So I am extremely, extremely happy that I was able to get it delivered to the fans in North America.

Hitoshi Ariga poses with the UDON editions of the Mega Man Gigamix Manga, at Denny's in Ikebukuro!

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UDON has released Mega Man Megamix volumes 1-3 and Mega Man Gigamix volumes 1-3 in English in North America. Gigamix 1-3 are currently available, and new printings of Megamix 1-3 will be available in February/March. Our thanks to Hitoshi Ariga for agreeing to the interview, Steven Cummings for translation, and Shaindle Minuk for transcribing.

UDONOPHILES GET READY!

UDONSTORE.COM is having a 2-day Boxing Day sale with a whole host of new deals on all of our great art books, comics, manga, posters, and prints… everything in the store! Our sale runs from 12:00am on December 26th to 11:59pm on December 27th–two days only so don’t miss out! Read on for all of the special sale details and then visit http://www.udonstore.com/ to pick up awesome savings!

25% OFF EVERYTHING!*

All regularly priced* items on the UDONSTORE.COM website are eligible for a special sale with this special code! To get a 25% discount off of the regular price, enter this code ot the checkout screen:

CODE: UDON2011

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SITE BUSTER SPECIAL DEAL!

Our most impressive release of all time has gotta be THE STREET FIGHTER ULTIMATE EDITION BOX SET, containing the complete UDON Street Fighter Comic Saga in two massive oversized hard cover books in a gorgeous slipcase! The regular price of this amazing set is $249.99, but we are specially discounting 10 copies of this box set to just $150!

Street Fighter Ultimate Box Set – UDONSTORE.COM EXCLUSIVE!
Regular Price $249.99, NOW $150! (Limited quantity of 10 box sets)
http://www.udonstore.com/Street-Fighter-Ultimate-Box-Set-Exclusive-p/udon-sf2ultboxsetexcl.htm 

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SITE BREAKER SPECIAL DEAL!

Maybe you’ve already got volume one of STREET FIGHTER ULTIMATE EDITION? Well maybe you need to get STREET FIGHTER II ULTIMATED EDITION then, with the complete World Warrior tournament and more?! We’re offering the limited edition HC for half of the price of the softcover, just $29.99 while supplies last!

Street Fighter II Ultimate Edition HC – UDONSTORE.COM EXCLUSIVE!
Regular price $99.99, NOW $29.99! (While supplies last)
http://www.udonstore.com/Street-Fighter-II-Ultimate-Edition-HC-Exclusive-p/udon-sf2ultedhcexcl.htm 

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THE MORE YOU SPEND, THE MORE YOU GET!

Buying a bunch of great books from our website? We’ll hook you up with free stuff! Books will automatically be added to your order as you hit each incentive level, so spend big!

Spend $100 – Get ART OF RESIDENT EVIL 5 SC ($39.99 value) for FREE!
Spend $200 – Get VENT HC ($79.99 value) for FREE!
Spend $300 – Get ART OF CAPCOM 2 HC ($79.99 value) for FREE!

All eligible orders will have books automatically added.

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WALL-DECORATION SPECIAL!

Spend $50 in the poster or print categories and get a FREE Street Fighter Good vs. Evil Poster (9.99 value)! All eligible orders will have this poster automatically added.

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THE FINE PRINT
All discounts are based suggested retail price. Specials and discounts cannot be combined. *25% off discount not elligible on “Site Buster” deal, “Site Breaker” deal, or any other sales or discounts. All sales while supplies last. No rain cheques.

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Done reading? Head to http://www.udonstore.com/!

Jim Zub is a guest on Fictional Frontiers with Sohaib. Click through to listen to the interview as Jim chats about what’s coming up for both Makeshift Miracle and his creator-owned series Skullkickers.

Shun Hong Chan, artist of UDON’s >Makeshift Miracle, now has an English language fanpage on Facebook. Let him know how much you’re enjoying the series, give it a ‘Like’ and check out exclusive behind-the-scenes art for Makeshift!

Shun Hong Chan Facebook fanpage

Are you following the twice-a-week updates of our new online graphic novel MAKESHIFT MIRACLE? Today featured a phenomenal page that wrapped up the second chapter of the series by Jim Zub and Shun Hong Chan with a bang! You can go check it out now at http://www.makeshiftmiracle.com/

And, just like with the first chapter, we’ve released chapter two as a dual cbr/pdf torrent file! Here are the links to the first two torrents and feel free to spread them around, and share the Makeshift Miracle!

Makeshift Miracle Chapter 1 Torrent File

Makeshift Miracle Chapter 2 Torrent File

Are you a fan of Persona 3? Persona 4? Have you discovered the amazing art and character design of Shigenori Soejima? Then have we got news for you! Our highly-anticipated, long-awaited art book featuring the fabulous art of Soejima-sensei will be available in better comic book stores everywhere on Wednesday December 7th! Amazon/B&N/Bookstore orders should be available in the next few weeks.

Packed to the gills with amazing art from Persona 3 & Persona 4 as well as other amazing pieces from throughout Soejima-Sensei’s career! This book includes process work (pencils/inks) for a selection of pages, and an English translation of the most recent interview with Soejima-Sensei about his art, life, and career! It’s an amazing collection that no fan should be without!

UDON is proud to present an exclusive, 6 page preview from Shigenori Soejima Art Works right here! Include s the first page of the interview! Rush out to comic book stores tomorrow to get the whole thing!

To find a comic book store in your area, visit http://www.comicshoplocator.com/ or (in the U.S. and Canada) call 1-888-COMIC-BOOK.