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Kodansha Comics Reveals Authors, Story Descriptions for The Ghost in the Shell: Global Neural Network Anthology (Updated)

Kodansha Comics revealed more details on Saturday about the The Ghost in the Shell: Global Neural Network anthology announced last year.

The authors and story descriptions for the anthology are:

Story 1: “Automatic Behavior” by Max Gladstone & David López
In this story by Max Gladstone, author of the Hugo-nominated Craft Sequence novels, and David López, the star artist of All-New Wolverine, Kusanagi and Aramaki are visiting Shanghai under cover as trade attachés when Aramaki is abducted in a sudden attack. Kusanagi recognizes the kidnappers as an elite American squadron she faced years earlier in Laos. But something is wrong – these soldiers should all be dead. Aramaki awakens inside a simulated world where his captors use repetition and pain to wear him down. Cut off from support, Kusanagi will have to reunite with an old friend to discover who has taken Aramaki and recover him before they break his ICE and access his ghost.

Story 2: “Redbloods” by Alex de Campi & Giannis Milonogiannis
From legendary writer Alex de Campi (Twisted Romance, Grindhouse) and Giannis Milonogiannis of Image Comics's acclaimed Prophet. A raid on a pleasure cruise off the coast of Yokohama unveils an international gang of smugglers trading illegally in the cyber-bodies of children. The trail leads to a dank corner of what was once Louisiana, where Togusa and Saito find themselves alone and outgunned. Meanwhile, Chief Aramaki and Major Kusanagi clash over a difference in philosophy with major implications for one little girl.

Story 3: “After the Ball Is Over” by Genevieve Valentine & Brent Schoonover
By Genevieve Valentine (Catwoman) and Brent Schoonover (Ant-Man), this story is set amid the aftermath of the war that divided the United States into three separate entities now at an uneasy peace. A woman has lived without augmentations, making a living by smuggling information the analog way. But an encounter with a man she never thought to see again drives her to stick her neck out one last time, and brave the checkpoints and suspicion that now pock what was once the land of the free.

Story 4: “Star Gardens” by Brenden Fletcher & LRNZ
From the explosive combination of Brenden Fletcher (Batgirl, Motor Crush) and LRNZ (Golem) comes an exploration of the nature of identity and imagination, punctuated by stylized fights and homages to every past incarnation of Section 9. A mind-blowing, kinetic descent into the mind of Major Motoko Kusanagi concludes The Ghost in the Shell: Global Neural Network.

The anthology is an "international collaboration between Shirow Masamune and Western comics creators." The anthology will include full color-stories featuring Ghost in the Shell characters as drawn by Western creators. Kodansha Comics compared the work to the company's previous Attack on Titan Anthology, where Western comic artists drew their takes on a Japanese-created universe. Shirow supervised the stories himself.

The hardbook anthology is slated for this fall, after being delayed from an original date of this spring.

Source: Kodansha Comics

Update: Kodansha Comics also shared the finalized cover for the anthology. Dustin Nguyen (Descender) provided the art.