News
Exclusive: Dark Horse Announces Appleseed, Appleseed Companion, Shirow Masamune Anthology Deluxe Editions
posted on by Anita Tai
Dark Horse Comics exclusively revealed to ANN on Thursday a three-book Deluxe Edition manga series of Masamune Shirow's works, which includes Appleseed Deluxe Edition, the Appleseed Companion Deluxe Edition, and additional works by Shirow within the Shirow Masamune Anthology Deluxe Edition.
Dark Horse describes Appleseed Deluxe Edition:
The year is 2127. In the aftermath of a devastating global war, Deunan and Briareos are just the kind of couple you'd find managing to survive—she's a former SWAT team member, he's a cyborg former mercenary. Both of them are found in the ruins by Hitomi, a young woman who recruits them to work for Olympus, an ultra-advanced, experimental city-state that survived the apocalypse.It's an oasis of peace that now seeks to step outside its protected zone to try to reconstruct the world…but to do so, its philosophers, planners, and scientists will need the support of people who know how to fight. Olympus can offer them a new, safe home—and the chance to use the most advanced weapons tech on earth, including the powered combat armor known as the Landmate.
And so Deunan and Briareos are drawn into the paradoxes and power struggles of Olympus: their new job, to serve and protect the people of a city whose secrets they know little about. Protect them both from outsiders, and from themselves—for while Deunan and Briareos may believe enough in Olympus to put their lives on the line for it, they're far too smart to be satisfied being anyone's mere pawns, even in the most noble cause…
The Deluxe Edition hardcover includes books one to four of the series and has 848 pages. This release includes a wraparound, seven-color artwork cover, edge-gilded pages, four-color end sheets, and a sewn-in bookmark. Translators on the work include: Dana Lewis, Toren Smith, and Duane Johnson. Letterers on the edition include: Tom Orzechowski, L. Lois Buhalis, John Clark, and Sasquatch.
Dark Horse will release Appleseed Deluxe Edition in bookstores and comic shops on August 11 and 12, 2026.
Dark Horse previously published the manga in North America. The company previously released the fifth installments in Shirow's Intron Depot art book series, as well as several of Shirow's manga series, including Appleseed, Ghost in the Shell, Dominion, and Orion.
Dark Horse will reveal more details and the release dates for Appleseed Companion Deluxe Edition and Shirow Masamune Anthology Deluxe Edition at a later date.
Source: E-mail correspondence
