Press Release: Vertical, Inc. to publish Osamu Tezuka's Apollo Song

[Jason]

New York-based independent publisher Vertical, Inc. has announced it is publishing its third Osamu Tezuka property in June 2007. Apollo’s Song will be published as a single-volume graphic novel at approximately 500 pages in length and will follow the same design format as the award-winning classic Buddha, and the runaway hit Ode to Kirihito. Apollo’s Song will have the same trim size as well as an obi-band mini book jacket just like its two American predecessors, and will be published as a trade paperback.

In a continuing effort to show Americans the more literary and adult side of Osamu Tezuka’s manga-graphic novels, Vertical proudly introduces Apollo’s Song, the story of Shogo, a troubled young man who has no faith in love. When his misanthropy reaches its peak, he is met by the Goddess of Love, who condemns him to an eternity of heartbreak.

Vertical, Inc. launched its manga publishing venture with Buddha, an 8-volume biography of the iconic religious leader, thereby making a name for itself as a publisher of prestige-edition comic books. Coincided with the release of its more affordable paperback version was the release of Ode to Kirihito, wherein “kirihito” represents an implied pun on the name Christ as pronounced in Japanese (kirisuto). With nominal appreciation of the ancient Greek god, Tezuka’s homage to spirituality comes full circle in Apollo’s Song.