Yen Press Announces Manga Adaptation of James Patterson's Daniel X

Now that their manga / manhwa adapation of James Patterson's Maximum Ride is a confirmed success (Maximum Ride Volume 2 recently debuted in the New York Times Manga Top 10 Bestseller List), Yen Press and Hachette Book Group USA recently announced that they'll next be tackling the graphic novel adaption of another bestselling young adult novel series by Patterson, Daniel X.

Like Maximum Ride, the graphic novel adaptation of Daniel X will be done by a Korean artist -- but while Maximum Ride is illustrated by NaRae Lee, this new series will be illustrated by Seung-hui Kye. In Korea, Kye has 13 manhwa series to his credit, but he is best known to American fans as the creator of Recast, a 6-volume fantasy manhwa series published by TokyoPop.

Kye will be adapting the first three novels in the Daniel X series: The Dangerous Days of Daniel X, Daniel X: Watch The Skies and Daniel X: Alien Hunter. Like Maximum Ride, the first installments of Daniel X will be featured in the pages of Yen Plus magazine. The first volume of the graphic novel series is scheduled for publication in Summer 2010.

So for those new to the world of Daniel X, here's a little background on this story. Daniel X is an orphan whose parents were murdered by evil aliens. But here's the catch: Daniel, like his father, is an alien, and he has some fantastic powers that make him an almost superhuman alien hunter. While on his quest, Daniel meets Kildare, a fellow alien who just happens to be the son of an evil gangster alien that Daniel is out to kill. The unlikely pair join forces to rid the world of these extra-terrestrial invaders.

As Patterson himself explains it (in a video posted on Amazon.com), Daniel X is "high octane stuff with lots of humor. (Daniel) has the greatest superpower of all, he can create.... I love the idea of a character who can solve problems by imagining solutions."

"It's been great to see my Maximum Ride characters come to life in the drawings and storytelling devices unique to manga," said Patterson. "It's a cool medium and I'm really looking forward to seeing early sketches of Daniel and his alien enemies."

Image credit: © James Patterson, © Seung-hui Kye