Furman Turns Japanese!

By John Freeman on 28 June 2009

After years of writing Transformers stories for the UK and US, writer Simon Furman has finally broken into one of the most notoriously difficult comic markets: Japan.

This is no small achievement: very few Westerners have broken into the world of Japanese manga publishing in recent years. (Off the top of my head so early on a Sunday I can only think of Sean Michael Wilson right now)

Simon’s first all-Japanese writing credit comes courtesy of Million Publishing (Japanese site), publishers of the Transformers: Generations 2009 magazine series.

“Volume 3 of said publication features an all-new two-page comic strip story written by me with art by fan favourite Guido Guidi,” Simon reveals via his blog.

“Interestingly, and with a kind of uncanny synergy, the story idea I initially submitted to Million Publishing employed elements from the two previous manga strips (in Transformers: Generations 2009 #1 & 2), to such an extent we were able to fuse everything together in a way that continues and wraps up that storyline. I hadn’t even seen those strips, let alone understood them, when I first pitched the idea to Million, so it all fitted together oh so very neatly.

•Transformers: Generations 2009 vol 3 is out later this year. More info via Simon’s blog

About the Author
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John Freeman

John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.

He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.