Pokémon Red & Blue’s original manga returns with deluxe rerelease

The classic Pokémon comic series Pokémon Adventures returns this fall with a deluxe rerelease, publisher Viz Media and Simon & Schuster announced this week. Pokémon Adventures: Red and Blue Deluxe Edition Vol. 1 spans 476 pages and will officially be released on Oct. 27.

Pokémon Adventures: Red and Blue “reveals the franchise’s dark side,” we said in our retrospective of the official Pokémon manga. Satoshi Tajiri, creator of Pokémon, said of the series, “This is the comic that most resembles the world I was trying to convey.”

Written by Hidenori Kusaka and originally illustrated by Mato, the Pokémon Adventures manga is split into arcs based on the Pokémon games released by Game Freak. Red and Blue follows protagonist Red as he competes against his rival Blue, and “travels through dangerous zones, battles Gym Leaders for badges, and discovers the secrets of the Pokémon.” Ultimately, Red and Blue — spoiler alert for a nearly 30-year-old manga series — must team up to defeat a common enemy.

Image: Viz Media, Simon & Schuster/The Pokémon Company

Image: Viz Media, Simon & Schuster/The Pokémon Company

Viz already has collector’s editions of the Pokémon Adventures: Red and Blue run by Kusaka and Mato, but the deluxe edition features new cover art and comes in hardcover format. It’s a nice-looking way to level up (or start) your Pokémon manga collection.

Pokémon Adventures began in 1997, and has been consistently published with new volumes to follow the Pokémon game series. The current version of the manga is based on Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, and follows trainers Violet Lang and Scarlet Koito.

Pokémon Adventures: Red and Blue, Deluxe Edition, Vol. 1 arrives on Oct. 27 and costs $29.99. The book is available for pre-order at local and online retailers.