I figured this was coming but with only a couple of volumes left for Monster, Viz had to be preparing to release at least one of Naoki Urasawa’s followup titles. It sounds like it’s now official that beginning in February, Viz will begin publishing 20th Century Boys and Pluto on a bi-monthly schedule. At Blog@Newsarama, Kevin Melrose writes:
Viz Media announced today at Comic-Con that it has licensed 20th Century Boys and Pluto, by renowned creator Naoki Urasawa (Monster).
The two titles will be released bimonthly beginning in February.
I’ve read scanlations of both titles. For as much as I enjoy Monster, I think both of these stories are better. There’s a sequence in Pluto early on featuring a robot acting as a major domo for a blind composer that’s just heartbreaking and brilliant. 20th Century Boys is Urasawa rewriting Stephen King as a group of childhood friends realize that their childhood plans and dreams are now being used to destroy society.
Hopefully the bimonthly releases mean monthly Urasawa.