Dr. Stone Artist Boichi Launches New Webtoon SuperString: Isekai Kenbunroku

Boichi, the artist behind Dr. Stone, will jump into the Super String universe with a new series Isekai Kenbunroku with Island writer In-Wan Youn.

Dr. Stone's artist will join the Marvel-esque Korean webcomic universe called SuperString.

As reported by Anime News Network, Boichi, the illustrator for Dr. Stone, will release a new webcomic series that will be a part of SuperString in the 21st issue of Shogakukan's Weekly Shonen Sunday. In-Wan Youn, who wrote other Super String works such as Island and Defense Devil, will write. The series, SuperString: Isekai Kenbunroku follows a young man who strives to fight alone and protect his family. Earth turns into a battleground in Isekai Kenbunroku when heroes, summoned from other dimensions, come to fight a war. According to the magazine, the series is a "hyper-dimensional action series about Marco Polo."

Boichi's Illustrating Career in Manhwa

Boichi's career started in illustrating manhwa, the Korean word for comic books, before moving to the world of Japanese comics, manga, in 2004. Sun-Ken Rock, his first serialized manga, launched in Young King in 2006 and led to numerous spin-offs. As Sun-Ken Rock featured several Korean-Vietnamese characters, Boichi donated the royalties from the second volume to the Humanitarian Services for Children of Vietnam to apologize for Korea's actions during the Vietnam War. His philanthropy continued when he donated royalties and money to the Red Cross and the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami victims. His science-fiction action series ORIGIN won the Grand Prize at the 22nd Japan Media Arts Festival in 2019.

Boichi's Dr. Stone Becomes a Popular Anime

Boichi contributed the artwork for other manga, such as Brutality and Raqiya, but he is most well known for providing the artwork for Riichiro Inagaki's Dr. Stone, which concluded in March 2022. Boichi and Inagaki's collaboration began remotely and indirectly as Inagakai sent storyboards to Boichi through his editor. Boichi conceptualized Dr. Stone's world to be one where nature was left primarily unharmed as humanity, as a result of a mysterious flash, would not be there to destroy it. The two researched extensively to ensure the series' science was as accurate as possible. The manga won in the shōnen category at the 2019 Shogakukan Manga Award and has over 14 million copies as of June 2022. Dr. Stone has inspired a popular anime adaptation, with Boichi providing rough sketches to help the director adapt the manga. Season 3 premieres on April 6.

Isekai Kenbunroku is part of Super String, a South Korean company YLAB's IP, where different characters from different YLAB works come together in a single universe. The IP mainly focuses on manhwa and webcomics but has expanded into other genres such as films, dramas and games. Youn's other series, Island, received a live-action drama adaptation starring Kim Nam Gil, Lee Da Hee, Cha Eunwoo and Sung Joon. The English translation is available to read on WEBTOON. Defense Devil ran in Weekly Shōnen Sunday from April 2009 to June 2011.

SuperString: Isekai Kenbunroku debuts on April 19.

Source: Anime News Network