Noir Caesar Entertainment, the indie creative company founded by former NBA player and pop culture entrepreneur, Johnny O’Bryant III, to support and nourish art from marginalized communities across various media, announces a collaboration with Osamu Tezuka Productions to develop an updated graphic novel of Tezuka’s classic manga – ALABASTER – and the launch of a Kickstarter campaign for its publication.
ALABASTER will be written by the award-winning Bitter Root writer/co-creator Chuck Brown with artwork by renowned illustrator, Anna Weiszczyk (Godkiller, Home).
Reimagined for a new generation of readers as a contemporary graphic novel from Noir Caesar, ALABASTER reinterprets Ralph Ellison’s novel “The Invisible Man,” and follows a former successful Black athlete, James Block, who is framed by his girlfriend and wrongfully imprisoned. While inside, James befriends a disgraced scientist that gives him the solution to his problems—a laser gun that either turns its subject invisible or kills them upon usage. After serving his prison sentence and locating the device, James disfigures himself in a failed experiment that turns him partially translucent, like alabaster. Angry, vengeful, and with a new identity, Alabaster wreaks havoc on bigots and hypocrites alike.
Johnny O’Bryant, founder of Noir Caesar says, “We’ve always admired and respected the great Osamu Tezuka and his work. When we discovered Alabaster we were convinced could add a new dimension to Tezuka’s original concept and bring this classic tale to a new generation of readers. We’re grateful to Tezuka Productions for selecting Noir Caesar as they share a commitment to finding new ways to fulfill Tezuka-sensei’s vision to combine Japanese influenced manga and anime with Western-style storytelling.”
Yoshimi Suzuki, Head of International Partnerships of Tezuka Productions Co. remarks, “If Osamu Tezuka were alive and met Johnny O’Bryant today, he would have shown great interest in working with a team of and young multi-talented artists from diversified cultural backgrounds that have a deep love toward Japanese anime and manga. I can’t help but expect great synergy generated between Alabaster and the unique cultural backgrounds Noir Caesar and their creative team bring. I hope Noir Caesar fully displays their creativity in this project.”
The Kickstarter campaign launch page for ALABASTER may be found at: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/noircaesar/alabaster-the-graphic-novel
Source: Press Release
