Dark Horse Comics’ Dark Horse Manga imprint has announced that it will publish three deluxe volume editions of Shirow Masamune’s Appleseed and several of his other additional works.
The publisher’s first release, Appleseed Deluxe Edition, collects the four books of Masamune’s Appleseed manga. It will be published in 848-page (7×10″) hardcover format, featuring a wraparound, seven-color artwork cover, metallic, edge-gilded pages, four-color end sheets, and a sewn-in bookmark.
It will include English translations by Dana Lewis, Toren Smith, and Duane Johnson, with lettering being handled by Tom Orzechowski, L. Lois Buhalis, John Clark, and Sasquatch.
The deluxe manga volume is scheduled to arrive in bookstores and comic shops on August 11, 2026 and August 12, 2026, respectively.
Dark Horse Manga describes the Appleseed Deluxe Edition book as:
The year is 2127. In the aftermath of a devastating global war, Deunan and Briareos are just the kind of couple you’d find managing to survive — she’s a former SWAT team member, he’s a cyborg former mercenary. Both of them are found in the ruins by Hitomi, a young woman who recruits them to work for Olympus, an ultra-advanced, experimental city-state that survived the apocalypse.
It’s an oasis of peace that now seeks to step outside its protected zone to try to reconstruct the world…but to do so, its philosophers, planners, and scientists will need the support of people who know how to fight. Olympus can offer them a new, safe home—and the chance to use the most advanced weapons tech on earth, including the powered combat armor known as the Landmate.
And so Deunan and Briareos are drawn into the paradoxes and power struggles of Olympus: their new job, to serve and protect the people of a city whose secrets they know little about. Protect them both from outsiders, and from themselves — for while Deunan and Briareos may believe enough in Olympus to put their lives on the line for it, they’re far too smart to be satisfied being anyone’s mere pawns, even in the most noble cause…
Don’t face the apocalypse alone.
Masamune originally released his four-volume Appleseed manga series in Japan between 1985 to 1989. Eclipse Comics first released the series in English in comic book and volume format, beginning in 1990, with Studio Proteus handling the initial translations. Dark Horse later licensed the manga for English release in 1995.
Appleseed has inspired several anime adaptations, including a 1988 OVA, a 2004 CG anime feature film and its 2007 sequel Appleseed Ex Machina, the 2011 CG ONA Appleseed XIII, and the 2014 anime reboot film Appleseed Alpha.
Dark Horse also announced that it will release Appleseed Companion Deluxe Edition, which compiles Appleseed Hypernotes and Appleseed ID.
Additionally, the third release Shirow Masamune Anthology Deluxe Edition will collect Masamune’s other manga titles such as Black Magic, Orion, Dominion, and Dominion Conflict 1 (No More Noise).
Dark Horse also posted mockup photos of the deluxe volume editions on its Twitter/X account.
Both Appleseed Companion and Shirow Masamune Anthology Deluxe Edition will be published at a later date, with Dark Horse set to announce more details in the future.
Sources: Dark Horse Comics Official Twitter (2) press release
