IDW Publishing has announced today that a monthly Yo-kai Watch comic book will begin syndication in April. Each issue will be 32 pages and cost $3.99 like most monthly comics. The first issue will release in April with one standard cover and an alternate cover available to subscription holders; however, only the standard cover has been revealed so far. The official press release states:
"The hit anime, manga and toy sensation from Japan comes to North American comics! Join Nate and his Yo-kai, Whisper, as they battle against ill-intentioned Yo-kai causing terrible trouble in their hometown! All-new, full color comic books based on this coming year’s hottest Anime and video game! Yo-kai Watch products have sold more than $2 billion in Japan in less than two years. A staggering statistic soon to be repeated here in North America!"
IDW's Yo-kai Watch comic will be written by Eric M. Esquivel, who has written issues for the comic adaptions of Bravest Warriors and Adventure Time. He also worked on part of the Mega Man 3 arc in Archie's Mega Man comic adaptation; fans should not worry about the quality of the Yo-kai Watch comic's writing.
The art itself is done by Tina Franscisco. She currently works with IDW on another series as well: a comic adaptation of Strawberry Shortcake. Dono Sanchez Almara, who works on Marvel's current Venom series, is coloring the comic.
Those eager to read the comic can get a preview with Yo-kai Watch Micro Comic Collector Packs on March 8th.. Each $3.99 pack will contain one random micro comic, poster, sticker sheet, and double-sided Medallium bio card. Each item is randomly selected from a set of three. While IDW's Star Wars Micro Comic Collector Packs contained micro comics of full issues from the IDW series, their Skylanders Micro Comic Collector Packs featured micro comics created exclusively for the collector packs themselves. Since these will be releasing before the full Yo-kai Watch comic series itself, it is far more likely that these micro comics will be exclusively created for the collector packs.
While the art for the Micro Comic Collector Packs features Hovernyan, there are no Yo-kai from Yo-kai Watch 2 present on the cover of the first issue. This combined with the press release suggesting Yo-kai Watch is a new franchise could mean this comic was meant to release much earlier than it actually is. The Yo-kai Watch comic has not been officially announced by any of Yo-kai Watch or IDW's official channels, including IDW's website. It is currently only featured on a select few press websites such as Bleeding Cool.