Seven Seas Entertainment is excited to announce that it has acquired the license to publish Lupin III (Lupin the 3rd): Thick as Thieves - The Classic Manga Collection, written and illustrated by Monkey Punch. This will be Seven Seas Entertainment's second hardcover collection, following Greatest Heists, and it will feature the world's greatest thief in some of his most exciting adventures.
From the infamous master thief Lupin III to his loyal sidekicks and ruthless adversaries, the characters that Monkey Punch has immortalized are among the most cherished in the history of storytelling. With this second compilation of the label's greatest hits, Seven Seas is pleased to provide the follow-up to the critically acclaimed release Greatest Heists from the previous year. Another selected collection, this time of some of Monkey Punch's best Lupin III stories and chapters from throughout the history of the iconic manga, Thick as Thieves is presented in a gorgeous oversized hardcover format and features all-new translations of the stories and chapters. Allow this legendary comic to win your affection all over again.
The large-trim hardback edition of Lupin III (Lupin the 3rd): Thick as Thieves - The Classic Manga Collection will be made available for the first time in North America in July 2023. The book will retail for $24.99 in the United States and $32.99 in Canada. In addition, an electronic edition will be made available on several digital platforms.
Under the name Monkey Punch, Japanese manga artist Kazuhiko Katō created the series in 1965. The fictional French gentleman thief Arsène Lupin, who was made up by Maurice Leblanc, gave him concepts for the series. He read 15 of Leblanc's stories before creating the series. The idea behind the Lupin III series was to make a comedy-adventure story that was like Leblanc's character. At first, he wanted to keep the fact that the two fictional characters shared blood a secret. However, other people convinced him otherwise.
Lupin III was made into a "carefree fellow" by combining parts of Arsène Lupin with James Bond. Monkey Punch gave Lupin a red jacket, which he thought was a flashy, sexy color.
Since the series was going to be published in a magazine for adults, Fujiko Mine was made to give the magazine a female character and fill the role of a "James Bond girl." Monkey Punch came up with her name from a picture of Mount Fuji and used it to create her first name, by added the ending -ko, and then "Mine" was chosen for her last name because it means "summit." At the start of the series, many of the women Lupin meets are all named Fujiko, but each chapter treats them as a different person. It was too hard for Monkey Punch to make a new female character every week, so she turned into a single character whose style frequently changes.
When Monkey Punch started working on Lupin III, he was already creating Pinky Punky. Monkey Punch liked to write about bad guys, and both Lupin III and Pinky Punky had main characters who were outlaws. He said that this made it easy and stress-free for him to write the two series. Monkey Punch liked puzzles and mysteries like those in Columbo and Agatha Christie books. The Three Musketeers and Alfred Hitchcock movies also gave him interesting ideas. He thought that Lupin and Fujiko were like D'Artagnan and Milady de Winter. He said that they were "not necessarily lovers, not necessarily husband and wife, but more just having fun with each other as man and woman." Mad magazine was another factor that contributed to make the manga what it was. Monkey Punch said that Lupin is fun to draw because he can go anywhere and do anything whenever he wants. At first, the series was only meant to run for three months, but Monkey Punch kept drawing it because it was so popular. He was happy that it was successful, but he didn't fully understand why it was so popular.
Monkey Punch said he thought the story could go on forever, but if it had to end, Zenigata and Lupin would have to be on the same level. Either they would both fail, both would win, or they would both get very, very old!