Business
SCHOLASTIC TO PUBLISH DAV PILKEY'S "CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS: THE FIRST EPIC MANGA" ON APRIL 7, 2026
NEW YORK and LONDON and TORONTO and SYDNEY, July 31, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Scholastic, the world's largest publisher and distributor of children's books,
About this update from Scholastic Corporation
[{"type":"text","content":"NEW YORK and LONDON and TORONTO and SYDNEY, July 31, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Scholastic, the world's largest publisher and distributor of children's books, announced today that Dav Pilkey's #1 global bestselling Captain Underpants series will return in an exciting new format. Captain Underpants: The First Epic Manga, written and adapted by Dog Man creator Dav Pilkey, will release simultaneously on April 7, 2026 in the U.S., U.K., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand with full-color illustrations by Japanese manga artist Motojiro.\n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n\n \nOriginally launched by Scholastic nearly 30 years ago with the first book The Adventures of Captain Underpants, Dav Pilkey's pioneering bestselling series was instrumental in creating the illustrated children's chapter book category that is still popular today. There are more than 90 million copies of Captain Underpants books in print to date, with translations in 37 languages. The series was adapted as a critically acclaimed feature film by DreamWorks Animation as well as an original series on Netflix. With the release of Captain Underpants in comics under its Graphix imprint, Scholastic redefines the manga space by publishing bestselling kid-favorite stories with age-appropriate content.\nCombining humor and action with empowerment and empathy, Captain Underpants: The First Epic Manga features the amazing adventures of best friends George Beard and Harold Hutchins and their waistband warrior superhero creation, Captain Underpants. Following the story arc of the original chapter book, Captain Underpants: The First Epic Manga is reenvisioned as an engaging graphic novel that will read in the traditional English language tradition (left to right), include new and fun Flip-o-Ramas® that will captivate existing fans, capture new readers, and appeal to comics, manga, and anime aficionados alike.\n\"It is a huge honor to see Motojiro's rendering of the Captain Underpants illustrations into manga,\" said Dav Pilkey. \"His vibrant art inspired me to dig deeper, write new dialogue, and flesh out the story even further. Fans of the series will be thrilled about the new look and new content, and fans of manga will be impressed with Motojiro's dynamic style. I am grateful to Motojiro for his help in taking Captain Underpants to a whole new level and exciting format that I hope will create a ne...