Ultima Manga

These Mangas are truely a strange thing. Around 1988, when Origin and FCI began to roll out Japanese versions of the Ultima games, the Japanese publisher JICC created Japanese manga adaptations of the games. Since these are obviously based on the japanese NES ports, a non-canon status is to be expected.

Actually, the non-canon status is a must, because what was done to the canon material is partially really strange to absurd, or outright hilarious (depends on the point of view). It creates the question how japanese manga authors can have such totally bizarre ideas.

Four mangas were published, with next to nothing known about the latter two.

Exodus

 * Publisher: JICC.
 * Author: Seiji Tanaka
 * Published: Aug. 15, 1988.
 * Length: 100 pages
 * Original List Price: 880¥ (about US$7)

This one contains two stories: "The Terror of Exodus" and "The Book of Mystic Wisdom". The first eight pages are in color, the rest is black-and-white. The manga interprets the events of Ultima III VERY freely. Otherwise it is inexplainable how a missile-shooting robot ends up in the party and star ships play a role in the story. Even if this is ignored, the appearance of Mondain and Minax beside Exodus, who here has mutated into a big stone-something, clearly breaks canon.

The description alone is gold: "A space pilot named Genji gets sucked into Sosaria to battle Exodus, Mondain, and Minax, where he encounters the mage Aida, a robot named Bigelow, and a bard named...Lennon." (note that this is the REAL description on the manga)

The hero roll-call includes:
 * Genji: space ace par excellence and the designated hero.
 * Aida: the girl of the group and empathic mage.
 * Lennon: a slightly paranoid bard.
 * Bigelow: a huge battle mech (!).

A complete English transcript of the story can be found here. Art examples in color and black-and-white can be found here. 

Quest of the Avatar

 * Publisher: JICC.
 * Author: Yuko Tanaka
 * Published: Aug. 29, 1988
 * Original List Price: 900¥ (about US$7)

Like in the first manga, many things of Ultima IV are VERY freely interpreted, or outright changed. Iolo mutates into a 14 year-old teenage girl named "Io" (as seen the cover) while Julia is gender-changed into a man, still named "Julia" (this is a change that also happened in the NES-Port of Ultima IV). Katrina is also changed into a 10-year-old boy named "Kati"; Jaana is altogether erased, replaced by a male Druid named Shiva. A non-canon status is a must for this publication as well.

The story's hero is the 15-year-old Deane, son of Lord British and a knight of the Order of the Silver Serpent. Kept a secret from his birth father, he is adopted in infancy by a Druid of Yew after his mother's murder. The story revolves around his search as a teenager for his adoptive brother Shiva, who has gone missing in an attempt to become the Avatar.



The Fall of Magincia

 * Publisher: JICC
 * Author : Hiroyuki Watanabe
 * Published: Dec. 15, 1990.
 * Original List Price : ¥980

Sadly there is no information available about this manga, apart from the title and cover. It can be speculated, that the manga somehow ties-in with the destruction of the proud city Magincia, as told in Ultima IV. 

The Maze of Schwarzschild

 * Publisher: JICC.
 * Author: Seiji Tanaka
 * Published: Nov. 15, 1991
 * Original List Price: ¥980

Little is known about this publication, other than the title and the cover.