Archaia has announced a partnership with Ishimori Production Inc. to produce CYBORG 009, a modern adaptation of the classic manga series created by the legendary Shotaro Ishinomori. This deluxe hardcover graphic novel will feature the classic characters and origin story from the original series, re-imagined for a new worldwide audience. The new edition will be written by F.J. DeSanto and Bradley Cramp, and illustrated by artist Marcus To.

The story follows nine normal humans kidnapped from around the world to become unwilling test subjects by The Black Ghost Organization, a secret society that provides weapons of mass destruction to the highest bidder. The nine victims are put through a series of extreme experiments that transform each one into a unique super-powered weapon. With the help of a compassionate project scientist, these living weapons rebel from their captors and set off on a mission to stop Black Ghost from plunging the world into a perpetual state of war.

Created in 1964, CYBORG 009 was Japan’s first and most popular super-team, quickly becoming one of the most influential manga series of all time. The original manga has been published in over 250,000,000 copies of weekly comics and comic books worldwide.

The original graphic novel will debut both digitally and in print in 2013 as part of an ongoing campaign of CYBORG 009 offerings being produced by Ishimori Productions around the world. A new 3D CGI animated theatrical feature film, 009 RE:CYBORG, produced by Production I.G, will be released in Japan this October. DeSanto is currently attached to produce a live-action feature film version of the property.