The latest entry in Scholastic’s Graphix manga line brings a familiar face to a new medium: Dav Pilkey is adapting his Captain Underpants chapter books into manga. Graphix will publish Captain Underpants: The First Epic Manga, written and adapted by Pilkey and illustrated by the Japanese manga artist Motojiro, on April 7, 2026, simultaneously in the U.S., U.K., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. The manga follows the storyline of the first book in the series, The Adventures of Captain Underpants, and will incorporate new Flip-o-Ramas, Pilkey’s signature flip animations. It will have full-color art and will read from left to right, unlike most manga, which read in the Japanese right-to-left format.
Scholastic launched the Captain Underpants series in 1997, and there are currently 90 million copies in print, as well as a 2017 film from DreamWorks Animation. Pilkey is also the creator of the Dog Man and Cat Kid graphic novel series, which are the bestselling graphic novels in the children’s category. Motojiro is a veteran artist with a 30-year career drawing children’s manga, including Asahi Shimbun’s Time Warp and Battle Brave series (not available in English).
“It is a huge honor to see Motojiro’s rendering of the Captain Underpants illustrations into manga,” Pilkey said in a statement. “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 new generation of readers.”
Ken Geist, VP and publisher, Pilkey Publishing, Scholastic, told PW, “Dav Pilkey is one of the most inspiring, creative, and influential storytellers of our time. This reimagined Captain Underpants book has it all—action, adventure, humor, heart, heroes—and a whole lot of fun. It’s a joy to work on Captain Underpants: The First Epic Manga—a book that will captivate existing fans and inspire a new generation of kids to love reading.”
Graphix launched its manga program in 2024 in response to the strong demand for manga for young readers, and it encompasses both Japanese properties, such as Hikaru in the Light and Mecha-Ude: Mechanical Arms, and hybrid Japanese/American works such as Unico by Samuel Sattin and Gurihiru, which is based on Osamu Tezuka’s manga of the same name but is not a strict adaptation.
