Is Pat Mills' Requiem The First Western Comic Adapted Into Manga?

Posted in: Comics, Manga | Tagged: Glenat. Panini. MCM, Pat Mills, requiem

Is Pat Mills' Requiem The First Western Comic Adapted Into Manga?

Is Pat Mills and Olivier Ledroit's Requiem: Vampire Knight the first western comic to be directly adapted as a manga?

Published Tue, 02 Jun 2026 05:57:10 -0500
by Rich Johnston
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At MCM London Comic Con, as part of a longer presentation on Manga volumes coming from Panini UK, they presented a manga adaptation of the graphic novel series Requiem by Pat Mills and Olivier Ledroit, which has been running for a quarter of a century. This may be the first manga direct adaptation of a Western comic book that I can think of. Panini stated that the original French publisher, Glenat, is producing the new series, with the first volume in English out from Panini  in October 2026.

Requiem: Vampire Knight – The Manga Volume 1by Victor Santos and Seban
Struck down on the Eastern Front during World War II, Heinrich wakes up with amnesia on Resurrection, a twisted reflection of Earth where the lands are reversed and time flows backwards. Reborn as a Vampire Knight under the name Requiem, he is thrust into the heart of a conflict between vampires and other demonic creatures. As he carves a bloody swathe through his enemies and negotiates the terrifying world of vampire society, one obsession guides him: to find his love Rebecca in whatever form her reincarnation may be… Discover an unrelenting tale of horror and redemption in this manga adaptation of Pat Mills and Olivier Ledroit's award-winning Requiem: Vampire Knight series. 6 Oct. 2026

Requiem Vampire Knight is a Franco-British dark fantasy/horror comic series created by writer Pat Mills of 2000 AD, Sláine, Masrshall Law, Punisher 2099, Charley's War and Judge Dredd, and artist Olivier Ledroit. It launched in 2000 through Mills' own Nickel Editions in France, with later republication by Glénat, and from Panini in the UK and across Europe, as an ambitious, adult-oriented graphic novel series. The art is highly detailed, baroque, and maximalist. full of gore, monsters, dynamic action, and intricate fantasy/horror imagery. The story is set in Résurrection, blending elements of Hell and Purgatory. Souls are reincarnated as monsters based on the evil they committed in life; the worse the person, the more powerful the monster they become. Vampires are the elite/ruling class, while zombies and kobolds are at the bottom. The world is a twisted mirror of Earth, as geography is inverted, with oceans where there was land and vice versa, with Earth's continents as seas of fire. Time runs backwards, so that beings rejuvenate into fetuses and eventually fade. Morality is inverted, so evil is rewarded, progress is banned, and love is forbidden, while residents use black opium-like drugs to cope with the insanity of regressing.

The series stars Heinrich Augsburg, a Nazi soldier killed on the Eastern Front in WWII. He awakens in Résurrection and becomes a powerful vampire knight, renamed Requiem, and serves under Count Dracula. Requiem's driving motivation is to find and save Rebecca, the Jewish woman he loved, and whose relationship was both tragic and destructive in life. The series follows his navigation of vampire politics and wars against reptilian forces while grappling with his past and lingering humanity/honour in an utterly corrupt world.  It features extreme violence, sadomasochism, graphic sex, dark humour, and over-the-top elements. There have been 12 original volumes so far, with a planned conclusion in volumes 13 or 14. Requiem has been serialised in Heavy Metal magazine, collected in smaller volumes by Panini, and now larger omnibuses, as well as a spinoff,  Claudia Vampire Knight by Pat Mills with artist Franck Tacito, focusing on Lady Claudia in the same universe. And now? It's manga time.

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