Johnny Lee O’Bryant III Signs Noir Caesar Manga Deal Through Tokyopop

In our second professional sportsperson-turned-comic creator story of the day, basketball player Johnny Lee O’Bryant III has signed a deal for his publisher  Noir Caesar Entertainment, with Tokyopop to publish new manga – including his own – this summer.

The first three titles will see the coming-of-age martial arts drama, Xogenasys and the sci-fi adventure, Primus 7 followed in August by the gritty crime and redemption saga, Try Again, with more to follow.

Johnny Lee O’Bryant III is an American professional basketball player for the Shanghai Sharks of the Chinese Basketball Association and played college basketball for Louisiana State University, before being drafted into the NBA to play the Milwaukee Bucks, Washington Wizards, Northern Arizona Suns, Charlotte Hornets, before going international, first to Israel for Maccabi Tel Aviv, then Lokomotiv Kuban, Crvena Zvezda, Wonju DB Promy, Meralco Bolts and, most recently, the Shanghai Sharks of the Chinese Basketball Association.

He also founded Noir Caesar in 2017 with a focus on bringing diversity to anime and manga and to developing original stories by BIPOC creators. They state “As BIPOC creators and entrepreneurs in the pop culture space continue to gain prominence, Noir Caesar is poised to be a prominent brand in this burgeoning arena and epitomizes a dynamic mix of creativity, vision, and entrepreneurial spirit.” Here are the listings for those first three titles.

XOGENASYS Vol. 1

Written by Johnny O’Bryant & Tre Mcintosh, artwork by Nikolas Draper-Ivey · $13.99 · 264 pages · ISBN-13: 978142787329 · Available July 25th

The future has grown into a decadent, overcrowded gang-ridden cesspool. If you’re not living uptown, you might as well be dead. Such is the case of Darius Smith, an artistic youth living in the hood, doing his best to avoid trouble and live life. Unfortunately, Darius has a hidden talent – he’s an explosive fighter! This makes him the target of many gangs and pits him in many brawls, landing him in the sight of the honorable Timothy Mustafa, powerful prince and owner of one of the most successful XOGeneSYS teams in the country. XOGenaSYS is a successful gladiator sport fought with powered exoskeletons, and Mustafa wants Darius to become the next new fighter! Can Darius become the next champion, or will he fall like so many before him?

PRIMUS 7, Vol. 1

Written by Johnny O’Bryant, Vaughn Alexander & Marcus Johnson · $13.99 · 194 pages ·  ISBN-13: 9781427873286 · Available July 25th

The peace of Primordia is maintained for years by the Marine Corporation until one of its most prominent members, a man by the name of Arthur Grove, betrays the organization and those that took him in as family (Jarobi & Sevar Ajamu). By secretly creating a synthetic form of Orii, Arthur can obtain the power necessary to overthrow the government and install himself as dictator. A resistance movement lead by Sevar Ajamu fails stop Grove and his reign as ruler leaving behind his two sons to take his place and carry out the unfinished mission, Eliminate Arthur Grove!

TRY AGAIN, Vol. 1

Created by Will Brown; written by John Lawrence, Marcus Kwabena; artwork by Win Dolores  · $13.99 · 194 pages · ISBN-13: 9781427874054 · Available August 22nd 

As a member of the Cacciatore Guild, Danielle Burroughs is one of the Underworld’s most renowned hitmen. Despite her success, memories from her past bleed into the present – forcing her to reconcile the life she now leads. Attempting to leave it all behind, she soon realizes that even atonement has a price.