Once it was announced that Guillermo del Toro was working with HBO on a television adaptation of Naoki Urasawa's Monster, it was only a matter of time before the series, for which several volumes have long been unavailable, was fully returned to print. And it became official this weekend at Otakon, where Viz announced that the acclaimed horror manga would be made available again in the form of 2-in-1 deluxe omnibus volumes.

The critically lauded Monster is the story of Dr. Kenzo Tenma, a young Japanese surgeon. While working in Germany, he saves the life of a young boy named Johan, only to learn years later that the boy has grown up to become a highly dangerous psychopath. The series follows Dr. Tenma's journey to atone for his mistake of saving Johan by stopping him. Urasawa is a favorite among the ComicsAlliance staff, particularly for his work on Pluto, so this is definitely good news. And unlike Pluto, which spun out of a tale in Astro Boy, Monster is a completely original story, and therefore is possibly the best introduction to the creator's work.

Originally published by Viz as an 18 volume series from 1994 to 2001, the 2-in-1 format will bring it down to nine. There's no official word yet on when the reprints will begin.

[Via Comics Worth Reading]