Manga Mavericks Books Picks Up Horon and Sinbad for 2026

Manga Mavericks Books, the new publishing arm of the Manga Mavericks website and podcast, announced two new licenses during its panel at New York Comic Con on Sunday. Both titles will arrive in digital and print editions in 2026.

The headline pickup is Horon of the Closed Country, an indie fantasy by the creator Sen. It is set to release digitally in early winter 2026, with a print edition following that summer.

The story carries a haunting premise. A forest deity protects an ancient land from outside threats, but its protection comes at a price, and whatever it takes is never given back. As the deity reaches further into human lives, only rare people called diviners can push it back, and one such child has had their memory stolen, left with only a warning. An unlikely trio, each having lost something dear, sets out to uncover the truth.

Joining it is Sinbad, a classic adventure manga by Atsuji Yamamoto, giving the lineup a nice contrast between a modern indie work and an older title.

For a publisher rooted in a fan podcast, championing both a fresh indie creator and a vintage classic feels like a fitting way to begin.

My take: I love seeing passionate fans turn their enthusiasm into a real publishing venture. Horon’s eerie, folkloric setup is exactly the kind of story I would never want to see slip through the cracks.