Ultimo (manga)

Ultimo, full title Karakuridôji Ultimo (機巧童子ULTIMO, Karakuri Dōji Urutimo, lit. 'Ultimo the Mechanical Boy'), is a Japanese manga series created by American comic writer Stan Lee (and his production company Pow Entertainment) and illustrated by Hiroyuki Takei. The plot of the story depicts a conflict between good and evil, implicated through the Karakuridôji created by the character Dr. Dunstan. The pilot chapter "Karakuridôji Ultimo: Chapter 0" (機巧童子 ウルティモ: ゼロ, "Karakuri Dōji ULTIMO: Zero") was originally published in a special issue of Jump Square, called Jump SQ.II, on April 18, 2008. The series Ultimo was first serialized in Jump Square in March 2009, and it continued monthly serialization. Shueisha also published Ultimo in tankōbon format—the first published on July 3, 2009, and the fifth on November 4, 2010.

Viz Media later licensed the manga for an English language adaptation in North America and published "Chapter: 0" in the September 2008 issue of Shonen Jump. In promotion of the English adaptation, a press conference was held at the 2008 New York Comic Con with promotional artwork. The series Ultimo was serialized monthly in Shonen Jump, beginning in the July 2009 issue and ending serialization in the February 2011 issue. It is now published directly into volumes, each containing multiple chapters of the series. Starting from volume 7, Ultimo was changed to Shonen Jump Advanced while it was marked as just Shonen Jump in volumes 1–6.