Comics adaptations of The Legend of Zelda series of video games, especially in Japan, have been published under license from Nintendo.
The Legend of Zelda is a series of comics published by Valiant Comics based on The Legend of Zelda series of video games. They expanded greatly on the land of Hyrule. The comics fit sometime during or after the second game, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. Some of the characters from the comic appear to have been modeled after those from the TV series. Link is given reddish hair and a large nose. The comics were released on a monthly basis starting in February 1990, and continuing until August of that same year. In 1993, there were two volumes released with five issues in each.
The manga team of Akira Himekawa has been producing manga adaptations of The Legend of Zelda video games in Japan beginning with their manga adaptation of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, which was first published in 1999 by Shogakukan.
Currently, Himekawa has produced manga adaptations of more than eight Zelda games (including both Oracle games), with the latest being The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword manga.Viz Media is currently planning to publish English translations of Himekawa's Zelda manga in North America, beginning with their adaptation of Ocarina of Time, which was published on October 2008.
Since July 2009[update], a French translation is being published by Soleil Manga. The first manga available was A Link to the Past followed by Ocarina of Time 1 & 2. Himekawa's other Zelda manga will be translated into French before summer 2010.