The Japan Society in New York is employing Boys of Summer artist Hiroki Otsuka as its first "mangaka artist-in-residence" in conjuction with the Society's spring exhibition titled "Graphic Heroes, Magic Monsters: Japanese Prints by Utagawa Kuniyoshi," which will be held from March 12 to June 13.

Otsuka will create an original full-length manga during his residency, and will often work on the manga onsite, where visitors can watch. He will also host illustration workshops, judge an international manga competition, and blog events.

Otsuka's unnamed manga will center on "teenager who comes to Japan Society's exhibition as part of a school group. The student literally gets drawn into the artwork as a Kuniyoshi-inspired warrior and is called on to save New York City from the multitude of monsters marauding throughout Kuniyoshi's prints."

Each week during the residency a new episode of Otsuka's manga will be made available online.

Tokyopop had released volume 1 of Otsuka's Boys of Summer manga in 2006, but it was pulled from numerous store shelves due to graphic content, and volume 2 was also scheduled for a 2006 release but was postponed indefinitely. Tokyopop began online serialization of volume 2 in September 2009.