In Brief:
- Kaidro (official site) was created by Peggy Chung and Robert Simons, who used San Diego Comic-Con to reveal that Storyteller Media is publishing their manga and Macmillan is handling distribution, opening with “Kaidro: The Relic” on Nov. 10.
- Six volumes are covered by the agreement, all centred on Ava, the orphan left with the relic, and the first arrives alongside an audiobook scored by Odesza on the same day.
- This move into bookstores comes after Kaidro shut its 25-month Play to Airdrop program on Sept. 4 and began winding down KDR staking.
A traditional publisher is taking Kaidro’s manga to retail shelves. The series will be published by Storyteller Media and distributed worldwide by Macmillan, with opening volume “Kaidro: The Relic” scheduled for Nov. 10.
The partnership was unveiled at San Diego Comic-Con by Peggy Chung and Robert Simons, the Gadget-Bot founders behind the property — a convention the pair had spent years attending as fans.
From attending San Diego Comic-Con as fans to announcing a major publishing deal for their own manga franchise.
At SDCC, Peggy Chung and Robert Simons shared a full-circle moment as they announced the Storyteller x Macmillan publishing partnership for Kaidro: The Relic.
The@KaidroView on X ↗
Six books fall under the deal. Titled “Kaidro: The Awakening,” the series tracks Ava, an orphan living on the fractured planet Tal’Jor who inherits a relic granting her the power of a Kaidro — the rare ability to draw energy out of the Astral Realm and into the physical world.
What ships Nov. 10
Measuring 8.5 by 11 inches, the premium hardcover is art-book sized and finished in matte, with embossed gold foil and raised spot UV detailing. Sprayed edges, holographic pages and in-game assets are added to the limited first run, which disappears for good once stock runs out.
Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Target and Walmart are all taking pre-orders. The ISBN is 9781969905056.
One hundred pre-order copies of the deluxe limited first edition conceal a “Golden Relic” — a golden holographic page printed with a QR code. Scanning it yields a signed and numbered drawing from the creators, an in-game Spark Suit skin, a lore dossier pack, a private Q&A livestream, a CD of the audiobook, a plushie and an invitation to the launch event. No copy outside the pre-order window contains one.
The same date brings a fully produced audiobook featuring original music by Odesza and a voice cast of Veronica Taylor, Kieren Biew, Jason Marsden, Trina Nishimura and Robert McCollum.
Who Storyteller is
Producer Adhrucia Apana and screenwriter Charles Allen co-founded Storyteller Media, the publishing arm of Curiosity Entertainment. The imprint aims to release 20 to 30 titles annually spanning children’s, young adult, adult fiction, fantasy, memoir and graphic novels, distributed globally by Macmillan and stocked in upwards of 2,000 independent and specialty stores.
July saw Curiosity reveal its first page-to-screen slate, which listed Kaidro next to YA fantasy “Witches of Calabasas” and the dramedy “Goodman.” Laurie Seidman, previously senior vice president of current programming at CBS Entertainment, joined the company as head of film and television, while John D. Maatta was named head of its board. Screen, gaming and other adaptations factor into the selection of every Storyteller title.
The token side is contracting
The publishing announcement arrives while Kaidro scales back its reward economy. Play to Airdrop was retired by the studio on Sept. 4 at 10 a.m. PT after a 25-month run, taking the Synergy and Spin Wheel phases down with it. An hour before that, the original distribution phase delivered its final airdrop, drawn from an Aug. 30 snapshot and the third and last of the phase.
Both new KDR staking and auto-restaking are being discontinued. Stakes already in place remain claimable until Dec. 31. Anyone unstaking ahead of schedule gets back the KDR they originally staked but gives up the reward. NFT rewards still owed are being converted to KDR, and physical rewards will go out in batches.
According to the team, KDR is not finished, and community allocations are still planned for the future — but the preference is to weave the token into experiences rooted in the Kaidro universe instead of running it as a standalone reward system. Nothing has been published about replacement mechanics or a timeline.
Launched Dec. 18, 2024 on Ronin, KDR has a fixed supply of 100 million tokens and trades on Katana and Bitmart. Airdrop campaigns, tournament prizes and other community rewards make up 35% of supply.
Background
Over more than a decade at Gadget-Bot, Chung and Simons handled design work on “Jurassic World,” “Pacific Rim” and “Battle Angel: Alita,” as well as “Call of Duty,” “Apex Legends” and “Valorant.” Kaidro LLC was founded so they could build IP of their own.
Print manga came first for Kaidro, followed by a Kickstarter-funded Webtoon series, with the build process chronicled on TikTok. The studio has stated plainly that the artwork is human-made rather than generated.
“Kaidro: Clan Battles,” the franchise’s game, is an RPG and shooter hybrid on Ronin structured around 3v3 matches with customizable Spark Suits. Steam is currently hosting its fourth open alpha. Tim Hedrick, who wrote for “Avatar: The Last Airbender,” is developing a television adaptation.
By Simons’ account, he began sketching the Kaidro universe when he was 11. Chung has said Ava’s story is informed by her own experience of loss.
“It is a dream come true to share the Kaidro book with even more readers,” Chung said.