The BLAME! franchise was so well received worldwide, that it inspired an animated mini-series and eventually drew the attention of Marvel Comics in the US. Nihei would later go on to draw Wolverine (X-Men) and HALO comics for Marvel to great fanfare. An architectural student, Nihei's early work were mainly wordless, relying on visuals and backgrounds to tell their stories. Now, his works are deeply rooted in hard science-fiction, as was seen in the multiple NY Times Bestselling books HALO: The Graphic Novel (published by Marvel Comics) and BIOmega (published by Viz Media).