Thanks to barnesandnoble.com for the above cover image.

Rated “T” for “Teen”

Although 2002 was a year of constant health issues for me and an almost total cessation of comic book reading, it ended with a bang.  It took one trip to a local Wal-Mart for me to secure the much-anticipated first issue of Shonen Jump.  Hitting the magazine shelves in December of 2002, Shonen Jump, Vol. 1, No. 1 was the debut of the North American, monthly version of the venerable manga compilation magazine, Weekly Shonen Jump, one of the longest-running manga (comic book) magazines in Japan.

Some fans of traditional American comics thought that Shonen Jump wouldn’t stand a chance in America.  According to comic book industry and business website, ICv2, that debut issue of the North American Shonen Jump required three printings and sold over 300,000 copies.  Current circulation reportedly remains above 200,000.

Well, VIZ Media, the publisher of Shonen Jump, is taking a victory lap of sorts with the release of Shonen Jump Fifth Anniversary Collector’s Edition.  This oversize (7.25 x 10.25) hardcover collects all the manga from Shonen Jump, Vol. 1, No. 1 and also the first chapter of Naruto (which appeared in Shonen Jump, Vol. 1, No. 2).  Also included in this anniversary book are feature stories and articles (“How Manga is Made,” “Swordplay 101”), interviews (including rare interviews with Naruto creator, Masashi Kishimoto, and Bleach creator, Tite Kubo), and even more (believe it or not) gathered from the first five years of Shonen Jump.

I’d recommend any issue of Shonen Jump.  It’s a $4.99 comic book magazine featuring 8 different manga series, plus articles, miscellaneous art and illustrations, and sometimes freebies (like game cards and once, I think, a video game CD).  $4.99 wouldn’t get you two comic books from an American publisher.  Shonen Jump Fifth Anniversary Collector’s Edition offers just about the same as a regular issue of Shonen Jump, except the anniversary edition is bigger, in hardcover (with a dust jacket), and printed on shiny white paper.

It’s fun to see the first chapter of Naruto reprinted in this anniversary format because the larger size makes it easier to see the raw energy and hungry line work that Masashi Kishimoto used to create that first chapter of the world’s most popular manga.  I wish VIZ Media produced books like this on a regular basis.

A