The Viz "Manga Style" Thread

[eledoremassis02]

In light of the recent 3-in-1's I figure I'd make a thread on Viz's first release of the Dragon Ball manga. In this thread I'll try to provide any changes (from the current release) and extras that have only been in this edition. This is not so much a guide but a archive of the first release of the Manga in the United States that has since seen many incarnations.

If anyone would like to contribute that would be of great help as I am slowly but surly trying to collect these.
Please PM me any scans you's wish to share. Please let me know what volume you obtained your scans from. Thank you!

Size comparison


Dragon Ball
Dragon Ball Part 1 #3 Published Jun 1998

Spoiler:

Japanese text still appears. Uses "Panties" instead of "Undies"

Dragon Ball Part 1 #4 Published Jul 1998

Spoiler:

Dragon Ball Z


Dragon Ball Z Part 1 #1 Published Mar 1998

Spoiler:

Many Editors notes altered or removed in later releaes

Dragon Ball Z Part 1 #2 Published Apr 1998

Spoiler:

Editors notes altered or removed in later releaes

Dragon Ball Z Part 1 #4 Published Jun 1998

Spoiler:

Dragon Ball Z Part 2 #2 Published Jan 1999

Spoiler:

Removed editors note *At the time this part of "Dragon Ball" had yet been translated

Extras:

Dragon Ball Z Part 3 #4 Published May 2000

Spoiler:

Extras:

Extras

[Wezenheim]

This is a cool thread idea!

EDIT: And I'm glad to contribute to it!

[Wezenheim]

Sorry for double post, but I think I'll contribute a bit!

Dragon Ball Manga Style Comic Part 1, Issue 3

Cover:

Spoiler:

Back:

Spoiler:

Basic Information:
-Published in June, 1998
-Contains Tales 4 and 5: "They Call Him... The Turtle Hermit!" and "Oo! Oo! Oolong!", respectively.
-Page Count: 32
-Cover Price: $2.95 USA/$4.00 CAN

Extras:
-This issue came with this poster in the middle:

Spoiler:

Comments:
This issue is pretty standard, spans from Goku and Blooma receiving a Dragon Ball from the Muten Roshi to the first "chapter" featuring Oolong's story. Fan mail has not appeared in these yet, but there's a cool ad on the last page for Fist of the North Star Action Figures. Plus, there's an ad for World's Strongest on the back!

I'll be adding more later!

[gokaiblue]

Very interesting. I saw a couple of those at a comic con earlier this year. Kinda wish I picked one up now....

[Wezenheim]

Dragon Ball Manga Style Comic Part 3, Issue 7

Cover:

Spoiler:

Back:

Spoiler:

Basic Information:
-Published in December, 2000
-Contains Tales 67 and 68: "Go West, Young Goku..." and "Bulma and Goku - Round 1", respectively.
-Page Count: 32
-Cover Price: $2.95 USA/$4.50 CAN

Extras:
-This issue contains two pages of fan mail (the section, funnily enough, was named "The Monkey's Tales".)

Comments:
Once again, pretty standard. This issue covers Goku leaving Jingle Village to the beginning of his search for Blooma in West City. I really enjoy the fan mail in these, as corny as they may be. Speaking of which, I found this letter and response to be fairly interesting:

Spoiler:

As the response says, issue #3 of part 3 stated that the graphic novel collection of the first few issues of these comics (think "volumes") would be censored slightly, as opposed to how they were unedited when first released. I imagine that this was a result of backlash from parents at the time, who were upset with some of the jokes and images present in the first few issues. I'll have to do more digging, but I still believe that there were uncensored releases of these volumes, so perhaps two versions were on the market as a compromise.

Very interesting. I saw a couple of those at a comic con earlier this year. Kinda wish I picked one up now....

They are pretty cool, especially if you're a fan of comic books. They are pretty cheap online!

[gokaiblue]

^
The only reason I didn't pick them up is because I feared they would be censored. If I do pick them up, it will most likely be from that vendor at the con I saw them at, as I'm pretty sure he had them for about $3 or less.

[Wezenheim]

^
The only reason I didn't pick them up is because I feared they would be censored. If I do pick them up, it will most likely be from that vendor at the con I saw them at, as I'm pretty sure he had them for about $3 or less.

I know for sure that at least most first editions of part one are completely uncensored. I have some issues in part 3 that are censored that I believe were first printings though. I'll try to pick up more and post more information when I can, I know the OP is doing the same as well. The other issues I currently have aren't extremely noteworthy, but I'll add them eventually.

[Cipher]

I miss Viz's single issues. They were the first way I ever read any potion of the manga. It's kind of nostalgic to see them again.

[gokaiblue]

^
The only reason I didn't pick them up is because I feared they would be censored. If I do pick them up, it will most likely be from that vendor at the con I saw them at, as I'm pretty sure he had them for about $3 or less.

I know for sure that at least most first editions of part one are completely uncensored. I have some issues in part 3 that are censored that I believe were first printings though. I'll try to pick up more and post more information when I can, I know the OP is doing the same as well. The other issues I currently have aren't extremely noteworthy, but I'll add them eventually.

Alright, when looking for them, how can I tell if they're first printings?

[Wezenheim]

^
The only reason I didn't pick them up is because I feared they would be censored. If I do pick them up, it will most likely be from that vendor at the con I saw them at, as I'm pretty sure he had them for about $3 or less.

I know for sure that at least most first editions of part one are completely uncensored. I have some issues in part 3 that are censored that I believe were first printings though. I'll try to pick up more and post more information when I can, I know the OP is doing the same as well. The other issues I currently have aren't extremely noteworthy, but I'll add them eventually.

Alright, when looking for them, how can I tell if they're first printings?

For comic books you usually have to look at the bar code. This picture should help:

Spoiler:

However I'm not entirely sure if reprints are censored since I don't own one. Still, before I find out more about these, I'd recommend you ask whoever you're buying it from if you can look inside. There are issues that don't even have material to censor anyway, so if you want to own one or two for the sake of novelty you can't go wrong there.

[eledoremassis02]

Major update! Updated some more volumes (they are going to be out of order as I have to get them as they become available

also for the sake of visual comparisons, here is a Weekly Jump next to the Manga Style comic

[gokaiblue]

^
Oh my...where did you get that Weekly Jump issue? Rather jealous of that.

[doomydoomydoom]

They can be found for a decent price on eBay. I've got one from 1990 with Video Girl Ai on the cover. Has chapter 294 of DB, where Piccolo first lands on Namek and Vegeta and the boys confront Freeza.

[Alchemist Ed]

So I was in an Ollie's outlet store last week (not sure if it's a national store or not, but there's at least one in Ohio and one in West Virginia), and I noticed one of their $6 comic packs with a bunch of random American comics, with some good ones on the outside, and less well known ones on the inside. I saw one was opened, so I took a peek, and I noticed issue 2 of "Z" in there, with chapters 3 and 4 in it. I was already thinking of buying it, since it had an issue of the Street Fighter II comic on the front, but since I didn't have this particular "Z" issue, I had to buy it.

[eledoremassis02]

So I was in an Ollie's outlet store last week (not sure if it's a national store or not, but there's at least one in Ohio and one in West Virginia), and I noticed one of their $6 comic packs with a bunch of random American comics, with some good ones on the outside, and less well known ones on the inside. I saw one was opened, so I took a peek, and I noticed issue 2 of "Z" in there, with chapters 3 and 4 in it. I was already thinking of buying it, since it had an issue of the Street Fighter II comic on the front, but since I didn't have this particular "Z" issue, I had to buy it.

Thats a pretty awesome find! Do you know what the packing looked like? I always thought about buying those but am always reluctant