What if dragon ball was a comic book series?

[Toxin45]

What if dragon ball was a comic book series any thoughts? I mean made by western writers and artist like say marvel or dc? What are your thoughts on that?

[MasenkoHA]

It is a comic book series.

[Toxin45]

It is a comic book series.

I mean a western comic book store like made by marvel and dc like a foreign remake of sorts

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

Pretty sure there was a thread about this not so long ago with reimagined designs for the characters.

Personally I don't think it would work that well as Toriyama has a very unique art style even among Mangaka.

[KBABZ]

What if Dragon Ball was a comic book series?

Then I'd read it left to right.

[Polyphase Avatron]

There would be a bunch of different artists and writers and nothing would be consistent.

So, in other words, nothing would change.

[ABED]

What if Dragon Ball was a comic book series?

Then I'd read it left to right.

Ha, noice! That is genuinely clever.

[Hellspawn28]

You have plenty of comics written by a single author from start to finish or current. DB would be no different.

[Dbzfan94]

The series would've gotten rebooted about 10 different times by different authors.

[MyVisionity]

I have to say it's a bit troubling hearing Western comic books being framed as "lacking consistency" and "rebooted ten different times" and so forth. I don't think that comic book history deserves to be misrepresented in that way.

If anything, Dragon Ball might become *more* consistent in the Marvel/DC style. Especially with the right editors who are invested enough. However, too much consistency might work to DB's detriment. There would almost certainly be an increased emphasis on "lore" though, for those who concern themselves with it.

It would also be interesting to see how the artwork would evolve over time compared to Toriyama's.

[ABED]

I have to say it's a bit troubling hearing Western comic books being framed as "lacking consistency" and "rebooted ten different times" and so forth. I don't think that comic book history deserves to be misrepresented in that way.

If anything, Dragon Ball might become *more* consistent in the Marvel/DC style. Especially with the right editors who are invested enough. However, too much consistency might work to DB's detriment. There would almost certainly be an increased emphasis on "lore" though, for those who concern themselves with it.

It would also be interesting to see how the artwork would evolve over time compared to Toriyama's.

This shouldn't be controversial. DC and Marvel characters have big differences owed to the simple fact that different writers and artists come to these characters with their own ideas.

[MyVisionity]

This shouldn't be controversial. DC and Marvel characters have big differences owed to the simple fact that different writers and artists come to these characters with their own ideas.

What you call big differences I would call small differences. And with strong editorial oversight you can keep a series of different writers/artists in check and their ideas organized. No need for rebooting.

[SpiritBombTriumphant]

I have to say it's a bit troubling hearing Western comic books being framed as "lacking consistency" and "rebooted ten different times" and so forth. I don't think that comic book history deserves to be misrepresented in that way.

If anything, Dragon Ball might become *more* consistent in the Marvel/DC style. Especially with the right editors who are invested enough. However, too much consistency might work to DB's detriment. There would almost certainly be an increased emphasis on "lore" though, for those who concern themselves with it.

It would also be interesting to see how the artwork would evolve over time compared to Toriyama's.

I personally have never gotten into American comics precisely because I find it so confusing. I look at any character's Wikipedia page whether it's a Spider-Man character, Superman, Batman, etc. and everyone has multiple sections that explain each canon. There is no single, definitive version of these characters. They only seem to share a few roots such as Batman's parents are dead, Uncle Ben got killed, Superman came from Krypton, etc.

Manga like Dragon Ball have consistency. You can point to the comic/manga and someone can see the story as originally envisioned by the creator Akira Toriyama. You can't do that with American comics because so many different people make their own versions that don't have anything to do with each other. Sure, we have things in DB such as the Jump 2008 special Son Goku and His Friends Return, the Toei movies 1-13, that remake of Plan to Eradicate the Super Saiyans from Raging Blast 2, etc. but those are simply non-canon. I think that's the best way to explain the difference. There is a canon in manga or at least Dragon Ball. American comics do not, but have new people rebooting characters indefinitely. Imagine if Shuesha hired different people every 3-5 years to make a story called "Dragon Ball" about a guy named Goku and 7 dragon balls. That's basically what we're dealing with in the US.

[Toxin45]

I have to say it's a bit troubling hearing Western comic books being framed as "lacking consistency" and "rebooted ten different times" and so forth. I don't think that comic book history deserves to be misrepresented in that way.

If anything, Dragon Ball might become *more* consistent in the Marvel/DC style. Especially with the right editors who are invested enough. However, too much consistency might work to DB's detriment. There would almost certainly be an increased emphasis on "lore" though, for those who concern themselves with it.

It would also be interesting to see how the artwork would evolve over time compared to Toriyama's.

There are other comics like image comics,dark horse comics,idw,and other comic publishers with creator owned content and completed series

[Toxin45]

I have to say it's a bit troubling hearing Western comic books being framed as "lacking consistency" and "rebooted ten different times" and so forth. I don't think that comic book history deserves to be misrepresented in that way.

If anything, Dragon Ball might become *more* consistent in the Marvel/DC style. Especially with the right editors who are invested enough. However, too much consistency might work to DB's detriment. There would almost certainly be an increased emphasis on "lore" though, for those who concern themselves with it.

It would also be interesting to see how the artwork would evolve over time compared to Toriyama's.

I personally have never gotten into American comics precisely because I find it so confusing. I look at any character's Wikipedia page whether it's a Spider-Man character, Superman, Batman, etc. and everyone has multiple sections that explain each canon. There is no single, definitive version of these characters. They only seem to share a few roots such as Batman's parents are dead, Uncle Ben got killed, Superman came from Krypton, etc.

Manga like Dragon Ball have consistency. You can point to the comic/manga and someone can see the story as originally envisioned by the creator Akira Toriyama. You can't do that with American comics because so many different people make their own versions that don't have anything to do with each other. Sure, we have things in DB such as the Jump 2008 special Son Goku and His Friends Return, the Toei movies 1-13, that remake of Plan to Eradicate the Super Saiyans from Raging Blast 2, etc. but those are simply non-canon. I think that's the best way to explain the difference. There is a canon in manga or at least Dragon Ball. American comics do not, but have new people rebooting characters indefinitely. Imagine if Shuesha hired different people every 3-5 years to make a story called "Dragon Ball" about a guy named Goku and 7 dragon balls. That's basically what we're dealing with in the US.

Then super happened.....

[Grimlock]

There is a canon in manga or at least Dragon Ball.

Source?

Sure, we have things in DB such as the Jump 2008 special Son Goku and His Friends Return, the Toei movies 1-13, that remake of Plan to Eradicate the Super Saiyans from Raging Blast 2, etc. but those are simply non-canon.

In a hypothetical scenario in which you already posted a legit source to the supposed canon that you claim Dragon Ball has, if Tarble OVA isn't canonical, then who the heck is the Vegeta brother mentioned in Movie 14 and in Movie 1 then?

[JulieYBM]

I think the only western writer who I'd be interested in reading a Dragon Ball comic from is Scarz and that's only if she was allowed 100% creative control. On second thought, a Stjepan Šejić take on Dragon Ball would be interesting if he was allowed to model it after Sunstone. Basically, I don't want the DC Universe or Marvel Universe model.

[MyVisionity]

I personally have never gotten into American comics precisely because I find it so confusing. I look at any character's Wikipedia page whether it's a Spider-Man character, Superman, Batman, etc. and everyone has multiple sections that explain each canon. There is no single, definitive version of these characters. They only seem to share a few roots such as Batman's parents are dead, Uncle Ben got killed, Superman came from Krypton, etc.

The problem here isn't with American comics, it's a problem with Wikipedia and the folks who contribute to it. Aside from Wikipedia being problematic in and of itself, the comics-related pages are so poorly conceived and organized that I have no doubt readers would walk away confused and questioning the canonicity and consistency of these books. I understand the difficulty in getting into comic books, but I don't believe it's impossible. Unfortunately there are some roads that lead newcomers in the wrong direction.

Imagine if Shuesha hired different people every 3-5 years to make a story called "Dragon Ball" about a guy named Goku and 7 dragon balls. That's basically what we're dealing with in the US.

I think that's an overstatement. It's not so much that there is no canon in American comic books, it's that the canon is subject to change every so often. And over a span of decades and decades the breadth of the series can appear confusing and inconsistent. Of course there are bound to be *some* inconsistencies over a long period of time, but that doesn't define those series as a whole.

That said, the perception of Marvel/DC comics rebooting indefinitely could well apply to the books being published in present day and within the last couple decades. Whatever the case I don't think it applies to the larger history of decades past, which is where one would be more likely to find any "definitive" version of the characters.

[ABED]

It's not the Wikipedia pages, the continuity/canon aspect of superhero comics is confusing because fans place WAY too much emphasis on it. Continuity can be used for good or ill. When it's bad, it's because the tail is wagging the dog. DC's the bigger offender of this since it used to put so little effort into its continuity and yet its big events are usually about dealing with their continuity. It's not that hard to get into superhero stories b/c they are deceptively simple and usually designed to be able to jump into them at nearly any point because as Stan Lee stated, "every comic is someone's first comic". The problem I have is with the continuity obsessed fans putting so much emphasis on it to the point where companies capitulate to them. Most superhero stories are deceptively simple. If you don't know something, you can look it up. Nothing on the internet is more meticulously catalogued as superhero comics. People start series in the middle all the time. In the streaming era, that might be less and less the case, but I still stand by that statement.

The good that comes from continuity is when events in the past can reverberate into the present and future of the characters and their stories.

This shouldn't be controversial. DC and Marvel characters have big differences owed to the simple fact that different writers and artists come to these characters with their own ideas.

What you call big differences I would call small differences. And with strong editorial oversight you can keep a series of different writers/artists in check and their ideas organized. No need for rebooting.

That seems like a truly awful idea. It's putting consistency and continuity over good storytelling and a strong authorial voice.

[Polyphase Avatron]

I was pointing out that DB already has that kind of multiple continuity mess (you have the anime, manga, Super anime and manga, the movies, GT, the video games, the Heroes anime, the TV specials, Kai, the BoG/RoF movies compared to the anime arcs of the same events, etc.)

Not really all that different from all the different versions of Batman or Superman.