Judging a Tankobon by its cover.

[Super Gazellian]

Imagine that you've never heard of Dragon Ball before and you see these.



Would you take a look at them based on the cover? Personally I'm not sure if I would because they look like a manga about racing or something, don't get me wrong having known Dragon Ball when I look at these I like them and think they look fun, but they don't really reflect what kind of story Dragon Ball (Z) is

I'm just glad DBZ got super popular so that you couldn't live through the 90's not knowing what it was and have to go through the misfortune of dismissing it as a racing manga

[VegettoEX]

The lucky thing there is that you're actually looking at Volumes 17, 18, and 19... not 1, 2, and 3 . By that point, Dragon Ball was already a household name and it didn't matter WHAT was on the front cover.

I think you really need to judge from the actual first batch of covers:



The first one is classical whimsy up the wazoo, which totally grabs me. The second is a little more strange in that regard, but definitely still has that "adventure" feel. The third is obviously the Tenka'ichi Budōkai to those who know, but I don't know that you'd necessary think "fighting" if you just saw it with no other context.

[Fox666]

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[MCDaveG]

Well, these cover are my favorite thing about the db manga.
Funny is that my favorite cover is non-racing one. It's volume 26.

[Herms]

On that note, it's interesting how the kanzenban covers are all directly related to the events of the volume in question, often being flat-out redrawn scenes. The only real exception in the last volume's cover, which is a general "the whole gang in action" kinda thing. I think overall I prefer the tankoubon covers. I love how the volume where Freeza is defeated/Trunks debuts/19&20 attack features Kame-sennin riding a bike and smoking a pipe on the cover. Genius at work.

[Super Gazellian]

I guess with the amount of different releases there are I must've got the "Dragon Racing Sparkling Edition" line of covers Haha but seriously, Toriyama must've had an obsession with vehicles at the time of these releases, even more so than his usual fondness

I was thinking, considering this topics a little limited, maybe I could shift the focus to literally judging the Tankobon by its cover. Or Kanzenban. Or any other incarnation of Dragon Ball manga.

So for example:

If I saw this I would assume it was a child friendly story in which the cast would go off on little adventures that would never last more than two chapters each, something in the vein of Moomin

[Pretorious]

Why is volume 2 off-color?

[NeoKING]

Well, these cover are my favorite thing about the db manga.
Funny is that my favorite cover is non-racing one. It's volume 26.

When you see this you just realize how 80's Dragon Ball was. Goku looks like the protagonist of Shenmue looking for sailors.

[Fox666]

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[Pretorious]

But I've seen other images with the same discoloration. Like this:

http://img138.imagevenue.com/img.php?I'm ... _883lo.jpg

More on topic, this one makes Dragon Ball look like a western. Very few of them really make it look like what it is, but that makes the more "accurate" ones look extra awesome.

[DoomieDoomie911]

Still many countries released the manga separately, so many people may have had the wrong impression of it.

It's funny when you realize that the majority of the covers are actually related to vehicles.



Yup, racing manga.

Well, I've always heard that Toriyama loved drawing vehicles, and this really shows it!

[Gaffer Tape]

But I've seen other images with the same discoloration. Like this:

Yes. That image always has that sepia tone to, as you say, give it a more old West feel, presumably.

[medama_oyaji]

In this Toriyama x Oda interview, Toriyama explains that he drew that cover on colored paper: http://www.thegrandline.com/odainterview.html

[MCDaveG]

Looking on my bookshelf for confirmation. That sepia color is 4 colour print on the rear cover.

[MCDaveG]

Well, these cover are my favorite thing about the db manga.
Funny is that my favorite cover is non-racing one. It's volume 26.

When you see this you just realize how 80's Dragon Ball was. Goku looks like the protagonist of Shenmue looking for sailors.

This one is from 90's allready.
But I like these fantasy pictures of characters in different clothes, settings and such. Not like nowadays, where you look on cover of book, in which someone is slaying vampires and on the cover, someone is slaying vampires....

[Super Gazellian]

Well, these cover are my favorite thing about the db manga.
Funny is that my favorite cover is non-racing one. It's volume 26.

When you see this you just realize how 80's Dragon Ball was. Goku looks like the protagonist of Shenmue looking for sailors.

This one is from 90's allready.
But I like these fantasy pictures of characters in different clothes, settings and such. Not like nowadays, where you look on cover of book, in which someone is slaying vampires and on the cover, someone is slaying vampires....

Haha yeah I agree, even if it doesn't represent the story it's really cool to see the characters in scenarios you don't get to see in the story, extending the world a bit showing they have lives outside of the chapters

[MCDaveG]

Dammit! Just realised that the outfit from my favorite cover is actually in the first Budokai game!!!!
I always thought it's some variation on what Goku wore during the preparation for Cell Games and as I played the game yesterday, I noticed it's actually this one from the cover! Cooool!

[ThunderPX]

I just realised something else:


If I didn't know they could fly, I'd think Gohan and Kuririn were lying down awkwardly.

[MCDaveG]

I just realised something else:


If I didn't know they could fly, I'd think Gohan and Kuririn were lying down awkwardly.

Never thought about it, probably because I'm familiar eith the series allready.

[Super Gazellian]

I just realised something else:


If I didn't know they could fly, I'd think Gohan and Kuririn were lying down awkwardly.

Cannot.. be... unseen Gohan, oh how do you bring these tears to my eyes?