Shonen Jump (magazine) - History

History

In June 2002, Viz Media (at the time called "Viz Communications"), and Shueisha announced that Viz would begin publishing Shonen Jump, an English spin on Shueisha's highly popular manga anthology Weekly Shōnen Jump. Cartoon Network, Suncoast, and Diamond Distributors signed on as promotional partners. Though based on Weekly Shōnen Jump, Viz noted that it would not be a "word for word" copy. Rather, Viz would select series for its magazine that it felt were the most appropriate for its American readers. Viz's version was also set to be monthly, rather than having weekly, to better fit the American comic distribution system.

We will be selecting the material most appropriate for the American market. Bear in mind that Shonen Jump has been running since 1968 in Japan. At 500 pages a week, that gives us 884,000 pages of material to draw from!...Our lead titles are Dragon Ball Z and Yu-Gi-Oh, selected for their already-existing popularity in the US. The remainder of the titles will be a combination of those on the verge of breaking out in this country, and those we feel will especially appeal to the target demographic. —Renee Solberg, Viz Marketing Manager, ICv2

Jason Thompson, one of Viz's manga editors for series including Dragon Ball was selected as the magazine's first editor-in-chief. Initially, Viz hoped to have the magazine targeted to all age groups, however to allow for greater freedom on content, the decision was made to mark the magazine as being for readers 13 years of age and older. However, with greater attention being focused on manga as it became available in mainstream outlets, some titles were edited for content. Thompson noted that it was a challenge working with some of the artists whose works would appear in the first issue, who worried about excessive alterations.

With manga anthologies having met with little success in North America, Viz desired Shonen Jump to have a circulation of 1 million within its first three years. To aid in this goal, Viz launched the magazine with a multi-million dollar advertising budget, they advertised and distributed the title through mass market outlets rather than just pop culture stores, ensuring the magazine included series already popular with the North American audience due to their airing on Cartoon Network. To help fund the lengthy, expensive marketing campaign developed around Shonen Jump, Shueisha purchased an equity interest in Viz in August 2002.

Unlike with most magazine launches, Viz decided to allow retailers to return the first two issues. This gave retailers a chance to see how well the magazine would sell in markets where manga anthologies were an unknown. Retailers were also given a quantity of free samples, distributed 100,000 free samples at Comic Con, and another 100,000 were made available to its partner Suncoast. Cartoon Network began providing sample chapters and streaming video content to its Adult Swim website, along with prominent links to Shonen Jump's official site.

The first issue was released November 26, 2002, with a January 2003 cover date. It premiered with five series: Dragon Ball Z, Sand Land, Yu-Gi-Oh!, YuYu Hakusho, and One Piece. With the second issue, the magazine was expanded to feature seven series. With the launch of the magazine considered successful, Thompson was offered an opportunity to intern in Japan with Shueisha's editors, but declined, due to a lack of interest in the management aspects of the business and a desire to work on his own projects. After six issues had been released, Thompson desired to work on authoring and illustrating his own comic The Stiff. Reflecting back later, he states in an interview with The Comics Journal that "I basically told Viz that I wanted to work part time or I'd quit. It probably wasn't a really nice thing to do." He eventually stepped down as editor-in-chief, being replaced by his former boss Yumi Hoashi.

In February 2005, Viz announced the creation of Shojo Beat, a sister publication of Shonen Jump geared towards female readers. The first issue was released in June 2005 with a July 2005 date cover; it ran for 47 issues until it was discontinued with the release of the July 2009 issue. In 2006, Marc Weidenbaum was named as the Editor-in-Chief for both magazines. Weidenbaum remained the magazine's editor until February 13, 2009, when Viz announced that he had left the company; the magazine's new editor-in-chief has not been named.

As of the June 2011 issue, only 10 issues were published in a year. The magazine is printed at Transcontintental Printing RBW Graphics in Owen Sound, Ontario, Canada.

In October 2011, Viz announced that Weekly Shonen Jump Alpha, a weekly digital version of the magazine would be made available to the public beginning on January 30, 2012. Viz also released its final Shonen Jump print publication in March of that year after Weekly Shonen Jump Alpha was released.