Shonen Jump Adds Bleach and Slam Dunk to Line-up

At Friday's Shonen Jump panel at San Diego Comic-Con, magazine editor Marc Weidenbaum announced a new addition to the magazine's monthly lineup: Bleach by Tite Kubo. As Weidenbaum put it, this will be the first time readers will be able to see full-sized manga as fans in Japan see it. Bleach appeared in the April 2008 issue, but will now be a regular feature starting from the November issue.

Weidebaum promised that the November issue with be "full of Bleach" -- with the additional details about the features to come at the Shonen Jump Evolution Bleach page on VIZ or the official U.S. Bleach site.

The other big announcement is the Shonen Jump magazine debut of the first chapter of Takehiko Inoue's basketball sports manga, Slam Dunk in the December 2007 issue. Voted the most popular series, ever by Japanese readers, Slam Dunk was previously published in English by the now defunct Raijin Publishing company and the graphic novels are currently out of print. With Shonen Jump's support, this popular series gains a new life in the U.S./English-language market.

"I freaking love this manga -- (Inoue) knows cliffhangers, you can't stop reading it." says Weidenbaum. While Slam Dunk will not be serialized in the monthly magazine, the graphic novels will start appearing in early 2008. For additional details, visit the VIZ Slam Dunk announcement page at Shonen Jump's news section.

The third major announcement was the Dragonball Collector supplement planned for the October 2008 issue. Editor Urian Brown announced that Dragonball Collector will be a supplement to the October issue. Articles will include a guide to Dragonball Z hair, and a special one-shot manga by Akira Toriyama.