Digital Comics Site ComiXology Now Offering VIZ Media Manga Titles
Digital comics website/mobile comics platform ComiXology (a subsidiary of Amazon.com) and VIZ Media announced today that over 500 volumes of VIZ Media manga would be featured for browsing and buying via ComiXology.com and ComiXology mobile apps starting today.
For starters, 21 VIZ Media series made their debut on the ComiXology site today, including the complete offerings (from the first to the must current volume available) of best-selling shonen manga series like Naruto, Bleach, and One Piece. The sole Shojo Beat offering in this initial batch is Nana by Ai Yazawa, but readers can likely look forward to more to follow soon.
Naruto Volume 64 | NARUTO © 1999 by Masashi Kishimoto/SHUEISHA Inc.
Most 200+ page single volumes are priced at $6.99, with a few exceptions like Dragon Ball Full Color Edition going for $12.99 / volume with 250+ full-color pages and the double-sized volumes of Tenjo Tenge, which also go for $12.99 for each 350+ page volumes — the same price that the same titles are offered on VIZ Media’s other digital publishing outlets, like Amazon Kindle, Kobo, Apple iBooks and VIZ’s own VIZManga.com website and mobile apps.
So if these titles (and more) are already available on other digital comics sites, why is this new distribution deal a significant move for both ComiXology and VIZ Media? Quite simply, this immediately boosts ComiXology’s manga offerings, an area where their selection has been frankly, pretty weak. For VIZ Media, this gives their titles even more visibility with new, mostly US mainstream comics shop-centric readers who regularly turn to ComiXology for their Wednesday “new comics day” fix.
A possibly interesting fact to note to ComiXology readers: many of these titles are not offered in ComiXology’s “Guided View” format (which shows the reader one panel at a time, a feature that’s particularly useful when reading comics on smaller cell phone screens). Instead, many titles’ descriptions include a note that it’s offered in “comiXology’s Manga Fixed Format – a full page Manga reading experience preferred by some publishers that does not use Guided View.” So if you prefer “Guided View” comics reading, well, it’s not happening here.
Also worth noting: as far as I can see, these VIZ Media titles are only available to readers in North America (US and Canada). (chime in, readers from Europe, Mexico, Asia, South America, etc. if you see otherwise).
If you’re a regular ComiXology reader who is new to VIZ Media’s titles, well, this assortment is a good place to start. If you want a quick taste, I recommend checking out One Punch Man, a hilarious, action-packed superhero comic about an unlikely hero who has a single power: he can defeat any enemy with just a single, power-packed punch. The upside? He can kick butt in any fight. The downside? Winning all the time can get kind of… boring.
My other pick for new readers? Blue Exorcist, mostly because the art is terrific, the story/characters are solid, it has a great mix of magic/action/drama with a touch of humor, and at only 11 volumes, you’re not on the hook for 60+ volumes of reading right off the top. (Sorry Naruto, One Piece. I know you’re terrific, but you’re kind of intimidating for a new manga reader to pick up).
Here’s the complete line-up for VIZ Media’s debut on ComiXology:
- Naruto by Masashi Kishimoto (Volumes 1-65)
- Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, and Dragon Ball Full Color Edition by Akira Toriyama
- One Punch Man by ONE and Yusuke Murata (Volumes 1-2)
- One Piece by Eiichiro Oda (Volumes 1-71)
- Bakuman. by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata (Volumes 1-20)
- Bleach by Tite Kubo (Volumes 1-60)
- Blue Exorcist by Kazue Kato (Volumes 1-11)
- Claymore by Norihiro Yagi (Volumes
- Death Note by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata (Volumes 1-12, but not the “how to read” companion volume, a.k.a. Volume 13, which is only available in a print edition)
- Hikaru no Go by Yumi Hotta and Takeshi Obata (Volumes 1-23)
- Knights of the Zodiac (Saint Seiya) by Masami Kurumada (Volumes 1-28)
- Nana by Ai Yazawa (Volumes 1-21)
- Rosario + Vampire (Volumes 1-10) and Rosario + Vampire: Season II (Volumes 1-12) by Akihisa Ikeda
- Rurouni Kenshin (Volumes 1-28) and Rurouni Kenshin: Restoration (Volumes 1-2) by Nobuhiro Watsuki
- Shaman King by Hiroyuki Takei (Volumes 1-32)
- Tenjo Tenge by Oh! Great (Volumes 1-11)
- The Prince of Tennis by Takeshi Konomi (Volumes 1-42)
Want even more VIZ Manga to read online, or on your mobile phones or eReaders? Visit VIZManga.com, or check out the VIZ Media apps. You can also find VIZ Media titles for Amazon Kindle, Barnes and Noble Nook, Apple iBooks, and Kobo.