Shonen Jump (magazine)
Shonen Jump Volume 1, Issue 1, cover dated January 2003
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| Former editors |
Jason Thompson Yumi Hoashi Marc Weidenbaum Grant Lowery |
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| Categories | manga, shōnen |
| Frequency | Monthly |
| Circulation | 215,000 (2008) |
| Publisher | Hyoe Narita |
| First issue | November 26, 2002 |
| Final issue | April 2012 |
| Company | Viz Media |
| Country | United States Canada |
| Based in | San Francisco, California |
| Language | English |
| Website | shonenjump.com |
| ISSN | 1545-7818 |
Shonen Jump, officially stylized SHONEN JUMP and abbreviated SJ, is a shōnen manga anthology published in North America by Viz Media. It debuted in November 2002 with the first issue having a January 2003 cover date. Based on Shueisha's popular Japanese magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump, Shonen Jump is retooled for English readers and the American audience, including changing it from a weekly publication to a monthly one. It features serialized chapters from four manga series, and articles on Japanese language and culture, as well as manga, anime, video games, and figurines. Prior to the magazine's launch, Viz launched an extensive marketing campaign to promote it and help it succeed where previous manga anthologies published in North America had failed. Shueisha purchased an equity interest in Viz to help fund the venture, and Cartoon Network, Suncoast, and Diamond Distributors became promotional partners in the magazine.
In conjunction with the magazine, Viz launched new imprints for releasing media related to the series presented in the magazine, and other shōnen works. This includes two new manga imprints, an anime DVD imprint, a fiction line for releasing light novels, a label for fan and data books, and a label for the release of art books.
Targeted towards young adult males, the first issue required three printings to meet consumer demand, with over 300,000 copies sold. It was awarded the ICv2 "Comic Product of the Year" award in December 2002, and has continued to enjoy high sales with a monthly circulation of 215,000 in 2008. Approximately half of its circulation comes from subscriptions rather than store sales.
Shonen Jump published its final issue in April 2012 when Viz decided to focus on a weekly digital manga anthology. Weekly Shonen Jump (initially named Weekly Shonen Jump Alpha) launched in January 2012 and is still in production.
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.
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