Welcome to the latest edition of the Multiversity Manga Club! We at Multiversity Comics are huge fans of all kinds of comics, but our coverage admittedly skews toward American and European books. Nevertheless, manga, or Japanese comics, has a huge presence in the world of graphic story-telling, as anyone who has frequented a book store chain over the last decade can attest. I myself have only dabbled in the medium throughout the years, primarily through my love of “Dragon Ball Z.” With the hope of presenting a more concerted effort to highlight the fascinating world of manga, I’ll be selecting a specific work each month and inviting readers to join me in reading and examining the book.
For our second installment of the Multiversity Manga Club, I’ve chosen the long-running and titanically successful “One Piece” by Eiichiro Oda. Since its start in 1997, the series has chronicled the swash-buckling adventures of Monkey D. Luffy, the elastic would-be Pirate King, and his quest to find the legendary treasure “One Piece.” One of the modern “Big Three” of manga and anime (the others being “Naruto” and “Bleach”), “One Piece” has been a massive success both commercially and critically for nearly two decades, an incredible feat.
I’ve read very little “One Piece,” so unlike last month’s “Jaco the Galactic Patrolman,” I’ll be tackling the series with a relatively fresh perspective. Currently nearing its 800th chapter and spanning nearly 80 tankōbon (the Japanese term for a volume of manga), I have long found “One Piece” to be extremely daunting and intimidating venture. When reading through the chapters currently serialized in “Weekly Shonen Jump,” I’ve found the series to be zany fun, but often incomprehensible due to its large cast, diverging plot-lines and densely packed panels. However, the esteemed creator of Multiversity Comics, Matthew Meylikhov, named the series in a list of 10 essential manga that belong in every comic collection. That recommendation alone is reason to give the series a look.
Unlike “Jaco,” there are a couple ways that one can read “One Piece.” First, there are the traditional tankōbon volumes which collect around 8-10 chapters for about $10. This is how the book is initially collected after serialization and will allow readers to be as up to date with the series as possible (assuming you don’t speak Japanese and aren’t a Weekly Shonen Jump subscriber). The other option is the 3-in-1 omnibus editions. As the name suggests, this format collect three tankōbon volumes. At $15 per volume, the 3-in-1 format effectively halves the cost compared to the tankōbon volumes, at the cost of a slightly lower paper quality and delayed shipping schedule. Still, the 3-in-1 format offers and extremely easy way for new readers to jump on board with a lower financial commitment.
For the purposes of this month’s Manga Club, I’ll be reading through the first 3 volumes of “One Piece.” However, I encourage everyone to read at their own pace. Whether you’ve only get time to check out a single volume or fall in love with series and blaze through a dozen, let us know what you think of “One Piece.” Leave your comments below, or tweet them out using the hashtag #Mangaversity. At the end of the month, I’ll post my thoughts on the reading and respond to your comments and thoughts as well. We had some great responses in our first month and I can’t wait to see what the second installment brings!
