''Raijin Comics'' is a discontinued

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

anthology published from 2002 until 2004 in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

by the now-defunct

Gutsoon! Entertainment Gutsoon! Entertainment, Inc. is a now defunct publisher of English translated manga. The company, headquartered in Encino, Los Angeles,

and largely backed by the

Sega is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its international branches, Sega of America and Sega Europe, are headquartered in Irvine, California and London, r ...

Corporation at its inception. The collected volumes of ''Raijin Comics'' titles were published under the ''Raijin Graphic Novels''

imprint Imprint or imprinting may refer to: Entertainment * ''Imprint'' (TV series), Canadian television series * "Imprint" (''Masters of Horror''), episode of TV show ''Masters of Horror'' * ''Imprint'' (film), a 2007 independent drama/thriller film ...

. The magazine was aimed at mature readers. Premiering with a cover date of December 18, 2002, ''Raijin'' was initially published on a weekly basis similar to various popular manga magazines in Japan, including

Coamix Coamix Co., Ltd. is a Japanese manga and anime production company headquartered in the in Kichijōji, Musashino, Tokyo.事 ...

's own ''

Weekly Comic Bunch is a Japanese manga anthology marketed to a ''seinen'' audience that was edited by Coamix and published weekly by Shinchosha from 2001 throughout 2010 and became monthly since 2011. The collected editions of their titles are published under the ...

''. However, distribution problems made the weekly schedule difficult to maintain and the weekly format ceased with issue #36 (September 10, 2003), becoming a monthly publication from issue #37 (October 2003). The magazine eventually ceased publication with issue #46 (July 2004). Its failure to break into the U.S. market has been attributed to competition with the North American version of '' Shonen Jump'', which debuted shortly afterward, despite the fact that they were aimed at different age range. Also, unlike Jump, many of the titles in Raijin lacked general brand awareness amongst casual American manga fans. On May 5, 2005, Raijin lost control of the raijincomics.com

domain name A domain name is a string that identifies a realm of administrative autonomy, authority or control within the Internet. Domain names are often used to identify services provided through the Internet, such as websites, email services and more. As ...

to domain squatters. The corporate website, '
gutsoon.com
'' remained in operation for many years but wasn't updated after June 2004,Raijin Comics Loses Domain – Anime News Network
/ref> and as of mid-2010, has been taken over by domain squatters. Since the folding of ''Raijin Comics'', some of its titles (''Slam Dunk'', ''Guardian Angel Getten'' and ''Fist of the North Star'') have since been licensed to other companies.

Series published by Raijin

The following series were serialized in ''Raijin Comics'', with the issues they appeared in parentheses: * ''

Baki the Grappler Baki ( ar, باقي) may refer to: Places * Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan ( az, Bakı) * Baki District of the Awdal region in Somalia *Baki town, Somaliland * Baki, Afghanistan * Baki, Sukoharjo, a subdistrict in Sukoharjo Regency, Jawa Tengah ...

'' (2-46) * ''

Bomber Girl ''Bomber Girl'' (stylized in all caps) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Makoto Niwano. It was published in Shueisha's ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' from January to April 1994. In North America, the series was published ...

'' (1-11) * ''

Bow Wow Wata is a manga by Kazumi Umekawa that was initially serialized in ''Weekly Comic Bunch'' from 2001 throughout 2004. After the serialization was pulled from ''Comic Bunch'', it was picked up by ''Comic Rex'', where it was retitled ''Gaugau Wāta ...

'' (14-21, 23–33, 35–41, 43–46) * ''

City Hunter is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Tsukasa Hojo. It was serialized in ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' from 1985 to 1991 and collected into 35 ''tankōbon'' volumes by its publisher Shueisha. The manga was adapted int ...

'' (1-46) * ''

The First President of Japan is a Japanese manga series written by Yoshiki Hidaka and illustrated by Ryuji Tsugihara. Plot For the first time in Japan's history there is a direct election for the Prime Minister office that gives the winner the powers of a president, and ...

'' (2-18, 20–23, 25–29) * ''

Fist of the Blue Sky is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Tetsuo Hara, with plot supervision by Buronson. It was serialized in ''Weekly Comic Bunch'' from 2001 to 2010, with the chapters collected into 22 ''tankōbon'' volumes by Shinchosha. It ...

'' (1-31, 34–35, 37–46) * '' Guardian Angel Getten'' (4-7, 9-20, 22–32, 34–46) * '' Nemuri Kyoshiro'' (33-46) * '' Hana no Keiji'' (19-34, 36–45) * ''Mountain Climbers Saga'' (5, 13, 46) * ''Revenge of Mouflon'' (4-18, 30–36, 38–46) * ''

Slam Dunk A slam dunk, also simply known as dunk, is a type of basketball shot that is performed when a player jumps in the air, controls the ball above the horizontal plane of the rim, and scores by shoving the ball directly through the basket with one ...

'' (1-14, 16–46)

Imprinted manga series

References

External links

Raijin Comics
(

Waybacked The Wayback Machine is a digital archive of the World Wide Web founded by the Internet Archive, a nonprofit based in San Francisco, California. Created in 1996 and launched to the public in 2001, it allows the user to go "back in time" and see ...

) Anime and manga magazines Magazines established in 2002 Magazines disestablished in 2004 2002 establishments in the United States 2004 disestablishments in the United States Defunct magazines published in the United States {{Anime-mag-stub

Series published by Raijin

Imprinted manga series

See also

References

External links