Weekly Shōnen Jump reprints: rear marks, photographs and 2017 packs

How to distinguish a period Jump from the commemorative reprint

This guide starts with a community question: how can you recognise a reprint of Weekly Shōnen Jump issue 34 from 1997, where One Piece debuted? The most useful check is on the back. It helps to understand the whole initiative: in 2017 Shueisha reproduced six historical issues in three packs.

A period original is the issue published in its historical year; an official reprint, or facsimile, is Shueisha’s authorised later reproduction. A counterfeit is an unauthorised reproduction. Identify which object you are looking at before comparing condition and price.

The 復刻版 mark is at the bottom left of the back cover

Always request a complete photograph of the back cover. All six issues in the three commemorative packs carry the small vertical 復刻版 mark at the bottom left. Read fukkokuban, it identifies a facsimile reprint.

One Piece and Hokuto no Ken have a blue background replacing the advertisement. JoJo and Dragon Ball retain advertising on the back. Blue is therefore not a shared feature: the presence of an advertisement does not establish that a copy is a period original.

Why Shueisha released the three packs in 2017

The initiative anticipated Jump’s fiftieth anniversary: the magazine began in 1968 and turned fifty in 2018. Between July and September 2017, three packs were released, each containing two reproduced historical issues. [1] [2]

The selection covered the magazine’s launch, its circulation record, the debuts of JoJo and One Piece, and two story milestones in Hokuto no Ken and Dragon Ball. The facsimiles also reproduced other serials, editorial pages and, where possible, advertising, letting readers experience those chapters in their magazine context. [4] [5]

Are magazines never reprinted? The Kochikame precedent

New tankōbon print runs can follow demand over time. A weekly magazine moves on to its next issue: reprinting an older issue is a publishing exception, not its normal method of keeping stock available.

But “zasshi are never reprinted” is too absolute. In 2016 Shueisha announced a reprint of Jump issue 42, containing the Kochikame finale, sold from 31 December 2016 with Kochikame Jump. ORICON described it as the weekly magazine’s first reprint. [6]

That case responded to demand for a recently sold-out issue; the 2017 packs recovered magazines from decades earlier. They were different publishing projects.

The photographs to request before buying

1. Full front and back photographs of the same copy. The rear photograph should include every edge, especially the bottom-left corner.
2. Spine, page edges and binding. These help continue the condition and authenticity check.
3. Internal publication information. Request a legible photograph, without mistaking a reproduced historical date for the copy’s printing date.
4. Packaging and band, if present. For a closed pack, ask for both sides and the wrapping seams. If the packaging hides an individual issue’s rear, that rear has not yet been checked.

For the One Piece Jump covered here, the blue rear and 復刻版 mark identify the official reprint design. Their absence does not prove authenticity: counterfeits also attempt to imitate the original. Continue with the photographic guide to fake zasshi.

Shueisha has itself issued a warning about pirated copies of Jump 1984 issue 51, Dragon Ball’s debut. This is a separate issue from the authorised 2017 reproductions. [7]