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Dragon Ball #1 - 1985, Manga 1st print Edition Volume 1 (Toriyama Akira)21671

Collector Grzegorzgrd private msg quote post Address this user
Hi there,

I am trying to pick some peoples brains. I have recently been looking at picking up some copies of Dragon Ball Z, either the sneak peak or #1 from 1998. When looking around I also came up across the original manga version from 1985. Seen some graded ones from Beckett as well as some ungraded and fakes too . According to one friendly link I found. I don't know much about the manga books, rarity, or value. Any one have any thoughts about this. Are these worth picking up vs the comics? Any census exist for this somewhere? Is there a print number known for the 1st print? Just totally out of my realm so curious knows things .


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CBCS Finalizer Wade_Story private msg quote post Address this user
There’s a couple of different options you might want to consider. If you’re looking for the FIRST FIRST Dragon Ball… chapter 1 was actually printed in Weekly Shonen Jump #51 in 1984 (pictured in my attachment). The image you’ve provided is the tankobon that prints the first few chapters, after their release in Weekly Shonen Jump. It’s all about what you would like to collect. They can get quite expensive, an ungraded Weekly Shonen Jump #51 (1984) recently sold at auction for just over $25,000 (USD). The tankobon are cheaper, but can still get quite expensive for the 1st printing.

BOTH are commonly faked, so please be careful when buying!

As for the comics vs. tankobon/zasshi, it’s all about what you prefer. Obviously, if you can’t read Japanese you won’t be able to read the tankobon or zasshi. But, at this time those seem to be the most collectible. Personally, I like seeing how the original source material was released.


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