Editor-in-chef Ken Hanada Frequency Monthly | Categories Seinen manga Company Coamix | |
Publisher North Stars Pictures (Issuance)
Tokuma Shoten (Release) First issue October 25, 2010 (December issue) | ||
Monthly Comic Zenon (Japanese: 月刊コミックゼノン, Hepburn: Gekkan Komikku Zenon) is a Japanese manga anthology. It is marketed to seinen public (young adults), edited by Coamix and published monthly by North Stars Pictures and Tokuma Shoten since 2010. It was produced as a replacement for Weekly Comic Bunch, Coamix's previous manga anthology. The collected editions of their titles are published under the Zenon Comics imprint.
Contents
Overview
After the drop of Shinchosha's Weekly Comic Bunch circulation numbers, Coamix, which edited the magazine, announced Bunch's discontinuation. Coamix marked August 27, 2010 as the day of Bunch's last release, and started to consider to launch a new magazine. In October 2010, Coamix announced a partnership with North Stars Pictures and Tokuma Shoten, stating that the new magazine Monthly Comic Zenon would debut on October 25, 2010. At the same time Shinchosha launched Monthly Comics @ Bunch, a replacement for Weekly Comic Bunch, but edited without Coamix's involvement. As a result, many of the manga artists from Bunch have been moved to Zenon.
The magazine's name is based on "Kanzeon Bosatsu" (観世音菩薩)—the Japanese name of bodhisattva Guanyin—, specifically the "Zeon" (世音) part, which means to "hear the voice of the world wide". The "Z" from "Zenon" was chosen with the meaning of "ultimate" since it is the last letter from alphabet.
In order to approach more readers, Monthly Comic Zenon is published in both, print and digital editions. The website "Zenon Land" was launched, publishing the Zenon's manga series only for smartphones. A YouTube channel was created to disclose Zenon-related media. Also, "Cafe Zenon", a kissaten decorated with manga motifs, in Kichijōji, a neighborhood in the city of Musashino, Tokyo, was inaugurated on November 11, 2009.
To expand its range the magazine also promoves a "silent manga" international contest since 2013; as it aimed to receive works from all the world, no dialogues were necessary. Open for professional and amateurs, the focus of the judgment was the works performance through art rather than exposition. The judges were manga authors Tsukasa Hojo (City Hunter) and Tetsuo Hara (Fist of the North Star), then editor-in-chef Nobuhiko Horie and the magazine editorial team. The best five received prize awards while the top three had their works published in the magazine; Nobo and Her? by Molico Ross, for example, is serialized since the June 2012 issue.
In another action to expand its public, in August 2015, Coamix and The Silent Manga Audition Committee created a section called "Zenon International" on the contest website to publish the SMAC! Web Magazine . They are planning to translate all the series and offer them for free on their site based on demand—which is based on the readers' vote. At first they made available Ikusa no Ko: Legend of Oda Nobunaga, Nobo and Her? and Arte, and in December Angel Heart became part of the catalog.
After a certain amount of chapters are serialized in the magazine they are collected into tankōbon format and published under the Zenon Comics imprint. Parallel to this label, there is Zenon Comics DX that only publishes titles former released by other publishers such as Tetsuo Hara's Cyber Blue (Weekly Shōnen Jump) and Kōkenryoku Ōryō Sōsakan Nakabō Rintarō (Bart 3230). This two titles composed Zenon Comics DX first line-up, while Zenon Comics one had Angel Heart: 2nd Season, Cat's Eye, Concierge Platinum, and Waraenu Warashi: 108 no Karma. Both imprints released its first titles on March 22, 2011. The Zenon Comics level also publishes manga released on Zenon's sister magazine, Web Comic Zenyon (WEBコミックぜにょん). Published online since October 25, 2012, it is the home of series such as Hokuto no Ken: Ichigo Aji.
List of works
Ongoing series are highlighted in light green.