Viz to launch Weekly Shonen Jump Alpha Digital Anthology

The North American manga publisher Viz Media announced at New York Comic Con on Friday that it will launch a new weekly digital manga anthology called Weekly Shonen Jump Alpha on January 30, 2012. Each issue of the anthology will have installments of Bakuman., Bleach, Naruto, Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan, One Piece, and Toriko — two weeks after their print debut in Japan's Weekly Shonen Jump magazine.

Weekly Shonen Jump Alpha will be available on Viz Manga.com and Viz Manga apps for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad devices. An annual membership will cost US$25.99 for 48 weekly issues. (Weekly Shonen Jump takes a few weeks off during the year in Japan.) Single issues will cost US$0.99 for a four-week rental. Any issue on one device can be read on another device with the same user account via Viz Manga.com or the Viz Manga app.

Viz will also offer Shonen Jump Digital Warp — an accelerated digital release of select manga titles to bridge the gap between the latest English graphic novels in print and the latest Japanese installments in print. For example, Shonen Jump Digital Warp is starting from Naruto volume 53 now. (Viz published the print version of Naruto volume 52 last month.)

After Weekly Shonen Jump Alpha launches, Viz Media plans to stop publishing the print edition of its Shonen Jump magazine next March with the "farewell April 2012 issue." Viz has been publishing the monthly magazine since 2003.