Read: Dr. Stone Spin-Off Manga Launches

Riichiro Inagaki and Boichi's Dr. Stone has been a huge hit for Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump. Not only does the series stand out from many of the original traditional action series of the magazine, but it has spawned a particular popular anime series in the Summer. Now the franchise is breaking ground in a new way as Dr. Stone has become the very first series to have both a main series and a spin-off running in Weekly Shonen Jump at the same time. With the first chapter of the new spin-off series now available, you can check it out too!

The new series is titled Dr. Stone Reboot: Byakuya, and you can currently read the first chapter completely legally and for free as part of Viz Media's digital Shonen Jump library at the link here. You'll need a $1.99 a month paid subscription to keep reading after the first three chapters are released, but you will also get access to every other Shonen Jump series' back catalog!

Illustrator for the main series, Boichi, will be handling both writing and illustrating duties for the spin-off focusing on Senku's father, Byakuya Ishigami. The spin-off takes place in the time period just after the petrification beam hits as Byakuya and his fellow astronauts are stranded in space and must figure out what happened to the Earth.

Writer on the main series, Riichiro Inagaki, previously confirmed that this series will serve as supplemental material for the main series and fans don't need to be caught up in order to truly enjoy it. The spin-off will be running for nine chapters in total, and will release weekly alongside the main series.

If you wanted to catch up with the Dr. Stone anime, which has just adapted its share of Byakuya's story, you can currently find it streaming on Crunchyroll and FunimationNow, and the series is also airing new episodes as part of Adult Swim's Toonami programming block. Originally created by Riichiro Inagaki with illustrations provided by Boichi for Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump in 2017, the series is officially described as such:

"Several thousand years after a mysterious phenomenon that turns all of humanity to stone, the extraordinarily intelligent, science-driven boy, Senku Ishigami, awakens. Facing a world of stone and the total collapse of civilization, Senku makes up his mind to use science to rebuild the world. Starting with his super strong childhood friend Taiju Oki, who awakened at the same time, they will begin to rebuild civilization from nothing... Depicting two million years of scientific history from the Stone Age to present day, the unprecedented crafting adventure story is about to begin!"