Dragon Ball: Dr. Stone Artist Reimagines Classic Goku Cover
Dragon Ball Super is back at it with its Super Gallery Project, and a new artist has joined the gig. With over a dozen on hand, the special project dropped its remake of Dragon Ball volume 26 with help from a familiar artist. After all, Boichi of Dr. Stone did the artwork for this month's piece, and it reimagines a classic cover featuring Son Goku.
As you can see below, the cover art highlights Goku and a few Z-Fighters from their Dragon Ball Z era. We can see Goku front and center reaching out a hand to drop a ki blast, and he's joined by Krillin along with Vegeta. In the back, we can see Gohan with a blast in both hands and a familiar wish-granting dragon looms overhead in the sky.
DRAGON BALL Volume 26 by Boichi (Artist: Dr. STONE).
— Shonen Jump News (@WSJ_manga) March 30, 2023
This is part of the DRAGON BALL Super Gallery Project to commemorate the 40th Anniversary of the series. Every month, different mangaka will redesign one of the 42 covers of the series until November 2024. pic.twitter.com/eJ82U3dI54
Of course, there is also a villain to note here. Frieza is standing next to Goku, and he looks imposing in his final form. However, the tyrant better watch his back. Piccolo is on the other side of Frieza, and the Namekian looks ready to throw down. And if Piccolo cannot stop Frieza, Bulma is armed at the edge of this cover.
Boichi's reimagined cover brings his usual style to Dragon Ball, and it is a far cry from what Akira Toriyama penned decades ago. Still, it is impossible to mistake who we are looking at. No matter how they are inked, the Z-Fighters are an iconic bunch, so it is up to you to decide whether this aesthetic suits Dragon Ball.
There are plenty of other Super Gallery covers to browse if this Boichi one doesn't do it for you. The special kicked off in 2021 and will continue through Fall 2024. To date, artists like Masashi Kishimoto, Tite Kubo, Tatsuki Fujimoto, Koyoharu Gotouge, and more have redone covers to honor Toriyama's series. And in the coming months, even more remakes will go live from manga's most talented artists!
As for Dragon Ball itself, well – the series has plenty going on right now. Last year, the anime returned with a new movie Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero which is now available on DVD, Blu-ray, and Digital HD. The Dragon Ball manga is now adapting the 'Super Hero' arc following a brief prologue. So if you want to catch up on the manga, it can be found on Manga Plus or the Shonen Jump app.
What do you think about this latest Dragon Ball tribute? Did Boichi do the manga justice? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section below or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB.