Between Anime Expo and San Diego Comic-Con, July is the month of pop culture! To celebrate July as the pop culture month we at VIZ Media want to call out a few series that we consider to be pop culture powerhouses as the month goes by!

Dragon Ball is one of the most popular comic series in manga history. Serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump from 1984 to 1995 in Japan, Akira Toriyama's Dragon Ball helped boost sales of the magazine to over 6.5 million copies per week. Its massive popularity inspired a long-running animation series, several dozen video games and a popular toy line. Dragon Ball also influenced many budding manga artists such as Eiichiro Oda, the creator of One Piece, and Masashi Kishimoto, the creator of Naruto. It is likely that the masterful characterization, series structure and action scenes that Toriyama presented in Dragon Ball will be inspiring manga creators for generations to come. 

Dragon Ball is not only iconic in Japan. It has also been a pop culture phenomenon in the United States as well. The Dragon Ball animated series is without a doubt one of the most popular in America to date, rivaling Sailor Moon and Naruto. Over thirty years after the series debuted, Dragon Ball continues to be one of the most popular manga series in the world. 

Series Synopsis. A seminal series from a legendary creator. Dragon Ball, a wry update on the Chinese "Monkey King" myth, introduces us to Son Goku, a young monkey-tailed boy whose quiet life is turned upside-down when he meets Bulma, a girl determined to collect the seven "Dragon Balls." If she gathers them all, an incredibly powerful dragon will appear and grant her one wish. But the precious orbs are scattered all over the world, and to get them she needs the help of a certain super-strong boy...

You can see everything Dragon Ball on our dedicated VIZ.com page, including free previews of the trailblazing manga. 

Get started today with our digital sale! All available volumes of Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z are $2.00 off until 7/28! Available on VIZ.com, ComiXology, Kindle, Nook and anywhere else digital manga is sold!