Dragon Ball Multiverse

Dragon Ball Multiverse(DBM), a fan manga based on the popular manga series Dragon Ball Z, has made huge progress in gaining global audience since 2008. Originally based in France, DBM slowly gained traction as it became exposed to fans of Dragon Ball Z throughout the world. DBM’s readership increased dramatically when it was translated into different languages and its growth became exponential. As the number of readers grew, so did the languages. The animation attached shows a progression of increasing languages throughout the history of the webcomic’s existence. The languages are increasing constantly and they are an accurate reflection of the growth of DBM's readership.

DBM was then able to take advantage from its exponentially growing audience by using them as contributors to the webcomic. Accompanying the increase of fans, lots of fan turned artists took up the job and drew chapters for the webcomic. Through hiring fan artists, DBM was able to gain valuable inputs from its audience, not only through the comment section but also through their art work -- a symbiotic relationship developed between the manga and its audience [1]. Having lots of artists working on the same manga would mean there are lots of varying art styles associated to it making the content not continuous. The authors solved this problem by dedicating only the special chapters fillers to guest artists and left the main storyline in the main artist’s hands. This means that the manga could have a diverse array of visual styles that would capture reader’ attentions [1] and at the same time maintain its integrity. Fan mangas like Dragon Ball Multiverse has taken full advantage of the expansive global network that the internet provide access to. It connected fans and artists from across the globe in a common endeavor to support and create something they love.

1. Masvoulas, Dimitrios. "Understanding Webcomics: the implications of Internet technologies for Editorial Cartoonists and Comics Journalists." (2014).

2. Humphrey, Aaron. “Emotion and Secrecy in Australian Asylum-Seeker Comics: The Politics of Visual Style” International Journal of Cultural Studies, 2018.