Underground cover – IKKI 10th anniversary

What a sssneaaaky little paper cover!!

This Dorohedoro cover was released for the 10th anniversary of IKKI magazine, where the series was originally serialized. And besides the fact that this cover was literally unknown for who knows how many years, there’s one detail that kills me every time. But to appreciate it, you need a bit of context.

IKKI carved out a unique niche in the Japanese publishing scene: an underground, boundary-pushing magazine championing avant-garde aesthetics and alternative manga… which, of course, almost nobody cared about. It officially launched in 2003 as Monthly Ikki, and in 2013 it celebrated its 10th anniversary with campaigns, events, promos and a big red seal stamped on every cover that year.

So you might think this cover came out in 2013, right? Wrong.

Before becoming a full-fledged magazine in 2003, IKKI actually existed as a bimonthly spin-off of another publication starting in late 2000, under the name Spirits Special Issue IKKI. And that’s the anniversary this cover was celebrating, meaning it was released in 2011. A celebration so obscure, so carefully swept under the rug, that it barely appears anywhere online.

I love the poetry of an underground magazine holding an underground celebration that produces an unknown cover.

Because yes, how you were supposed to get this cover is still unknown. It was probably given as a bookstore purchase bonus tied to a small promotional campaign… but maybe, true to its underground spirit, it’s better not to know too much, it would ruin the magic.