The history of One-Punch Man
A practice webcomic that became one of the biggest manga on Earth.
One-Punch Man began on July 3, 2009, on a free homepage, as a drawing exercise by a creator who signed himself ONE. It was redrawn from scratch in 2012 by Yusuke Murata, one of the most celebrated action artists in the industry, and that remake is the version the world reads: 37 volumes as of July 2026 and 38 million copies in circulation.
THE ROAD, IN ORDER
2009 to 20272009: the webcomic
ONE starts posting Wanpanman on his own site on July 3, 2009. The premise is inverted on purpose: a hero who is already the strongest being alive, whose problems are money, boredom, and supermarket sales.
June 2012: 7.9 million hits
By the time Shueisha comes calling, the rough-drawn original has been read 7.9 million times. The audience arrived with no publisher, no magazine, and no marketing.
June 14, 2012: the remake
The Murata redraw launches on Tonari no Young Jump, Shueisha’s free web magazine. Volumes 1 and 2 are published together on December 4, 2012.
2015: the anime
Madhouse’s first season airs October to December 2015 and becomes a global hit. A second season follows from J.C.Staff in 2019; a third airs in late 2025, with a second cours set for January 2027.
The numbers since
Circulation climbed from 2.2 million copies in November 2013 to 13 million by July 2017, 20 million by July 2019, 30 million by April 2020, and 38 million by July 2026.
WHY IT MATTERS HERE
The Library angleA documented pipeline
Few manga let you watch every stage of production in public: the free original, the professional remake, the redraws, the print editions, two national editions. One-Punch Man leaves paperwork at every step, which is what this shelf collects.
The art argument
Murata’s pages are the reason the remake exists. Shueisha did not buy a story; the story was already famous. It bought the upgrade in draftsmanship, and readers agreed.