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The Vinland Saga Manga Gallery

Twenty-nine volumes, twenty years, one long voyage west.

This is the paper shelf: every Japanese tankōbon cover of Vinland Saga, Makoto Yukimura’s Viking epic, from the first volume in July 2005 to the twenty-ninth and last in September 2025. Yukimura painted each one, and the covers track the story’s own weather: daggers and fire in the war years, chains and wheat in the farm years, open green country at the end.

Each tile gives the volume’s Japanese release date and cover subject, checked against the publisher’s record. The two lives of volume 1, the one genuine oddity in the set, are paired at the top.

THE FIRST VOLUME

Vinland Saga, 2005 and 2006

Volume 1, twice

Same chapters · two designs · two magazines
Vinland Saga volume 1 original Shonen Magazine Comics cover, 2005
Shōnen Magazine Comics · 2005The first design: red block letters over a map of the North Atlantic, Thorfinn pressing a knife to his own hair.
Vinland Saga volume 1 Afternoon KC reissue cover, 2006
Afternoon KC · 2006The reissue: young Thorfinn and his dagger before a striped Viking sail, the cover still in print today.

Vinland Saga began in a boys' magazine and moved to a men's magazine within its first year, and the paper trail shows it: volumes 1 and 2 were printed first under Shōnen Magazine Comics, then reissued under Afternoon KC with new covers once the series changed homes. Every cover in the grids below is the Afternoon KC edition, verified volume by volume.

VOLUMES 1 TO 8

The War Arc
Vinland Saga volume 1 Japanese cover, Afternoon KC edition
Volume 1
Kodansha · July 15, 2005. Young Thorfinn, dagger drawn, before a striped sail. First released under Shōnen Magazine Comics; this is the Afternoon KC reissue cover of August 23, 2006.
Vinland Saga volume 2 Japanese cover, Afternoon KC edition
Volume 2
Kodansha · November 17, 2005. Thors, the father whose death starts everything. Also reissued under Afternoon KC in 2006.
Vinland Saga volume 3 Japanese cover, Afternoon KC edition
Volume 3
Kodansha · October 23, 2006. Askeladd and Thorkell over the fires of war.
Vinland Saga volume 4 Japanese cover, Afternoon KC edition
Volume 4
Kodansha · February 23, 2007. Prince Canute and Ragnar in the snow.
Vinland Saga volume 5 Japanese cover, Afternoon KC edition
Volume 5
Kodansha · October 23, 2007. Thorfinn in the red light of a burning coast.
Vinland Saga volume 6 Japanese cover, Afternoon KC edition
Volume 6
Kodansha · June 23, 2008. Thorfinn, hardened, under a storm sky.
Vinland Saga volume 7 Japanese cover, Afternoon KC edition
Volume 7
Kodansha · February 23, 2009. Canute enthroned, the crown awakening.
Vinland Saga volume 8 Japanese cover, Afternoon KC edition
Volume 8
Kodansha · September 23, 2009. Askeladd, smiling, crown in hand.

VOLUMES 9 TO 14

The Farmland Arc
Vinland Saga volume 9 Japanese cover, Afternoon KC edition
Volume 9
Kodansha · June 23, 2010. Thorfinn and Einar in the forest of the farm years.
Vinland Saga volume 10 Japanese cover, Afternoon KC edition
Volume 10
Kodansha · April 22, 2011. The slave Thorfinn, carrying water at dusk.
Vinland Saga volume 11 Japanese cover, Afternoon KC edition
Volume 11
Kodansha · January 23, 2012. Canute, crowned and haunted.
Vinland Saga volume 12 Japanese cover, Afternoon KC edition
Volume 12
Kodansha · November 22, 2012. Arnheid and Gardar, bound in chains.
Vinland Saga volume 13 Japanese cover, Afternoon KC edition
Volume 13
Kodansha · July 23, 2013. The whole farm cast, drawn as one crowded panel.
Vinland Saga volume 14 Japanese cover, Afternoon KC edition
Volume 14
Kodansha · February 21, 2014. Thorfinn at the end of the farm war.

VOLUMES 15 TO 23

The Eastern Expedition
Vinland Saga volume 15 Japanese cover, Afternoon KC edition
Volume 15
Kodansha · October 23, 2014. Gudrid, reaching for a tern against a gold sky.
Vinland Saga volume 16 Japanese cover, Afternoon KC edition
Volume 16
Kodansha · June 23, 2015. Thorfinn with the orphaned Karli.
Vinland Saga volume 17 Japanese cover, Afternoon KC edition
Volume 17
Kodansha · January 22, 2016. Hild, the hunter, falling through the trees.
Vinland Saga volume 18 Japanese cover, Afternoon KC edition
Volume 18
Kodansha · August 23, 2016. Thorfinn and the axe, the Baltic war beginning.
Vinland Saga volume 19 Japanese cover, Afternoon KC edition
Volume 19
Kodansha · April 21, 2017. Garm, grinning over paired blades.
Vinland Saga volume 20 Japanese cover, Afternoon KC edition
Volume 20
Kodansha · November 22, 2017. Thorfinn, head bowed over a sword hilt.
Vinland Saga volume 21 Japanese cover, Afternoon KC edition
Volume 21
Kodansha · August 23, 2018. Thorfinn crouched on stone, sword ready.
Vinland Saga volume 22 Japanese cover, Afternoon KC edition
Volume 22
Kodansha · June 21, 2019. Thorfinn and Garm in mid-duel.
Vinland Saga volume 23 Japanese cover, Afternoon KC edition
Volume 23
Kodansha · November 22, 2019. Sigurd's household beneath a watching face.

VOLUMES 24 TO 29

The Vinland Arc
Vinland Saga volume 24 Japanese cover, Afternoon KC edition
Volume 24
Kodansha · October 23, 2020. Thorfinn, Gudrid, and Karli, setting out west.
Vinland Saga volume 25 Japanese cover, Afternoon KC edition
Volume 25
Kodansha · July 21, 2021. The whole settler company in the green of Vinland.
Vinland Saga volume 26 Japanese cover, Afternoon KC edition
Volume 26
Kodansha · May 23, 2022. Thorfinn standing in ripe wheat.
Vinland Saga volume 27 Japanese cover, Afternoon KC edition
Volume 27
Kodansha · June 22, 2023. The Mi'kmaq: Kitpui, Plmk, Niskawaji'j, Miskwekepu'j.
Vinland Saga volume 28 Japanese cover, Afternoon KC edition
Volume 28
Kodansha · June 21, 2024. Thorfinn, Einar, and Bug-Eyes in the snow.
Vinland Saga volume 29 Japanese cover, Afternoon KC edition
Volume 29
Kodansha · September 22, 2025. The final cover: Thorfinn among planted swords, in snow.
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THE FIRST WORD

New pages and new pieces, first.