Proper Japanese Title: プレイコミック
Play Comic debuted in 1968 as one of the first major Japanese comic magazines aimed at "young men" (other similarly-marketed magazines to debut in this launch window included Big Comic, Weekly Manga Action and Young Comic). Like several of the others, it was released twice a month.
Many of these magazines emphasized a gekiga focus in their first decade when that movement was at its height although Play Comic advertised itself as "All Manga & Gekiga". Like several of the other magazines, Play Comic opted for a dedicated cover artist instead of regularly featuring serialized manga on the cover. Shotaro Ishimori was already a major creator in the industry with over a decade of history but remained the magazine's primary cover artist for twelve years, while actively serializing mostly unrelated works in the magazine itself (this similar approach was contemporaneously done by Monkey Punch with Weekly Manga Action). After his cover run ended, the magazine briefly attempted a few other short-lived cover artists before ultimately opting to use their own serializations on the cover from the late 80's through to the magazine's end.
Like many of its contemporary magazines, Play Comic struggled with the changing of eras when the modern "Young" seinen magazines began in the 80's and went through several ups-and-downs where it was on the verge of being cancelled. It ended in 2010 but was revived a year later at a monthly publishing rate, this revival lasted for three years but with significant crossover in authors and audience to the publisher's Young Champion, Play Comic was ended. Serializations from this monthly revival, including those by major authors, were almost all concluded or abandoned instead of being transferred when the magazine ended.
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