Anyone having rushed out to pick up the first issue in the Viz distributed Mobile Suit Gundam Wing: Ground Zero manga, released earlier today, likely found themselves somewhat disappointed. A printing error having slipped into the first printing run of this issue made for a number of story discontinuities, but quick to respond, Viz has issued a statement on their plans to remedy the situation. Here's a rundown directly from their press release:

Viz Comics has discovered a printing error in the first issue of the four-part series Mobile Suit Gundam Wing: Ground Zero, due to be released on August 30. The color pages of the comic have been printed out of order, which will result in some confusion to fans reading the story. To remedy this, Viz will be destroying the remaining inventory and reprinting the comic. Replacement copies with the color pages correctly placed will be made available free of charge to anyone who purchased the incorrect version.

"We're working with the printer to fix the situation as quickly and painlessly as possible," said Viz senior marketing manager Dallas Middaugh.

Purchasers of the incorrect version can exchange their comic for the reprinted version at the shop where they purchased it. The reprint can be identified by the notation "Original Format" that appears on the cover and will be available by September 20th.

The comic may also be exchanged by sending it directly to GUNDAM WING: GROUND ZERO Exchange, Viz Shop-by-Mail, P.O. BOX 77010, San Francisco, CA 94107-1612.

While the fact that the error made it in at all has likely left a bit of a bad taste in the mouths of many Gundam Wing fans, Viz's quick response and exchange offer should do a good deal to wash that taste away.

Unfortunately, the official response on the issue of edits to their release of the Dragon Ball manga, and to a much lesser degree DBZ, has done much less to appease fan of these series. Here's an excerpt from their statement:

Of course, even in Japan, the Dragon Ball manga's main audience is 12 years old through teenagers. But since it's on the Cartoon Network and in Burger King ads, some people think it must be suitable for preschoolers... as if there's no middle line between Pokemon and "For Ages 18 and Older." It'll be a while before the "cartoons are for kids" attitude of many people in the U.S. turns into a true acceptance that anime can mean many different things... and probably, it will always be the fact that anime and manga isn't designed with a U.S. audience in mind that makes it interesting.

The upshot of this was some tough decisions, in which getting Dragon Ball into a wide audience was balanced against keeping it true to the original. And with Shueisha and Toriyama's approval, Viz has had to make some concessions to that perceived audience (and their retailers and distributors) the way other licensors such as FUNimation do.

A petition against Viz's decision to go ahead with these Dragon Ball edits has recently surfaced, appropriately titled "A Request for the Availability of Unedited Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z Manga." To show your support for this petition, as well as read their mission statement, head on over to their page and sign on the dotted line.