Viz Media; $19.99

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure has been around for 30 years now, but the third arc, Stardust Crusaders, has endured as the single most popular story since it first debuted in 1989. The story follows Jotaro Kujo as he discovers his Stand – a manifestation of his fighting spirit – and must travel to Egypt to put a stop to the immortal vampire Dio. Together with his grandfather, Joseph Joestar (who was the protagonist of the second arc, Battle Tendency), they form a traveling party of other Stand users and face off against Dio’s army as they seek him out.

Stardust Crusaders is definitely a lot of fun and there’s a lot of reasons as to why it remains the most popular arc within the larger JoJo franchise – not the least of which was the fact that it introduced the Stand ability to the series for the first time. The hot-blooded action in JoJo makes it a story that even western audiences who otherwise don’t read much manga can enjoy.

Viz’s presentation of the story in English here is the “JoJonium” edition, a larger-format hardcover edition that features updated art by author/artist Hirohiko Araki. Araki’s art has definitely evolved over his 30 years on this series and even his older art stands the test of time – especially with the full-color art pages that are included in this edition. Though only the first three story arcs have made it to “JoJonium” status in Japan, Stardust Crusaders is definitely one of the longer arcs, and it’s a good time to read this legendary story now that it’s just starting to arrive in this format in English.

-Carrie Wood