2022 has been a big year for Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, as the franchise acknowledges Jojo's 35th anniversary, the looming debut of part 9, and the anime debut of part 6, Stone Ocean. Jojo Magazine was created to help celebrate, with its first issue back in March containing a new Thus Spoke Rohan Kishibe spinoff story from series creator Hirohiko Araki. Now, the cover for the second issue has been revealed, featuring more art from the man himself.
Although the name might suggest it's ongoing, Jojo Magazine is more of a special issue dedicated to the series than something fans should expect to see more of beyond 2022. The announcement of a second issue a few weeks ago was already a bit of a surprise, but at the time, the cover art for the second issue was withheld, when the announcement of the first issue included the cover. Fan speculation suggested that this might be because the cover contained a spoiler related to the imminent part 9, tentatively titled Jojolands, but the cover shown today doesn't feature a new Jojo--although there may be a hint.
The cover artwork, created just for the magazine by Araki, features several Joestars, such as Josuke, Jonathan, and Stone Ocean's heroine Jolyne in front of a bright pink backdrop. Like the first magazine, the cover proudly declares that it's for "All Jojo Lovers," but has little else in the way of headlines that might provide insight into the issue's contents. The image was tweeted out by the official Jojo Magazine Twitter account, along with the date of release (December 19th) and a promise for more information in the future.
The Cover Art Might Contain Clues to Jojo Part 9
While the cover may not be revealing the face of the next Joestar as some fans hoped, there are some interesting aspects of the magazine cover that could be hints. Scattered across the image are arrows that resemble the "to be continued" arrow used at the end of chapters and episodes of the anime, and has become something of a meme itself. There are 9 of these arrows around the image--one for each Jojo part that's already been released, and one for part 9, perhaps. The choice of Joestars in the image is interesting as well; Jolyne makes sense since she's the star of Stone Ocean. However, the other characters on the cover are Jonathan and Johnny, who are alternate universe counterparts, and both characters named Josuke Higashikata, who similarly parallel each other. Since the next Jojo part will likely be set in the same alternate universe from parts 7 and 8, it's possible that this is hinting that the protagonist of part 9 will be another counterpart to a previously established Jojo--perhaps even Jolyne herself.
With so little information about Jojo's Bizarre Adventures part 9 released since part 8 ended back in August 2021, it's only natural for fan speculation to be running a bit wild, and this could be reading too much into what's meant to be only a simple cover. Still, the connections are worth bringing up, and in the absence of information, speculation will just have to do.
Source: Jojo Magazine