The French collector's edition of Berserk volume 41

Berserk volume 41 is officially releasing tomorrow (July 6, 2022) in France. I had preordered its collector's edition in early February and got my copy today. I figured I would snap a few pictures for those interested.

What's notable about it is that it's a bigger format, which Glénat, the French publisher for the series, hadn't done so far (and won't again, at least until the serilisation is over).

I remember that they had emphasized how big the format would be at the time, but in the end it's only slightly bigger than the B5 JIS format of Young Animal, which is itself about the same size as Dark Horse's own collector's edition. To be precise, the cover is 188 x 264 mm, with the pages a few millimeters smaller. The B5 JIS format is 182 x 257 mm. The A4 (210 x 297 mm) white sheet underneath is for reference.

The cover has a felt-like finish to it and the title and brand are embossed. The front and back of the cover display the Eclipse event that Gaiseric underwent. There is a color page inside with the official volume 41 color illustration. It's not attached to the book.

It felt noteworthy to me that both this and the two "posters" are printed on standard paper (not glossy) and that their print quality feels lower than in the Japanese edition. Likely because they were printed together with the normal black & white pages.

As a bonus, a metal plate with Miura's illustration of Guts slashing (used as the banner for the Great Berserk Exhibition) is also included at the back. It's on a separate, rigid page that comes off once you remove the shrink wrap. It's pretty neat but doesn't come with a stand.

The book has 178 pages total, and was sold for 23.45 euros. The normal edition is sold for 6.90 euros.