Downtown Khazan: Ice Cold Utopia

[Sharpandpointies]

Only 13 chapters so far, boo hiss.

[Nik Hasta]

Only 13 chapters so far, boo hiss.

It's new haha.

Usually you complain that I end up putting you on to long things so I suppose I just can't win.

Mushibugyo is at 285 if that's any help to you.

[Sharpandpointies]

It's new haha.

Usually you complain that I end up putting you on to long things so I suppose I just can't win.

No, you can't.

.....

Scratch that, you could. Put me on a manga that runs about 120 chapters and is already complete! That's a win. ^_^

Mushibugyo is at 285 if that's any help to you.

I'll go back to that one and see if it grabs me this time. ^_^

[Dark Soul # 7]

A new WSJ manga that I've really been enjoying i Ayashimon. Our two protags are Mauro, whose main dream is to become a manga protagonist, and Urara, the daughter of a recently deceased mob boss who just happen to be ayashimon (japanese monsters basically). Lots of yakuza monsters want Urara dead and Urara wants to uncover her dead father's secrets and take over the family business. So she hires Maruo as the first member of her new organisation. Shenanigans ensue.

The art is great, it strikes a solid balance between humor and drama and has some excellent world building. The mangaka is Yuji Kaku, the mangaka of Hell's Paradise: Jigokuraku.

I really like how the stakes are handled. spoilers:

For the first few chapters Mauro is basically Saitama-lite in that he can destroy humans and ayashimon with minimal effort simply because he too freaking strong and tough for anybody to handle. This goes on long enough that it's genuinely shocking when he runs into an opponent that he has zero chance against and gets absolutely wrecked and everything the cast had worked towards until is undone really fast. Then tension and stakes are raised immensely and I'm hooked by where the story will go now.

end of spoilers

Sadly it's apparently doing poorly in the WSJ rankings so people fear a cancellation. Which would be a terrible shame. WSJ is so needlessly brutal.

[Nik Hasta]

Man, Dandadan just sweeping in here with clearly the best fight scene of the week.

Love this series, the art is so clean and kinetic and it's so pleasingly weird.

When this series gets big (and it's kind of getting there) and when it gets a sick anime adaptation, I am going to be such an insufferable hipster about the fact I start reading this thing when it was at like four chapters or something.

[Nik Hasta]

A new WSJ manga that I've really been enjoying i Ayashimon. Our two protags are Mauro, whose main dream is to become a manga protagonist, and Urara, the daughter of a recently deceased mob boss who just happen to be ayashimon (japanese monsters basically). Lots of yakuza monsters want Urara dead and Urara wants to uncover her dead father's secrets and take over the family business. So she hires Maruo as the first member of her new organisation. Shenanigans ensue.

The art is great, it strikes a solid balance between humor and drama and has some excellent world building. The mangaka is Yuji Kaku, the mangaka of Hell's Paradise: Jigokuraku.

I really like how the stakes are handled. spoilers:

For the first few chapters Mauro is basically Saitama-lite in that he can destroy humans and ayashimon with minimal effort simply because he too freaking strong and tough for anybody to handle. This goes on long enough that it's genuinely shocking when he runs into an opponent that he has zero chance against and gets absolutely wrecked and everything the cast had worked towards until is undone really fast. Then tension and stakes are raised immensely and I'm hooked by where the story will go now.

end of spoilers

Sadly it's apparently doing poorly in the WSJ rankings so people fear a cancellation. Which would be a terrible shame. WSJ is so needlessly brutal.

I mean, I really like Jigokuraku so I'll definitely give this spin. So much goodwill for the author based on that series!

[Len Ikari145]

A new WSJ manga that I've really been enjoying i Ayashimon. Our two protags are Mauro, whose main dream is to become a manga protagonist, and Urara, the daughter of a recently deceased mob boss who just happen to be ayashimon (japanese monsters basically). Lots of yakuza monsters want Urara dead and Urara wants to uncover her dead father's secrets and take over the family business. So she hires Maruo as the first member of her new organisation. Shenanigans ensue.

The art is great, it strikes a solid balance between humor and drama and has some excellent world building. The mangaka is Yuji Kaku, the mangaka of Hell's Paradise: Jigokuraku.

I really like how the stakes are handled. spoilers:

For the first few chapters Mauro is basically Saitama-lite in that he can destroy humans and ayashimon with minimal effort simply because he too freaking strong and tough for anybody to handle. This goes on long enough that it's genuinely shocking when he runs into an opponent that he has zero chance against and gets absolutely wrecked and everything the cast had worked towards until is undone really fast. Then tension and stakes are raised immensely and I'm hooked by where the story will go now.

end of spoilers

Sadly it's apparently doing poorly in the WSJ rankings so people fear a cancellation. Which would be a terrible shame. WSJ is so needlessly brutal.

That's depressing to hear since I've been following the manga since it was first serialized. I wish WSJ would be a little more like Kodansha.

Speaking of which, another series that's grabbed my attention is Gachiakuta, which is written and drawn by Kei Urana, who was the former assistant of Atsushi Ohkubo. The series' premise for the main protagonist's background is interesting since the lead protagonist is the son of two serial killers who commonly tortured him on a regular basis. He lives in a community where he and the other have-nots are literally fenced off from the middle and utter class society and are forced to live in shanty towns composed of junk. Perception of "value" seems to be the main theme of this series as it goes into what people consider "junk" or unnecessary, from physical things, to concepts such as emotional sentiment and of course, people themselves. Tied into that is this series' combat, where it is playing with the Japanese concept of Tsukumogami - essentially the items that are deeply treasured or hated will inevitably gain life and sentience of their own. And of course, superpowers.

It's only three chapters so far, but it's got me hooked.

[Nik Hasta]

I mean, I really like Jigokuraku so I'll definitely give this spin. So much goodwill for the author based on that series!

Read all that exists and it's pretty fun so far.

Good art, fun mix of humour and horror, it's enjoyable.

Hope it doesn't get cancelled!

[bruceleegreyhulk]

[Miburo]

A bunch of words that aren't about Zatch Bell returning or something.

Fascinating, Fascinating.

In other news, did you hear about the new Zatch Bell thing they're working on?

[Sharkerbob]

Been combing through old comics and stumbled upon the Dreadstar series by Jim Starlin. Having read two Omnibus' worth of the series thus far, it's definitely an epic adventure. spoilers:

Haha, it's funny because Epic is the imprint that published much of the series.

end of spoilers

Writing and art is solid, but I will say the series suffers from an excess of "last time on DreadstarBall Z" syndrome, with frequent re-tellings/summaries of events thus far and the various characters origin stories. The series is also very expositiony, especially in the early stories, and multiple flashbacks. New significant characters have a way of turning out to have "been there from the beginning" in a lot of cases, such that its hard to say who was planned to show up versus who got retconned in at times.

The comic feels more like an aged up version of the 80s action figure cartoons, where its dramatic and serious, and mostly focuses on a small rebel squadron battling a big bad overlord and his team of minions.

The art is quite good, but I have to say, these are some of the most boringly basic action figure hero designs I've ever seen. It works, I suppose, given this is a space adventure series and not a superhero series, but its just something that stands out to me.

The series starts off quite dark, aided by the more myth-making storytelling and painterly style the original mini-series begins in, but becomes a bit more light-hearted in character tone and more standard art once the bi-monthly issue format starts; it is still very straight-laced, but the hero's missions are also broken up into episodic increments that sometimes feel a little bit contrived.

I'd say it's worth checking out as a solid adventure series that feels a bit more mature without losing the toyetic comic book spectacle.

[Siriel]

Watching the latest Dai No Daibouken episodes reminded me that I never really understood why Hadlar survived the Duel of True Dragons.

I just realized that the energy that strikes the winner is specifically heat, which Superior Beings are abnormally resistant against to the point that his ashes were enough to protect Avan from Kill-Vearn's strongest fire attack.

[Nik Hasta]

Fascinating, Fascinating.

In other news, did you hear about the new Zatch Bell thing they're working on?

You're getting slow in your old age.

Well, with Vector Ball being not super successful, I'm not surprised to hear this.

I'm iffy on what one would do with a sequel series but I trust Raiku. He's an unconventional but ultimately very solid writer.

[Miburo]

You're getting slow in your old age.

That's it?

I'm disappointed. When you preached the gospel of Zatch to me, you spoke with such fire, such enthusiasm, such raw passion that I felt compelled to read, despite my better judgement.

And once I flipped through those pages, I too became converted, being forced to admit that--despite my better judgment--you made a good call.

I expected you to herald this arrival from the mountaintops, I expected you to proclaim that each and every Rumbler assembled in Khazaan does themselves a disservice by not indulging in the joys of such a splendid manga.

Instead, I find.....This.

Is it because I'm not here as often? I imagine it is. Truly you do need an antagonist to bring out the best in you.

But I am also old and busy starring at clouds.

...Who was my understudy again?

[Nik Hasta]

That's it?

I'm disappointed. When you preached the gospel of Zatch to me, you spoke with such fire, such enthusiasm, such raw passion that I felt compelled to read, despite my better judgement.

And once I flipped through those pages, I too became converted, being forced to admit that--despite my better judgment--you made a good call.

I expected you to herald this arrival from the mountaintops, I expected you to proclaim that each and every Rumbler assembled in Khazaan does themselves a disservice by not indulging in the joys of such a splendid manga.

Instead, I find.....This.

Is it because I'm not here as often? I imagine it is. Truly you do need an antagonist to bring out the best in you.

But I am also old and busy starring at clouds.

...Who was my understudy again?

To be clear, Zatch Bell does slap real hard and Raiku is a consistently interesting and entertaining writer. If you've not read the original series, it's a really good time. Also only like 300 odd chapters start to finish, hardly a bum note in there to speak of.

But, even with that kind of endorsement, I find it hard to be enthused about a sequel when my brain is like "hmm... a sequel to a series that finished itself very definitively and satisfyingly," Even the bonus epilogue chapter set after the main story that he put out years after the original ending felt very tacked on.

I trust Raiku as a writer and if he thinks he can do some fun stuff with it then I'm up for it. But, I'd rather he pursued something new. Vector Ball, for all its being incredibly weird, is a good time and I'm a little sad that it hasn't taken off. Doubutsu no Kuni was also a surprisingly strong series, in many ways felt like quite the evolution for Raiku when compared to Zatch Bell in terms of thematic complexity and ambition.

Zatch Bell was great but it also finished literally 15 years ago. I don't feel like I need more of that. Again, he might surprise me but I'm like kinda neutral on it.

Overall, I'm always wary of creators going backwards because it worries me that they feel like they've run out of ideas so they'll just iterate on the old stuff.