There are two universal truths in today’s rapidly changing comics industry. The first is that Dog Man is the defining comic of our era. The second is that more people are reading manga and Webtoons (aka vertical scroll comics) than ever before. Therefore we at Comics Beat have chosen to embark on a new venture: Beat’s Bizarre Adventure. Every other week, three writers will recommend some of their favorite books and series from Japan, Korea and elsewhere. This week we have a classic revenge tale penned by manga all-stars, an unusual take on Wolverine, and, of course, BL starring older men.
Lady Snowblood
Writer: Kazuo Koike
Artist: Kazuo Kamimura
Translator: Naomi Kokubo
Lettering: Studio Cutie
Editor: Tim Ervin
Publisher: Dark Horse
If any manga was destined to be the basis for a classic grindhouse action film, it would be Lady Snowblood by Kazuo Koike and Kazuo Kamimura. This is exploitation manga at its most violent and sexual, created for an explicitly adult audience (it ran in Japan’s equivalent of Playboy). Thankfully Lady Snowblood stars a fully realized lead who is cunning and ruthless for reasons that feel human. It may be a brutal series but it certainly does not lack humanity.
The heroine’s origin is almost a folktale. Born in a prison, Yuki swears vengeance on the men that ruined her mother’s life. She endures hellish training under a Buddhist priest to become the ultimate killing machine. After her training is complete, she wanders Meiji era Japan taking on contract killings and other assignments in the hopes of luring out these monsters.
Anyone reading Lady Snowblood after Lone Wolf and Cub, Koike’s legendary manga with artist Goseki Kojima, will be in for a shock. Where Kojima’s style favored realism and thick and furious expressive brush strokes, artist Kazuo Kamimura is his complete opposite. His work on Lady Snowblood favors simpler renderings and high contrast black and white. The effect makes the comic’s violence, sex, and sexual violence feel that much more shocking even today.
Kamimura always draws Yuki with a blank expression as if to imply she’s an empty vessel for vengeance. It’s an expression that actress Meiko Kaji truly brought to life while portraying the character in the live action films (and for her whole career). This is a character who recognizes that she is the weapon, not just her famous sword concealed in her umbrella handle. Her beautiful looks are just as deadly as any blade and she’ll go to any lengths to finish a mission.
The two live action films may be more famous today than the manga that inspired them. The look of actress Meiko Kaji inspired actress Lucy Liu’s character in the first Kill Bill. But the manga itself should not be overlooked. It’s a samurai manga written by Kazuo Koike and featuring a female lead as merciless as any of her male counterparts. Series artist Kazuo Kamimura composes action sequences like no one else. This manga might be short but like its lead, it’s brutally effective and hard to forget. — D. Morris
Wolverine: SNIKT!
Writer/Artist: Tsutomu Nihei
Colorist: Guru-eFX
Lettering: Cory Petit
Publisher: VIZ; originally MARVEL
Marvel has in the past attempted to bridge the manga market without much success. In fact, a lot of that period is incredibly complicated. But there was one bright spot that shone through. In 2003, as part of their Tsunami imprint, Marvel hired legendary manga creator Tsutomu Nihei (Knights of Sidonia, BLAME!) to take on Wolverine in a limited series titled SNIKT! The series transports Logan to a future in which humanity has nearly been wiped out by creatures called Mandates. They can regenerate, and adapt their bodies into anything they need to survive. The only thing that can kill them is adamantium.
SNIKT! is straightforward and fast paced, but Nihei – whose work is always beautiful – draws so many cool moments, and his designs for the Mandates are grotesque and eerie. This is a fun book. His Logan, who wears his leather suit from the then-running New X-Men series, is simultaneously badass and thoughtful. Wolverine is the best at what he does, and he does it because he’s a hero and a good man.
The other characters introduced in this book, Fusa and her band of survivors, are an interesting lot. We don’t learn much about them individually, but they have such good designs that you can’t help but be drawn to them. There’s even a moment towards the end that reminded me of a famous scene from the ending of Mobile Suit Gundam. Not sure if that was intentional, but I was happy to see it anyway.
So much of this book adheres to the rule of cool and that’s okay. It’s also just a good story that doesn’t take long to read, but will leave you wishing that Marvel gave Nihei the keys to another one of their characters. Personally, I think a Tsutomu Nihei Ghost Rider series would be incredible.
VIZ recently re-released this story both physically and on its app. Definitely check it out. — Derrick Crow
Midnight Rain
Writer/Artist: CTK
Translator: Adrienne Beck
Touch-up Art & Lettering: Deborah Fisher
Publisher: SuBLime
Ethan barely gets by in a rundown apartment located in a crime-riddled neighborhood. He has three years left until he can clear off his debt. When he sees a guy across the street being beaten up by thugs one night as he sips his coffee, it doesn’t faze him at all. Then he runs into that guy at the laundromat the next day. The first thing Ethan blurts out? Asking for his method to remove blood stains from a white shirt!
People who know me, online or otherwise, should already be familiar with my obsession with older men in BL. I don’t know why it took me so long to read Midnight Rain, CTK’s first Boys’ Love title in English. But I’m glad that I did. (CTK also has a vertical scrolling comic available on WEBTOON called Coffin Jackson.)
The most striking aspect of Midnight Rain is its depiction of the aftermath of chronic loneliness. Both Ethan and his new “friend” Mike live difficult lives without having someone to rely on. Even though their circumstances are similar, that loneliness manifests differently for Ethan and Mike. Although I wanted Mike’s past to be elaborated on further, as well as see more of their daily lives after the story’s resolution, that’s solely because I loved the characters and their dynamic.
Midnight Rain is a well-crafted, touching, and bittersweet single volume manga. Its male leads find their way to each other and choose to stay together no matter what life throws at them. The intimacy and tension during sex scenes brings the characters to life, proving once again CTK’s proficiency in drawing expressive faces and bodies. I heartily recommend you give this series a chance, so that publishers will provide us with more BL starring desperate, clingy old men! — Merve Giray
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