One-Punch Man volume 1 was pretty damn great. With volume 2, one thing became clear to me though. The first volume was just to get your attention and now with the second volume the story is really going to begin. We start off with the conclusion of the evolution animals that One-Punch and Genos fought last time. This is very funny and has some typical Shonen build up moments. What continues to make this series different is the one-punch. Can One-Punch Man continue to live up to that name and will he defeat every villain with one-punch? The bigger question becomes… what happens to him when he can’t? Another character is introduced and due to One-Punch, being One-Punch he breaks this person’s perfect record and they vow to train and come back to face him again. It’s a different type of battle which was rewarding since it would get old to see the same thing over and over.
The humor continues to be rewarding. One-Punch reveals the secret to his strength and everyone thinks he’s fucking around when I’m pretty sure he’s telling the truth. It’s just that maybe he doesn’t quite understand where he got all his strength and power from.
The artwork makes the jokes even better. The ninja that One-Punch faces off with brings out a great joke when he tells One-Punch he doesn’t know who he is. His expression is classic and artist Yusuke Murata continues to shine with his brilliant use of simplistic art for One-Punch and his hyper-realistic artwork for the rest of the world. The artwork continues to be best thing about this series and I’m okay with that. The story is pretty simple and great, but the artwork elevates it to something much bigger and better.
There’s not a lot to say about this volume since it’s really a lot of fighting or build ups to fighting, but trust me, it’s worth reading and ever so slightly better than the first issue which spent a lot of time establishing our hero’s strength. I still say that this is another great example of the superhero genre existing in manga format and goes to show that there are new stories to tell with superheroes if you’re willing to break the mold. Check this series out; it’s humorous, it has great action and the artwork is just incredible.
Score: 5/5
One-Punch Man Vol. 2 Writer: One Artist: Yusuke Murata Publisher: Viz/Shonen Jump Manga Price: $9.99 Release Date: 9/1/15 Format: Trade Paperback; Print/Digital