One-Punch Man is a rare title. There will never be anything else like it because it is the perfect meeting of writing and art. While most people continue to be more familiar with the anime than the manga and really just falling in love with the gimmick and comedy, there is so much more going on in this series. To some, this will sound utterly crazy, but One-Punch Man is a brilliant representation of life.
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Having already read most of this volume on the Shonen Jump Weekly App, I wasn’t expecting much. At least not in terms of story surprises. There is something to be said about seeing Yusuke Murata’s artwork in print though. It translates to the page better. Thinking back on some of the digital pages, I feel like I was just reading the story and not taking in the artwork like I usually do. When I realized that, it made it worth it to read this volume again as a whole.
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The World Warriors take center stage in the first ever Street Fighter novel! This December, UDON releases STREET FIGHTER™: THE NOVEL, a 256-page hardcover book that combines detailed martial arts action with stellar manga artwork.
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If there’s a hotter franchise to come from Japan in the past few years, then I don’t know what it is. I have been approached by so many people regarding One-Punch Man due to the anime, that it shows that it’s transcended just being a manga.
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I had quite a few problems with the tenth volume of One-Punch Man, and some of that is echoed in this volume. There is a lot of improvement even if there’s still too much of a dependency on “Bonus” stories to keep the thickness of the volume consistent.
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I have one gripe with this volume of One-Punch Man. There’s a lot of filler at the end of the volume. Granted it’s still entertaining and well-illustrated, but it’s not what I’m here for. It feels like Viz trying to pad the pages so that they can get a few extra volumes squeezed into the run. The “Bonus Manga” ends up being just over a fourth of the volume. Add that to the fact that the rest of the volume is split between Saitama, the baseball bat guy, and the current Human Monster bad guy, and it starts to feel stretched.
Read MoreOne-Punch Man continues to be fucking brilliant. Depending on your genre preference, I don’t think there’s a better manga out there. In my last review, I mentioned that writer One was threading storylines and at that moment there were still a few options as to where the story could go. We get the answer to that question in this volume, but I think it’s more complex than it seems. To explain, I said that he was laying the groundwork for several storylines that would continue to play out over the course of the series, but now I may be wrong. I think that One might be threading all of these stories into one overall arc and that they’ll tie together in the near future.
Point in case the story picks up with Garo, the former top student of the old dude that’s always trying to recruit Saitama and Genos. He beats up and or kills everyone at the villain meeting and leaves to get stronger to face King. Who we know is a fraud that’s been living off of Saitama’s feats. Speaking of which they’re friends now and play video games against each other, though there’s no hint about King’s choice of either revealing himself or getting stronger.
The story then takes some time to introduce Tornado’s older sister who rules the B-Class as she comes to get Saitama to join her gang of heroes or to beat him up. You can imagine how this goes. Actually, you can’t because it’s way better and funnier than anything I imagined.
There’s plenty more to read and enjoy, but it’s clear that One is just getting started with this story arc. It doesn’t feel like typical shonen in that it’s drawn out to fill pages, but rather the story is just that damn big. The characters being introduced feel as if they have a purpose that’s yet to be revealed to us. One also manages to make you concerned about Genos, if you weren’t already. We’ll see how it turns out obviously, but he’s getting further and further from the character we first meet.
Not surprising, the artwork from Yusuke Murata continues to be something greater than fantastic. Whatever that is, he’s it. His work is incredible. He stays true to the style that manga is known for, but you can tell that he’s so talented that he could take on any style he wanted. In some ways, he reminds me of Jose Juan Ryp’s artwork in that it’s incredibly detailed and enjoyable because of the detail. Murata has an advantage of Ryp in that he’s a better visual storyteller and able to mix humor into his artwork.
The last thing I will say about this volume is that you get to learn what Genos and Saitama’s official hero names are… I won’t spoil it for you, but it is probably one of the best things in this volume.
If you’re not reading One-Punch Man, and you enjoy either A) comics, B) manga because you can’t just acknowledge that comics are comics, then you are missing out on the best superhero story being published at the moment. Marvel and DC wish they could produce something this fantastic and the kicker is that it’s a shared universe all within one series. It’s going to be a long wait until volume 10.
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One-Punch Man vol. 9 Writer: One Artist: Yusuke Murata Publisher: Viz Media Price: $9.99 Format: TPB; Print/Digital
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Interesting things are afoot in this volume. You can feel the creators catching their breath after the intense buildup and payoff of the previous volume/story arc and so in many ways this volume is starting the process over. There is one spoiler I will address which… it is so small, but it is the lynchpin of the volume, so it needs to be discussed. You have been warned. King is a fraud. He is the guy that’s accidently taken credit for all of Saitama’s deeds before becoming a professional hero. While reading, you had to suspect that someone was getting the credit, but in a hilarious twist writer, One decided the same man would accidently be there five times. Now King is just trying to buy video games and not be recognized, but because of his moniker, he does stop some crimes by just being there. Until a robot programmed to kill him or collect data on him shows up.
King goes to the bathroom to drain the lizard and runs away instead.
No joke, though it is funny. Genos handles the robot while Saitama follows King back to his apartment and plays video games with him. There’s something funny about King as monsters continue to find and attack him no matter where he is. Saitama calls him out for being a fraud, but in a kind way. Then, instead of revealing it to the world, just asks him a simple question. The rest of the volume is spent building up a previously mentioned storyline, and it was okay. There could have been more pages given to this part of the story, but I am sure we will keep seeing this more and more as it looks to be the next big conflict of the story.
As I said in my previous review, One is talented when it comes to threading storylines. The real treat is you cannot tell which one he is going to pull to the forefront. Even know, I am not 100% sure the event above will be the central conflict. It could end up being secondary. What’s noticeable and welcomed with this volume is that while Saitama returns to some familiar habits from the early part of the series, One highlights his growth as a character with his conversation with King. It is also a prime example of why he is a fantastic hero character. Frankly put, there should be more characters and heroes like Saitama in comics.
Here is the part in which I gush about Yusuke Murata’s artwork. As I said in my last review, the latter half of the book, while still great, wasn’t as detailed as the big battle. It was a necessary break if you will. That small break has returned Murata to form in this volume because everything is beautiful and wonderfully detailed again. The simplest things just look incredible. One scene, in particular, is just a third of the page. It is one panel of a dead giant fucking bird laying on some buildings. It is detailed, beautiful and gives the city personality.
One-Punch Man is arguably the best manga produced this generation. It is shown time and time again that its story and art are on another level compared to the rest of manga out there. If you have yet to read One-Punch Man, this is not a bad place to start. You might be confused on some details mentioned, but overall the creative team offers a jumping on point for new readers that’s actually inviting.
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One-Punch Man vol. 8 Writer: One Artist: Yusuke Murata Publisher: Viz Media Price: $9.99 Format: TPB; Print/Digital
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The seventh volume of One-Punch Man is perhaps one of the most important volumes in the entire series. Not just because of the big showdown with the alien invaders in which artist Yusuke Murata delivers some of the finest pages to grace any comic on the face of the planet. Rather it’s importance comes from the storylines that it subtly builds in this volume. It is a statement from creator/writer One, in which he says, “We’re not going anywhere, we have so much more to show you.” Part of this statement is due to the manga market in which the reliance on individual popularity in the weekly shonen magazines determine if a series lives or dies. At some point though the creators become established and in a way safe. You can usually spot this stage because it’s when the story suddenly expands. The strange thing about me is that when I hit this point in most Manga, it's the very point in which I stop liking the series because a poor storyteller reveals themselves at this point. When the fear of cancellation is gone, they suddenly inflate the world with supporting characters or too many sub-plots that original reason you had for liking the story is gone. That doesn’t always happen of course, but One makes it look easy. In fact, you may not even notice that he treads the storyline for not one, but three arcs while continuing an arc that he’s already been building throughout the series. Add on top of that two subplots that aren’t a distraction from the story and suddenly a lot is going on, but it doesn’t feel that way.
One-Punch Man’s strength has always been how naturally the story flows. For instance, the final fight between Saitama and the alien leader. It’s an epic battle, but not only does it not take up the entire volume like it easily could, but the story flows right into the fight. It checks in with the other characters for just the right amount of time before the transition and then brings you right back out at the end.
As I said, the volume could have very easily made this boss fight last the entire volume. I was half expecting it since it’s practically the norm for the genre, but One surprised me again. Granted part of it is the editor that decided what chapters to place, but really if One hadn’t paced the story the way he did it wouldn’t have mattered where they cut. As it stands, though, there’s enough time for smaller stories including one in which Saitama gets arrested. It starts an interesting thread for the series, even if the scene has a relatively quick resolution.
Going back to the art, is there anyone better in Manga right now than Yusuke Murata? Sure the latter half of the book eases up on the stunning details, but can you blame him after seeing the incredibly detailed set pieces and backgrounds of the first half of the comic? The man’s hand must hurt 24/7. Even having written what I’ve written, I must give proper credit for the latter half because it is still better than any other manga I’ve ever read. It’s just such an impressive work of visual storytelling that can be appreciated by anyone that enjoys comics in any country on the planet. That’s an incredibly rare feat, but that’s how damn good his artwork is.
If volume seven is the first time you read One-Punch Man, that’s okay. As I stated in the beginning, it’s likely to be one of the most significant volumes of the series and due to One’s talented writing on the comic, it manages to recap the entire world for you while you’re reading it. You can come away with a general understanding of the whole series just from this volume. I don’t know if you can say that about too many comics.
Sometimes when a franchise booms, it just hits the market at the right time. I could make this argument for a lot of popular franchises in the North American market. Other times, there’s just a collective appreciation of the material in which the more people experience it, the more people understand that they’re witnessing something special, but you’ll have to read it to decide for yourself.
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One-Punch Man vol. 7 Writer: One Artist: Yusuke Murata Publisher: Viz Media Price: $9.99 Format: TPB; Print/Digital
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