Manga for the Comics Guy: Gantz Vol. 6

Moving right along, this volume opens up with the best pick up line ever.

Straight and to the point. Kei doesn't play around. But what's great about this line is that while it would be easy to pass this off as some male fantasy type of thing where you could just proposition girls and it being this objectifying situation, it's actually quite the opposite. It reveals his vulnerability more than anything. "Let me" he says. Begging. And what does he get for this?

And, the actuall deed is pretty hot, by the way. So, good for Kei. And this whole thing, which could just be a throw away, is actually a good set up for the boldness he shows in the chapter later on when it's alien killing time.

It's the Hero's Journey. Going into the Gantz world is crossing the threshold between worlds. Kei has accepted his role as the Hero. Each time they go through it, there's bound to be further transformation of the Hero. Interestingly, though, Kato is more concerned with the safety and survival of the group, particularly the new arrivals. Also, the one religious figure to show up was not only proven wrong, but he was killed while praying. So the whole mythological idea is being played with here in interesting ways. This is exactly the type of thing I love.

Speaking of the mythology of the hero, tomorrow is new comics day. Out this week will be Action Comics #899 by Paul Cornell and Pete Woods. This is the last issue featuring Lex Luthor, as Superman returns to Action Comics next month. Featuring Luthor, to me, has been much more interesting than having Superman in the book. The problem being that Superman's heroic journey was completed the minute he became Superman. This is basically true of all superheroes, but with the more iconic ones, even more so because the comic book companies won't (and realistically, can't) change them too much. So the character's remain the same, for the most part. I'll expand on this in a future post. But for now, do yourself a favor and go back and read the whole run of Action Comics featuring Lex Luthor, starting with issue 890. It's actually a lot of fun.