Manga for the Comics Guy - Gantz Volume 13

This volume was, ironically, back in familiar territory, by putting us in the middle of an insane alien dinosaur battle. While the action was big, the real focus of the issue was on emerging heroes, a theme that I have found consistent throughout Gantz. Where in previous volumes Kei has embraced his hero role, after the events in Shinjuku, Kei is more humble. It's no longer about glory for him, and at one point he actually remembers Kato and states that he needs to save the innocents. It's a big moment for his character development. This is, of course, perfectly countered by Izumi, who is hellbent on the glory of Gantz. All he wants is to be the sole survivor (when he's not romping around with the panda, WTF?).

But, to me, even more interesting than Kei and Izumi are some of the other characters who step up. We have the 2 superpower boys and the street fighter dude taking out dinosaurs with no suit on and no weapons. We have the old guy that teams up with Kei and ends up body slamming a brontosaurus(!). But the stand out is the father, suitless, weaponless, henpecked, taking down a dinosaur (raptor?), bare handed, in order to save his nagging wife and child. It's moments like that, that make this series so great. This is what makes it more than just crazy Sci Fi manga action. It puts a spin on the whole thing that makes me think Oku Hiroya is working on multiple levels on the big picture of this series. I don't know where it's going, but I'm certainly enjoying the surprisingly deep ride.

This week is a little slower for me comics-wise, but among the books out will be another series that continues to excel at character work and keeping me on my toes, Sweet Tooth #21, by Jeff Lemire, who also has Superboy #7 out. In addition, Marvel has Fear Itself #2, the only book in the Fear Itself event I am reading. The first issue was ok, so let's see how it works to read just this book. Will I be totally lost reading this issue, not having read the various tie ins that came out between them? We'll see. Marvel is also launching their X-Men event, Schism, with Prelude to Schism #1. The title alone, makes me think we actually HAVE seen them do this with X-Men already, but I'm willing to give it a chance. So, again, we'll see.