 | | ▪ | RELEASED BY: | | VIZ MEDIA | | | ▪ | AUTHOR / ART: | | HIROHIKO ARAKI | | | ▪ | FORMAT: | | JAPANESE / B&W | | | ▪ | PAGES: | | 216 | | | ▪ | RATING: | | OT | | | ▪ | RELEASE DATE: | | 04/01/2008 | | | ▪ | REVIEW DATE: | | 04/25/2008 | | | ▪ | REVIEWED BY: | | SCOTT CAMPBELL |
In Japan, Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure is an epic story which takes place over several generations. The English Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure Vol. 1 begins with the last chapter of the Japanese Vol. 12. So for English fans, we get moved ahead a bit and dropped right into the action that is pretty much “present day” for Jojo as a character, but miss out on his past. Luckily, the English books let us in on the plot line we’re missing out on. As the story goes, there was once a great bloodline of heroes: The Joestars. In the 1880’s, the English nobleman Jonathan Joestar fought to save his family – and all of England – from the curse of the vampire Dio Brando. Dio was Jonathan’s adopted brother, and only Jonathan could stop him, by fighting him with the vampire-killing martial art known as hamon. In their final battle aboard a ship, Jonathan gave his life to defeat his monstrous enemy, taking Dio’s severed head to the bottom of the sea. But before he died, Jonathan had fathered a child. The mantle of heroism passed on to his grandson, Joseph Joestar, and to Joseph’s grandson, Jotaro Kujo (“Jojo” for short). Then, on day, a salvage boat recovered a coffin from a shipwreck in the Atlantic Ocean. Dio had returned – his still-living head now attached to the body of Jonathan Joestar! The rebirth of Dio awakened strange powers in Joseph and Jotaro. Around the world, evil spirits are awakening: “Stands,” monstrous invisible creatures, which give their bearers incredible powers. Jotaro’s mother developed a Stand as well, but lacking the primal power to control it, she began to sicken and die. To save his mother’s life, 17-year-old Jotaro Kujo must travel to Cairo, Egypt, where the hundred-year-old vampire waits to destroy his bloodline once and for all. Volume ten is full of shadows and horror for our heroes. Mariah, the master of magnetism, has Joseph Joestar in her grip, lovingly caressed by the ever-growing weight of 10 tons of steel! As Joseph is slowly crushed to death by every iron object for miles around, Polnareff must face Alessi, whose Egyptian God Stand turns the French fighter into a shadow of his former self… A bit about the author/artist for you: Hirohiko Araki made his manga debut in 1981 with the Wild West story Buso Poker. He experimented with several genres, including mystery (Mashonen B.T.) and action-horror (baoh), before beginning JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure in 1986. Propelled by imaginative storylines, weird imagery and individualistic artwork, Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure is one of the longest-running and most popular shonen manga ever. Araki’s current works include a new series set in the JoJo universe, Steel Ball Run. Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure certainly lives up to its name in story, but it’s also quite true when it comes to the style of art that makes it look as it does. The style is in fact so bizarre, that it’s hard to really compare it to anything. Sometimes it may remind people of Fits of the North Star, or at other times, Yu-Gi-Oh comes to mind. It’s certainly gives off the feeling of it being “uncontrollable,” like as though the artist hasn’t realized just what crazy drawings he is capable of creating before he’s actually gone and done it. But as bizarre as it can be sometimes, it is also very entertaining in it’s visual sense of itself, as well as being delightfully unique in this sea of similar manga that is so abundantly unoriginal these days. The flow of the visuals and the size of the text is also worth mentioning because they are both great and much appreciated. The flow is dynamic, but not so much that you can get lost – perfect! The text is usually just slightly bigger than usual, and makes it very easy to read. Though it only sports a older teen rating, Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure can be quite gruesomely violent at times. Character’s lost their heads (literally) and some get horribly disfigured from attacks and cuts, etc. Perhaps because the violence is so bizarre in its delivery, it can be looked at in a less serious way, and therefore isn’t so bad? Either way, this manga series is a total trip, both with its story and with its wacky visuals and character designs. Pick it up and see if it’s what you never knew you were looking for!
IN SUMMARY:
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure is “out there.” It’s hugely imaginative and always interesting to look at. The visuals are of a style that is hard to compare because they are just so unique. It’s no wonder it’s such a long running series with so much popularity – there’s nothing else quite like it to compete with!
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