Manga Monday: Gantz Vol. 35

04/20/2015 3:27pm
Just when you think Gantz can’t get any wilder, it seems to pull a grenade out of a hat and go off again…and again…and again. Not only does the action and spectacle keep ramping, but the internal stories are all coming to a head. As you may know, the Gantz epic ends with volume 37, and creator Hiroya Oku is clearly intending to throw haymakers until the final bell. We see it in volume 35, on sale this Wednesday.
 
What I find truly compelling is how the story is turning along with the tide of the war. Now that the alien invaders are on the run, the author has also turned the narrative so that we begin to feel a sense of the aliens’ plight. After all, most of them are just civilians, and now it is their future that is threatened, now their children are at risk, now they are the targets of merciless fighters with blood in their eyes. This is a powerful observation by the author; in war, when the subjugated gain the upper hand, they often bring a frightening savagery to the fray. The pain and loss they’ve suffered fuels their deadly purpose, and we are shown a side of ourselves better left unseen.
Even though the invaders have acted with cold cruelty, we can actually begin to feel pity for them as the humans exact retribution. Where so many alien invasion epics trumpet the victory of humanity, Gantz is not afraid to paint a less glowing portrait of the human race, one that makes us wonder whether our own forays into space might eventually be not as explorers, but as conquerors.  
—Chris Warner, Senior Editor
Just when you think Gantz can’t get any wilder, it seems to pull a grenade out of a hat and go off again…and again…and again. Not only does the action and spectacle keep ramping, but the internal stories are all coming to a head. As you may know, the Gantz epic ends with volume 37, and creator Hiroya Oku is clearly intending to throw haymakers until the final bell. We see it in volume 35, on sale this Wednesday.
 
What I find truly compelling is how the story is turning along with the tide of the war. Now that the alien invaders are on the run, the author has also turned the narrative so that we begin to feel a sense of the aliens’ plight. After all, most of them are just civilians, and now it is their future that is threatened, now their children are at risk, now they are the targets of merciless fighters with blood in their eyes. This is a powerful observation by the author; in war, when the subjugated gain the upper hand, they often bring a frightening savagery to the fray. The pain and loss they’ve suffered fuels their deadly purpose, and we are shown a side of ourselves better left unseen.

Even though the invaders have acted with cold cruelty, we can actually begin to feel pity for them as the humans exact retribution. Where so many alien invasion epics trumpet the victory of humanity, Gantz is not afraid to paint a less glowing portrait of the human race, one that makes us wonder whether our own forays into space might eventually be not as explorers, but as conquerors.
  
—Chris Warner, Senior Editor

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manga dark horse comics gantz hiroya oku monday Science-Fiction, vol.
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