Markley’s Fevered Brain: Mmmmmmm

Wayne Markley

Wayne Markley


by Wayne Markley

Two Ms are the topic of this blog – Manga and Marvel. I am not going to talk about the manga Spider-Man from many years ago, who recently returned in the pages of Edge of Spider-Verse, but instead about the manga Ikigami:  The Ultimate Limit. I am also going to look at the first volume of the recent Moon Knight Epic Collection: Bad Moon Rising and some of the new Marvel re-launches.

Ikigami: The Ultimate Limit Vol. 2

Ikigami: The Ultimate Limit Vol. 2


There are hundreds, if not thousands, of different manga titles that have been published over the years, and there are still massive amounts coming out on a monthly basis. Outside of a few creators (Tezuka, Koike, and a few others), I do not read much of it. This is partially due to the fact that a lot of the subject matter does not appeal to me. Recently I sat down and read the complete Ikigami: The Ultimate Limit because it was recommended to me by a friend. And it was great. It is ten volumes containing twenty stories by writer and artist Motoro Mase.

Ikigami: The Ultimate Limit Vol. 4

Ikigami: The Ultimate Limit Vol. 4


The premise of these stories is that in the near future (neither a time nor a place is ever specified, even though you are led to believe it is in Japan) all children are injected with a capsule in first grade. One out of every thousand children will then die between the ages of 18-24 from this capsule. 24 hours before their death, the person gets an Ikigami, or a death notice. This notice gives them all sorts of special privileges over the next 24 hours, such as free food, lodgings, gifts, etc. The first nine and a half albums tell stories about both Kengo Fujimoto, the Ikigami delivery man, and the people who get the Ikigami. Each volume contains two separate stories about the recipient of the Ikigami while throughout all the stories, Kengo struggles with the concept of the Ikigami and his loyalty to the government that issues them. Mase does a nice job of making each case different from the one prior so you do not feel as if you are reading the same story over and over. Each person who gets an Ikigami reacts differently; some with dignity and some are downright embarrassing. Each story is also an interesting morality play about the meaning of life and the value of it. Also Motoro Mase’s art is very clean and easy to read. His attention to detail in the backgrounds is a great pleasure to look at and makes the stories all that much richer.

One of the things I liked most about this series is at the end, in the second story of volume ten, the entire story does a 180 degree turn. Not at all what I expected but it works perfectly with what was set up in the earlier volumes and once again leads the cast of characters to make a difficult moral decision. Overall, I found all ten volumes to be great reading and well worth your time.

Moon Knight Epic Collection: Bad Moon Rising

Moon Knight Epic Collection: Bad Moon Rising


Moon Knight is a Marvel character that has gone through a lot of changes over the years. Fortunately, Marvel just released the first volume of Moon Knight in their excellent Epic Collection format (which I highly recommend by the way. A great way to read Marvel stories in big chunks.) This first volume collects, in sequence, all of Moon Knight’s earliest appearances from 1975-1981, from Werewolf by Night, Marvel Spotlight, Marvel Two-In-One, Hulk Magazine, Marvel Preview, his first mini-series and more. It is interesting to see how the character changed and developed into the multiple personality hero he is today. It is a slow build over a number of different stories that gradually reveals all the different aspects of Moon Knight, and it goes a long way to revealing what was behind the Brian Bendis and Warren Ellis’ take on the characters. Plus, there is some beautiful early artwork by Bill Sienkiewicz. My one critisizm is the coloring. The stories from Hulk Magazine and Marvel Preview have some really bad coloring which makes the stories difficult to read in places. This is because of the coloring that was used in Hulk Magazine was garish to begin with and the Marvel Preview story was designed and first printed in black and white. The colored version of this story which is reprinted here is not very good. Aside from that minor issue, at almost 500 pages and in full color on nice white paper, this book is a bargain.

(Potential spoilers ahead – Ed.)

Original Sin

Original Sin


Speaking of Marvel, they have recently launched a number of new number one books coming out of their newest crossover, Original Sin. I will look at all of these new number ones in depth at a later date but I wanted to briefly say a few words about them. I really liked Original Sin early on but by the end I was disappointed. Which I often am with these special events, great concepts with lousy payoffs. They re-started Winter Soldier, which is now more of a cosmic type story which I do not think works with the concept of who Bucky Barnes is. I have only read issue one, but I was not impressed. Thor #1 just came out and sold out immediately. Now Thor is woman. Who that woman is not revealed (I think it is Thor’s mum), but the story was well told and the art was great. While I am not fan of gimmicks, I will be back for issue two. Also, keep in mind this is at least the fourth incarnation of Thor we have seen so I suspect the bearded manly Thor will return at some point. Finally, Steve Rogers has lost his super-soldier serum and has aged to his true age, and thus is an old man. Sam Wilson, the Falcon, has taken his place as the new (winged) Captain America. Once again, this basic story has been told a number of times over the years with someone else taking over for Steve as Cap, but I thought this first issue was a lot of fun and has potential to be a great run till Steve returns. Plus the art is amazing. Well worth checking out.

Everything written in this blog is my opinion and does not express the thoughts or opinions of Westfield comics or their employees. I welcome any one to recommend other manga to try or any other books for that matter. I look forward to hearing from you with comments, suggestions, disagreements, or insults at MFBWAY@AOL.COM.

Thank you.

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