Thanks to barnesandnoble.com for the image.

BLACK CAT, VOL. 14

“Alliance”
VIZ MEDIA
CARTOONIST: Kentaro Yabuki
ENGLISH ADAPTATION: Kelly Sue DeConnick
TRANSLATION:  JN Productions
ISBN: 978-1-4215-1605-9; paperback; Rated “T+” for “Older Teen”
190 pp., B&W, $7.99

Train Heartnet, also known as “ Black Cat,” was an assassin for a secret organization, but he left that behind for the easy-going life of a “sweeper,” a bounty hunter.  Joined by fellow sweeper, Sven Vollfied, as his partner, a thief-for-hire named Rinslet Walker, and Eve (also called “Princess”), a living weapon created in a nanotech lab, Train is seeking vengeance against Creed Diskenth, a rival who killed a friend of Train’s.

In Black Cat, Vol. 14, the mysterious information broker, Glin is forming a “ Sweeper Alliance” in order to destroy Creed and his Apostles of the Stars.  Glin offers Train and his partners a chance to join the alliance, but a challenging test of skill and intellect stands in their way.  Even if they make it, no one in the Sweeper Alliance may be a match for the ruthless Creed and Co.

THE LOWDOWN:  I had mixed feelings about Black Cat the first time I read the series, but when manga-ka Kentaro Yabuki isn’t immersing his narrative in character interplay, he creates an exciting shounen manga (boys’ comics) that is all about hard-edged action, kick-ass fights, and explosive weapons play.  Black Cat is a quality action adventure – a cross between James Bond and a Warren Ellis superhero comic like The Authority or Thunderbolts.

POSSIBLE AUDIENCE:  For the shounen lover in you.

B+