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CASE CLOSED, VOL. 22
VIZ MEDIA
CARTOONIST: Gosho Aoyama
TRANSLATION: Tetsuichiro Miyaki
ISBN: 978-1-4215-1674-5; paperback; Rated “T+” for “Older Teen”
184 pp., B&W, $9.99
In Case Closed, Gosho Aoyama’s long-running detective manga series, Jimmy Kudo is an ace high school detective. Two mysterious men in black attack Jimmy and administer to him a strange substance that physically transforms Jimmy into a first grader. While searching for a cure, Jimmy takes the identity of elementary school student, Conan Edogawa. Acting alone and sometimes with his friends, the Junior Detective League, Jimmy/Conan keeps on solving criminal cases and mysteries.
Case Closed, Vol. 22 opens with Conan and Harley Hartwell, the other “greatest detective” in Japan, as they continue their investigation of murder before a wedding – a story that began in Vol. 21. Who killed the father of the bride? Next, it’s “Murder on the Hokutosei Express.” Conan and Richard Moore aka “Sleeping” Moore, the cursed detective who brings misfortune wherever he goes, take on a double murder on the Northern Star 3. Conan also discovers that there is another mystery detective on board, and who she is will leave the young detective shocked. In this volume’s final case, Conan and friends are on vacation and discover that a serial killer, who fixates on bleached blondes, is stalking one of their group.
THE LOWDOWN: Case Closed is a private detective series and classical mystery story along the lines of Agatha Christie. In fact, two of the mysteries that make up this edition – a locked room murder and murder on a passenger train – are scenarios used by the grand dame of classical mystery. With a generous supply of policemen and detectives around, Case Closed also feels like modern crime fiction – even bearing similarities to such television series as “C.S.I.” and “Law and Order.”
Some of the science and contraptions behind these murder mysteries test credulity, and sometimes Case Closed seems as if it’s from the “Scooby-Doo” school of mystery fiction. Still, this series is fun and quite entertaining.
POSSIBLE AUDIENCE: Fans of whodunits will find Case Closed to be a highly enjoyable read.
B+
