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| Thanks to barnesandnoble.com for the image. |
GUN BLAZE WEST, VOL. 1
VIZ MEDIA
CARTOONIST: Nobuhiro Watsuki
TRANSLATION: JN Productions
ISBN: 978-1-4215-1806-0; paperback; Rated “T+” for “Older Teen”
192 pp., B&W, $7.99
In the Old West, only the strong survive, and 9-year-old Viu Bannes wants to be strong. What he wants more than anything, however, is be the best gunfighter in the West. When a vagabond gunslinger named Marcus Homer – mostly known as “Underdog Marcus” – arrives in Viu’s hometown, Winston Town, Illinois, Viu finds the catalyst to be even stronger – much to Viu’s sister, Cissy’s, chagrin. Well, the Kenbrown gang is headed to town, and the incredible gun-slinging outlaw, Bill Kenbrown, may have something to say about an ambitious brat and his down-and-out mentor.
THE LOWDOWN: While it opens in a sort of cartoonish version of the American Old West, Gun Blaze West, Vol. 1 doesn’t make fun of the venerable horse opera. Gun Blaze West is a boy’s adventure tale about putting up a fight for one’s dreams. Manga-ka Nobuhiro Watsuki (the creator of Rurouni Kenshin and Buso Renkin) has created a pure fight comic. Sure, there are gun fights, but the heart of this comic is about putting a fist in the mouth or a foot in the butt of the villains.
POSSIBLE AUDIENCE: Gun Blaze West is directed at the shonen fans who dig Naruto and One Piece.
B+
