The Skull Man (Skull Man)

Rating:
Summary: DEVILMAN-style dark adventure from a legendary Manga creator
Review: Shotaro Ishinomori's SKULL MAN is the elder brother of his infamous manga (and subsequent TV series and so on....) Kamen Rider. Overshadowed for decades, SKULL MAN once again saw the light of the skull covered moon in 1997, when Ishinomori collaborated with manga artist Kazuhiko Shimamoto for an all new revamp of the classic 1970 character.

Perhaps Japan's creepiest Anti-Hero, Skull Man is a creature resurrected from the land of the dead, living only for vengeance, stopping at nothing to find those responsible for the murder of his family and the loss of his soul. Aided on his quest by his shape-changing ally Garo, Skull Man relentlessly pursues a string of shape shifting creatures in his pursuit, using any means possible to his own ends, injuring evil creatures and innocents alike.

Equal parts (Go Nagai's) DEVILMAN and (James O'Barr's) The CROW, but predating both, Skull Man is sure to entertain fans of manga and anime like Vampire Hunter D, Blood: The Last Vampire and the aforementioned Devilman.

Volume ONE oozes supernatural flavor, but it reads rather quickly, revealing background and origin toward the middle of the story, and ending abruptly with a cliffhanger.

Thanks TOKYOPOP!I eagerly await Volume TWO...

Rating:
Summary: It was really good and then...
Review: This is the revival of Skull Man after the conflagration of an ending from the original '70s mini-series. No don't worry about getting that, this book explains everything, and is quite enjoyable in itself. Ishinomori and Kazuhiko Shimamoto seem to have made a killer collaboration with perfect pacing, incredible artwork, and quite original conveyances of transition and action. Yes it all seems to good to be true, and then it is... It's unfortunate that Shimamoto pretty much destroys the series in about the fourth book with incoherent plot jumps and wasted deaths of core characters...and it just gets worse in the final books (7 being the last, and oh my it was pitiful). Readers should just stick with "Cyborg 009"...cause you'll just get really angry when you get to the later installments and it starts to self-destruct...so I guess you should take my rating as a sum of the series.