VIZ MEDIA – @VIZMedia
STORY: Kohske
ART: Syuhei Kamo
TRANSLATION/ENGLISH ADAPTATION: Christine Dashiell
LETTERS: Eric Erbes
ISBN: 978-1-4215-9054-7; paperback (December 2016); Rated “M” for “Mature”
192pp, B&W, $12.99 U.S., $14.99 CAN, £8.99 U.K.
The edgy crime manga, Gangta, has a prequel. It is entitled Gangsta: Cursed, and it explores the dark and violent past of key characters from Gangsta. Cursed is written by the creator-writer-artist of Gangsta, Kohske, and is drawn by Syuhei Kamo.
Gangsta: Cursed, Vol. 1 (Chapters 0 to 3) introduces Marco Adriano, when he was young. Before he was a loyal and beloved member of the Cristiano Family, Marco was “Spas.” He belonged to the Destroyers Second Group, a five-member squad that hunts and brutally kills “Twilights,” humans born with power and abilities that normal humans do not have. Marco kills and kills, slaughtering and cutting Twilights as if they were meat, but then, he is confronted by a horrifying truth.
If I understand correctly, the Gangsta: Cursed manga is a spin-off series from the original Gangsta that focuses on the origins and back stories of several of the main characters of the main series. I like that because the flashbacks are some of the best story lines in Gangsta. [I'm a sucka for flashbacks in manga, in general.] Artist Syuhei Kamo does an uncanny impersonation of Kohske's drawing style, so that is so more continuity in this new series' favor.
In terms of the violence, Gangsta: Cursed Graphic Novel Volume 1, the opening salvo, looks and plays out like a regular volume of Gangsta, but with a slight difference. I don't remember any one volume of Gangsta depicting as much carnage as Gangsta: Cursed Volume 1 does, and the original can be pretty graphic when depicting mayhem. When I first heard about this manga spin-off prequel, I didn't think that we needed more Gangsta, but the gory horror fan in me does indeed want more Gangsta: Cursed. I recommend it to Gangsta fans who want to swim in more blood.
B+
7 out of 10
Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You'
The text is copyright © 2018 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for reprint and syndication rights and fees.
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