Dark Side Blues Volume 1

Dark Side Blues Volume 1

From Booklist The Japanese original of this unusual manga dates from 1993. Considering the high quality of artist Ashibe's work in it, the long wait to be Englished seems odd. But lack of resolution dogs its story line, and the ending, which begs a sequel as yet unplanned, probably made it a hard sell. Set mostly in Darkside, the free sector in a Tokyo otherwise owned by the tyrannical Persona Century Corporation, it opens in the aftermath of a terrorist (i.e., freedom fighters') attack on Persona's space-platform headquarters. A single terrorist escapes to Darkside, followed shortly by an English Regency-style fellow driving a coach and four. Both cross paths with the story's principals, the young members of the street gang Messiah, who fight like the dickens to help the fugitive reunite with his fellow revolutionaries. The bittersweet ending is compounded by loose ends dangling from as far back as the opening pages, but Ashibe draws virtuosically throughout, often so intricately that a composition must be minutely scrutinized. More dazzling than mind-boggling. Ray OlsonCopyright