Welcome to the latest edition of the Multiversity Manga Club! We at Multiversity Comics are huge fans of all kinds of comics, but our coverage admittedly skews toward American and European books. Nevertheless, manga, or Japanese comics, has a huge presence in the world of graphic story-telling, as anyone who has frequented a book store chain over the last decade can attest. I myself have only dabbled in the medium throughout the years, primarily through my love of “Dragon Ball Z.” With the hope of presenting a more concerted effort to highlight the fascinating world of manga, I’ll be selecting a specific work each month and inviting readers to join me in reading and examining the book.
I’m a pretty festive guy, so when it game to picking manga for the spooky month of October I wanted something with a supernatural and/or horror bent. One of the books that instantly came to mind was the grim thriller “Death Note.”
Written by Tsugumi Ohba and illustrated by Takeshi Obata, “Death Note” is the story of Light Yagami, as star student turned paranormal executioner. Talk about the ultimate case of “breaking bad.” Using his titular death note, a demonic artifact that causes the death of whomever’s name is written within its pages, Light deals out death and judgement to those he deems worthy. It’s a particularly twisted concept, one that has unsurprisingly sparked controversy in the wake of its massive critical and financial success.
I plan on reading the series, consisting of 12 volumes, in its entirety. However, my review will be as spoiler-free as possible, so feel free to read at your own pace. Compared to previous offerings, I look forward to a considerably deeper conversation regarding the book’s content. Not to get overly political, but in light of our culture of fear and violence I can’t help but wonder how we should receive a book like “Death Note.” Is it a worthwhile study at the psychology and motives of a killer? What does it tell us about subjects like capital punishment and the value of human life? These are just a few questions I’ve wrestled with after the first volume alone and I’m sure the subsequent chapters will raise even more.
As always, I look forward to hearing your thoughts not only on the story itself, but the ideas and themes that it raises. Be sure to leave those thoughts in the comment section, or tweet us (@multiversitycom) using #mangaversity.
