Syndicated Zine Reviews: CYBER BLUE = AMAZING

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Sent to you by Jack via Google Reader:

This weekend, I stopped by the Cafe Mika manga sale. Cafe Mika was San Francisco's first (and only) manga cafe, which seemed to be on shaky financial footing for a while and finally had to close their doors this month. As a final going-out-of-business sale, they were selling all their original manga series (that is, in Japanese) at DEEP discounts.

We're talking the entire original Ranma 1/2 series for $12, all ten volumes of Dragon Head for $3 (snagged those, worth it for the covers alone) and other, more obscure and forgettable series. I found something absolutely incredible in the stacks... all 4 volumes of CYBER BLUE (ＣＹＢＥＲブルー), a late-80s cyberpunk/fantasy battle manga for a dollar a book!

I had heard of CYBER BLUE but never seen it... until now. The series was written by "BOB" and Ryuichi Mitsui, and (most importantly) features art by Tetsuo Hara! This short series (4 volumes in total) was the manga Hara worked on right after Fist of the Northstar in 1988.

Let me tell you, this is one of the most hilarious and badass books I've read in a long, long time. It's like if Boris Vallejo had sex with the film Commando and then strapped that baby to the demon offspring of gay Mad Max and Lando Calrissian's mustache. Basically, it's unadultered Hara goodness.

Please enjoy this photo-heavy showcase:

This is the first spread of the book, introducing our protagonist, Blue. He has a gun and puts it in people's faces. And also shoots them in the head.

Oh yeah, all of the above panels are just from Volume 1. Here's from the other three book:

Did I mention that the villain in Volume 3 looks exactly like Prince?

I mean, except if Prince was humongously muscle-bound and banged mermaids!

In addition to guns, Blue is sorta good with his hands. I wouldn't recommend messing with him.

In volume 4, we find out the full extent of what can happen when you tussle with Blue: