About Heroes

Author and Artist: Kia Asamiya
Publisher: Drmaster

Kia Asamiya was influenced by superhero shows as a child. In fact, he drew himself as Batman for his author’s note in Junk: Record of the Last Hero. He also notes that he aspired to create a story unlike any other superhero one told before, and to accomplish this, he makes the main character a complete douche bag. Seriously! Hiro acquires a bionic suit that enhances his speed, strength, etc. Nothing new there. But what is unique is that he is a complete jerk. And since he’s been holed up in his room for months on end due to bullies at his high school, his first priority with his new found powers is to beat them all up. Then the power goes to his head, and he uses it to his own advantage. But he’s not just callous to the “ordinary citizens.” He also ignores his parents and the attempts made by Ryoko, a cute class mate, to bring him out of his shell. No, he’d rather go have sex with her mom. Lol, poor Ryoko-chan, getting showed up by her own mom. Ewwww!

The art is very dark and gritty, and fits the mood of the story perfectly. And just like in most manga, the focus tends to be on the facial expressions of the characters. I love the pictures of the Junk suits; they remind me of Evas from Neon Genesis Evangelion. You can get a feel of how fluid and fast they move from the fight scenes. The pictures of the pop-star Hiro is obsessed with, Manami, are simply amazing. Maybe Kia has a crush on her too because all of the drawings of her are crisp and a refreshing change from the tone of the other pictures.

The dialogue takes a bit to get used to, since some panels don’t have the characters’ faces or dialogue balloons with the pointy things to point to who is saying it (I’m sure there is a term for that type of balloon, but I don’t know it). But this happens all the time in a lot of manga, so just get over it, all right?! Geez, always the pessimistic one, aren’t ya? Well, just one more side note then to feed that dark side of yourself. The dialogue isn’t written that well either, but maybe that’s a problem with translating. It’s just rather bland.

But fear not, for the story does pick up around the middle of the second issue, and if you’re a fan of anime, this will be nothing new to you. You’ve got to get through the set-up stuff to get to the suspense. I won’t spoil it for you, the avid reader, but there’s a cool twist on the identity of the other Junk user (Junk being the name of the suit). She shows up in her white-symbolizing-goodness outfit to save people, and poses this question to Hiro: Do you want to be a god or a devil with your power? So if you like angsty/emo to the extreme, check this out for something unique. B