I Am A Hero Volume 3

There is a definite shift in this volume--not in quality, but in narrative intent. As the two previous volumes have shown, I Am A Hero takes the common tropes of the zombie genre and subverts them, from having a hero who is very mentally unstable to having zombies that still retain a degree of individuality.

This volume takes that last subversion even deeper, by showing just what the zombies may be thinking. Which succeeds in making the horror of their existence even moreso. Why they see things the way they do is not explained--is this how they survive the trauma? Or is this part of whatever chemical change is occurring? We don't know. We can only feel pity for monsters that in most zombie fiction heroes are wired to just kill.

It's not surprising, then, that parts of this volume feel like an exploration of dealing with a terminally ill relative. The unease of dealing with someone else's personal hygiene, of feeding them, all set against an environment that makes such caring a threat to one's own existence. It's as well done as it is heartbreaking.

By the volume's end, new characters have been introduced, tying themselves to perhaps finding an answer to the zombie infestation destroying the world. I wasn't thrilled with this turn of narrative, because elements of it reminded me quite a bit of The Last Of Us. But if reading this series has shown me anything, it's not to think I'm going to get what I expect.

A brilliant, heartbreaking horror story.

Another Bad Day: I Am A Hero Volume 2

Remember when The Walking Dead was a must read? Seeing how Rick and his family could survive in the zombie apocalypse was something I couldn't get enough of. And then, somewhere, it stopped being good, or I'd just had enough. And I haven't watched the show or read the book in years.

This is my fear with I Am A Hero. I don't want it to not be good. But at least I can say the second omnibus volume is even better than the first one. Where the first volume spent a fair amount of pages giving us an idea of just who Hideo Suzuki was, there wasn't much in the way of zombie horror...until there was, and it just didn't stop. With the second volume, that horror becomes relentless.

This second volume continues with Hideo's first day, his horrifying first night, and the beginnings of his second day of Everything Going To Hell. We see his perilous escape from Tokyo on public transit, culminating in his collapsing at night in the Suicide Forest beneath Mount Fuji. As with the first volume, Hideo must also deal with his own mental illness as well as the horrific violence surrounding him.

This volume also introduces a new companion for Hideo. Her introduction is a masterclass in unsettling. Hiromi Hayakari is a teenage schoolgirl with an old soul. Her intense degree of empathy is one of her  strongest characteristics, one which may not be the best key for survival in this new world she and Hideo find themselves in. As the attacks continue, the two of them form an odd bond--Hiromi looks to Hideo as an adult with all the assumptions of wisdom and self control that term brings, even if Hideo is clearly not that person. Hideo finds himself uneasy with Hiromi, both because she's an attractive (much younger) woman and because he's still barely holding it together himself.  The growth of their relationship under fire is well done, as they both discover who the person is whose hand they're holding while being pursued by monsters.

I Am A Hero Volume 2 continues to be a terrifying horror story. Long may it continue.

Zombies, Manga, and Body Horror: I Am A Hero

One of the tropes of zombie stories I had never noticed before was that the main protagonists in most of these stories are sane.

Part of the narrative arc of many zombie stories is just how the main character--usually an everyday person with a dull job and comfortable life--deals with the horror and unreality of the dead rising and feasting on the living. From Resident Evil, the remake of Dawn of The Dead and the small, rarely heard about comic and television show The Walking Dead, the trope remains the same.

But imagine if the hero wasn't sane? Kengo Hanazawa did,  and illustrated that idea with the lead character in the thrilling and very disturbing I Am A Hero.

Hideo Suzuki is a failed manga artist who messed up his one chance at the spotlight and now gets by doing support work on another artist's manga.  He suffers from a cacophony of mental disturbances, including OCD and auditory and visual hallucinations. He's in a troubled relationship with another artist, living in a cramped bachelor apartment and putting in long hours on another creator's work. He can barely get through a single day without a crisis. Every single hour for him is a struggle.

And then the dead begin to rise.

Dark Horse has collected two Japanese collections for this initial volume, and it's a wise decision, since Hanazawa spends several chapters detailing Suzuki's life without any undead horror. Which isn't to say there isn't plenty of horror in those chapters. Aside from the internal tribulations Suzuki endures, he's surrounded by people who seem just as mentally precarious as he is. In fact, everyone in this story is dealing with something.

All the time spent showing Suzuki's life makes the impact of the zombie aspect of the story all the more horrifying. Since Suzuki is so introverted--and the people he works with are equally so--the realization that something is wrong is slow to dawn on them. From small snippets on quickly ignored newscasts to strange figures glimpsed at night,  it's clear that the supernatural horror is present from the first chapter, but no one really notices until it's far, far too late.

As for the zombies, Hanazawa changes the expected trope here as well. Yes, they attack the living, but there is another degree of horror, one that gives each confrontation an added  depth of sadness. These are not anonymous monsters, but horrifically ravaged victims.

I Am A Hero Volume One is disturbing and horrific, but with a hero that makes you just sit back and go, "Oh, no. Not him." The sad truth is that Hideo Suzuki was a hero long before this story began, simply because he got through a single day.