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Gyakushu!, Volume 1 (1)
This classic tale of revenge reads like a pulp matinee samurai film. A nameless man, bandaged head to toe, clutches a sword. His battle may be over, but he still has one foe to go. Mystery and intrigue surround this warrior, as clues about his past lead to a chilling confrontation in his future. The truly inventive setting may or may not be Earth...may or may not be future or past. That doesn't matter. All that matters, we are told, is revenge
208 pages, Paperback
First published February 6, 2007
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
December 15, 2010
This is a story of revenge. A world class thief steals an ancient book from King Viktor. In it he finds directions to a secret valley, and that is where he and his love, Demi, go to have their son, Spencer, and live out their days. Their happiness is short-lived, however, for the king tracks them to the valley and metes out his justice – killing Demi, and torturing the thief. He somehow manages to survive and makes it his life’s purpose to seek vengeance on the ones who have wronged him. In his travels, the thief encounters Wretchik, the cannibalistic henchman of King Viktor, who ate Demi. He manages to slay Wretchik while defending another boy (who mistakenly believes himself to be his son), but sustains terrible wounds. He also learns that Viktor never actually killed Spencer – he took him into his kingdom and adopted him as his own.
One can see where this is headed. This isn’t really anything new, but it’s well-told and illustrated. The thief keeps himself bandaged from head to foot (his earlier torturing has disfigured him), and is completely ruthless toward his enemies. Since this is a tale of revenge there’s lots of violence and bloodshed (steer clear if that’s not your thing). I could have done without so much narration from the dwarf(?) who comes in every now and then to remind readers that this isn’t a happy story and we shouldn’t expect much. Ok, already, let’s get on with it! I’m intrigued, hooked, ready for the next volume!
One can see where this is headed. This isn’t really anything new, but it’s well-told and illustrated. The thief keeps himself bandaged from head to foot (his earlier torturing has disfigured him), and is completely ruthless toward his enemies. Since this is a tale of revenge there’s lots of violence and bloodshed (steer clear if that’s not your thing). I could have done without so much narration from the dwarf(?) who comes in every now and then to remind readers that this isn’t a happy story and we shouldn’t expect much. Ok, already, let’s get on with it! I’m intrigued, hooked, ready for the next volume!
September 1, 2022
This book was advertised a long time ago way back when Tokyopop was just hitting his stride with original artists. My volume was first made in 2007.
One of the images for this book that became really famous, was the picture of the main character holding a sickle and a sword. For the longest time I always just assumed it was a blood covered tentacle.
Anyway, a thief steals an important book and finds a hidden valley, it’s not really explained how but the king (who once had the book) hunts them down to get the book back, and in the process decides to burn their village to the ground and kill everyone. The guy heals, travels, after 15 years it’s revealed that his son is alive and that the king has him. He kills the cannibal that originally killed his wife, and leaves to go off into the woods. The narrator got a little annoying but it was alright given the type of story.
The art style really flip-flops between appealing and cartoonishly poor in quality. There is a lot of same face syndrome, some mild to be expected sexism because it’s a book about action, but what really gets me is the way people’s mouths are drawn it’s so creepy like the entire first chapter with their kid eating wheat is just so garish.
The art and promotion for this series always reminded me of Hellboy and while you read it you really kinda get that vibe of Mika Mignola.
One of the images for this book that became really famous, was the picture of the main character holding a sickle and a sword. For the longest time I always just assumed it was a blood covered tentacle.
Anyway, a thief steals an important book and finds a hidden valley, it’s not really explained how but the king (who once had the book) hunts them down to get the book back, and in the process decides to burn their village to the ground and kill everyone. The guy heals, travels, after 15 years it’s revealed that his son is alive and that the king has him. He kills the cannibal that originally killed his wife, and leaves to go off into the woods. The narrator got a little annoying but it was alright given the type of story.
The art style really flip-flops between appealing and cartoonishly poor in quality. There is a lot of same face syndrome, some mild to be expected sexism because it’s a book about action, but what really gets me is the way people’s mouths are drawn it’s so creepy like the entire first chapter with their kid eating wheat is just so garish.
The art and promotion for this series always reminded me of Hellboy and while you read it you really kinda get that vibe of Mika Mignola.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 23, 2023
Revenge story. I found the action to be a little bit hard to follow, but the character designs and illustrations were cool.
September 20, 2023
I don’t mind that it wasn’t a happy story, but I do mind that it wasn’t told very well.
January 27, 2026
Interesting presentation and an Odd narrative…
very simple revenge story with medium art.
3✨
very simple revenge story with medium art.
3✨
May 2, 2010
A masterpiece of brutal revenge fantasy, easily worthy of comparison to Park Chan-wook's Vengeance Trilogy. Dan Hipp's art style is fresh and engaging, and the story twists in on itself like a manic snail burrowing ever deeper into its own shell, despite the pain and darkness. Every time you think you have it figured out, a new wrinkle is revealed that forces you to reevaluate the entire story. This holds up all the way through the first two volumes and into the beginning of the third. You can read them all for free on Dan's site, but they are definitely worth picking up dead-tree editions of.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews