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Tsuneo Hase has died in an avalanche attempting to climb K2 solo without oxygen, leaving Jouji Habu alone to face the next big challenge. Habu has disappeared in Nepal, as has the camera that may unlock Everest's mystery, so Japanese photographer Fukamachi has to search anew for the man known as 'Venomous Snake' and he draws on an unexpected source for help.

Comic

First published May 17, 2002

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Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews
Profile Image for Michael Finocchiaro.
Author 3 books6,345 followers
August 3, 2021
This is the final volume of Taniguchi's epic quintet about climbing Everest - solo, north face, in winter. Yeah, epic is probably an understatement. The artwork here - and in the other four volumes - is truly marvelous!
Profile Image for Greta G.
337 reviews326 followers
July 28, 2017

During the 1924 British Mount Everest expedition, Mallory and his climbing partner Andrew "Sandy" Irvine both disappeared on the North-East ridge during their attempt to make the first ascent of the world's highest mountain.
Mallory's ultimate fate was unknown for 75 years, until his body was discovered on 1 May 1999 by an expedition that had set out to search for the climbers' remains.
Name tags on the body's clothing bore the name of "G. Leigh Mallory".
The body was well preserved, due to the mountain's climate. A brass altimeter, stag-handled lambsfoot pocket knife with leather slip-case and an unbroken pair of snow-goggles were recovered from Mallory's corpse. The team could not, however, locate the camera that the two climbers took to document their final summit attempt.
Experts from Kodak have said that if a camera is ever found, there is some chance that its film could be developed to produce printable images.

The 5 part manga series "The summit of the Gods", is about this camera.
It follows Makoto Fukamachi, a photographer who finds a camera supposedly belonging to Mallory, and goes on a mountain-climbing adventure along with his friend Habu Joujii.

This series was exhilarating, adventurous, suspenseful. An absolutely wonderful mountaineering epic.
I was engrossed from start to finish, and I didn't want it to end.

The art was also marvelous. Many readers don't like Manga, because they associate it with big eyes and big mouths. But this wasn't like that at all. The art couldn't be more realistic. It felt like the most breathtaking, thrilling mountaineering movie I've ever seen.

I can't recommend it highly enough.

10/10

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Profile Image for Ej Szwagier.
29 reviews4 followers
June 18, 2025
Fabuła odwaliła taki twist, że opadła mi szczęka. Dalej dużo gór, ale dochodzi zupełnie inna, znacznie bardziej dynamiczna opowieść.
Profile Image for Himanshu Karmacharya.
1,176 reviews114 followers
May 16, 2022
Like its predecessors, Volume 3 of The Summit of the Gods also suffers from pacing issues with the same thing being repeated multiple times over the course of the volume. However, they are significantly less than the previous volumes.
There are moments that shine and show that this manga has indeed a potential to achieve greatness.
Profile Image for Constantin Paul.
14 reviews
May 7, 2025
Der Bergsteiger-Thriller nimmt weiter Fahrt auf! Diesmal verlegt sich die Handlung zurück nach Kathmandu und Protagonist Fukamachi kann endlich herausfinden, was der eigentliche Hauptcharakter der Geschichte, der abgebrühte Bergsteiger Habu Yoshi, wirklich vor hat, um sich endgültig einen Platz auf dem Bergsport-Olymp zu sichern: die Solo-Erstbesteigung der Nordwand des Mount Everest im Winter. Um Zeuge dieses Ereignisses zu werden heftet sich Fukamachi an Habu‘s Fersen und versucht, seine Tat aufzeichnen zu können. Neben der stark anziehenden Story gibt es in diesem Band auch Einblicke in die Kultur von Nepal und das Leben der Sherpas, zu denen die besten Alpinst*innen der Welt gehören.
Profile Image for Sarah AK.
602 reviews2 followers
March 15, 2026
Yet another exceptional book in this series, but this one took some silly and unnecessary turns for drama's sake and I couldn't help but laugh and shake my head. For a little while mid-book, this serious and respectable series became an 80s action flick (for the record, I adore 80s action flicks), and I was tempted to dock it a star. But then it quickly righted itself and hand delivered me a platter of serious emotions instead, redeeming its proper 5 stars. Well, let's say 4.5 stars... that kidnapping subplot was a small but melodramatic blemish on an otherwise masterpiece. However, it did put all the characters into exactly the right position to deliver said platter. Fine.
Profile Image for Mateen Mahboubi.
1,585 reviews19 followers
June 30, 2021
A little less active mountaineering and more personal backstory with some somewhat superfluous kidnapping/car chases thrown in.
Profile Image for Olive rigsby.
139 reviews
January 3, 2023
don't meet your heroes and don't read the books of movies you really liked
Profile Image for Graziano.
940 reviews4 followers
March 5, 2015
Chi un giorno insegnera’ agli uomini a volare avra’ spostato tutte le pietre di confine; tutte le pietre di confine stesse voleranno in aria per lui ed egli ribattezzera’ la terra chiamandola ‘la leggera’. (Dello spirito di gravita’, 2, Cosi’ parlo’ Zarathustra, Nietzsche)

Prima o poi cadro’... ma fino a quel giorno continuero’ a scalare. (241)

Habu si apprestava a entrare nella terra degli Dei…(305)

Perche’ un uomo … decide di scalare una montagna? (322)

«Camminare per me significa entrare nella natura. Ed è per questo che cammino lentamente, non corro quasi mai. La Natura per me non è un campo da ginnastica. Io vado per vedere, per sentire, con tutti i miei sensi. Così il mio spirito entra negli alberi, nel prato, nei fiori. Le alte montagne sono per me un sentimento».
Reinhold Messner
Profile Image for Emilie.
145 reviews1 follower
June 17, 2022
Les intrigues de ce troisième tome m'ont moins convaincue, les états d'âme de Fukamachi m'ont un peu déçue (marcher dans les pas d'un HommeFort pour se rassurer sur sa propre valeur parce que sa copine l'a tej, moui) et m'intéressent moins que la question de départ : quid de cet appareil photo ? Ce volume m'a donné une impression de remplissage, mais j'attends de voir la suite.
Profile Image for Géraldine.
711 reviews24 followers
December 15, 2010
J'ai un peu moins aimé ce tome, peut-être une transition vers la fin ?
Un peu trop de rebondissement tirés par les cheveux à mon goût.
Profile Image for Rod Brown.
7,647 reviews292 followers
February 17, 2019
The story suffers as it veers away from mountaineering into a crime thriller subplot with kidnapping and car chases. The next volumes promise a return to the highest altitudes.
Profile Image for Kurage.
546 reviews
September 24, 2022
The love story felt more like a filler episode than plot relevant to me. However that's me always getting annoyed at sudden love stories pointing away from the main plot for some time.
Profile Image for Vicenç Sanz.
444 reviews8 followers
August 28, 2017
Tercer volumen de la Cumbre de los Dioses, un tomo que nos lleva a la mitad de la trama y nos da un tono distinto al relato.

Sí, se nos sigue contando la historia de la obsesión hacia el personaje de Habu, y cómo el fotógrafo investiga sobre su paradero, pero también se nos narra la historia de la ex novia del mismo Habu, una historia más personal y que acaba explotando con el secuestro de la misma (que nos da cierta información geopolítica sobre la zona).

Me gusta que la trama de fondo siga siendo la del propio Habu junto con la posible coronación de Mallory; y me gusta que se deje un momento de lado la montaña para centrarse en otras cosas, ya sean personales o políticas.

Y encima sabemos ya qué ha estado haciendo el personaje misterioso que es Habu durante todos éstos años y cuáles son sus planes a futuro, lo que nos marca por dónde irá la obra en los próximos dos tomos.

Estupendo tercer tomo, quizás no me parece tan excepcional como los dos primeros, pero aun así sigue dando sopas con hondas a muchas otras obras.
Profile Image for Mathou.
684 reviews3 followers
April 9, 2022
Sentiment de solitude

Ce troisième tome est tout aussi magistral que les premiers.
Cette plongée dans la solitude de la montagne prend un tournant à la façon d’un film d’action. Le rythme qui s’installait lentement devient frénétique, tant physiquement que mentalement. Les différents personnages se dévoilent enfin, le mystérieux Habu livre certains de ses secrets et la confrontation finale entre l’homme et la montagne est imminente.
La poésie du trait de Tanigushi est en parfaite harmonie de la beauté du récit de Yumemakura. Impossible de lâcher le livre qui vous happe l’âme, vous entraine sur les neiges éternelles dans un parallèles entre enquête historique et plongée psychologique d’un grimpeur.
Un chef d’œuvre.
Profile Image for Tyrone_Slothrop (ex-MB).
865 reviews117 followers
March 9, 2026
Il serpente velenoso

Forse l'episodio più debole finora della pentalogia di Taniguchi - dedicata alle vicende "di cuore" di Habu Joji, la narrazione prende una china "noir" con un rapimento poco credibile e parecchio artificioso (l'inseguimento e l'impresa di Habu suonano davvero troppo romanzati).

Non a caso, l'alpinismo e le montagne occupano poco spazio (se non per un breve resoconto, non necessario, della vicenda di Mallory) in un volume in cui le vicende di "cuore" di Habu rischiano davvero di smontare l'epicità e la potenza espressiva dell'opera.

Speriamo che, una volta risolte le questioni di donne, si torni a narrare di montagne ed imprese alpinistiche.
Profile Image for Manish.
974 reviews55 followers
December 13, 2017
After the amazing second volume, I'll go with three stars for part 3. We have Fukimachi finally confronting Habu in Nepal and discovering his plans to attempt a solo winter climb of the Everest.
Profile Image for Doyle.
371 reviews51 followers
August 29, 2020
Pas encore le coeur de la grimpe façon Habu Jôji et Fukamachi n'est décidément pas un personnage qui m'intéresse, mais on découvre plus le Népal et la fameuse expédition de 1924.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Dagautier.
238 reviews
February 16, 2021
Digne suite des 2 premiers tomes. Magnifiques dessins, superbe histoire. Direction le t.4 toujours + haut. 🏔
Profile Image for Tom.
57 reviews3 followers
October 29, 2022
Après un tome 2 « transition », ce tome 3 est une très bonne surprise. Il est très riche en événements et l’histoire avance à grands pas !
309 reviews1 follower
March 3, 2023
La beauté des paysages et l'intrigue sont excellentes. J'apprécie cette série et j'ai hâte de lire la prochaine. C'est aussi bon pour mon français !
Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews