Kamen Rider Black, Volume 1

仮面ライダーBlack [Kamen Rider Black] #1

by Shōtarō Ishinomori

A television crew documenting paranormal activity in New York's sewers find a man (Kotaro Minami) who has been kidnapped by a strange organisation and whose body has been mutated.

Genres: Manga, Comics, Comics Manga

180 pages, Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 1987

About the author

Shōtarō Ishinomori (石ノ森章太郎) was a Japanese manga artist and cartoonist. Known as the "King of Manga", he is regarded as one of the most influential manga artists of all time.

Reviews

[Felippe · Rating 4 out of 5]

isso aqui é outra jóia a ser explorada
assisti a série de televisão, como outras milhares de crianças no começo dos anos 1990, e não esperava um primeiro volume tão engraçado, violento e com uma história tão bem amarrada.

[Dika · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Another amazing half insect-cyborg manga please"

It's kinda hard to find the old Kamen Rider manga beside Spirits nowday, especially a translated one. As i scrolling through the kanji text, i discovered there's a 2-3 different things between the manga version and the television series itself. In case you curious enough, it's mostly about Black origin and his ally.

However, it's always nice to read another work from Ishinomori sensei.

[Kamen Rider Ben · Rating 5 out of 5]

A ver saber que fue primero si el manga o la serie suele ser difícil, se que el manga original de Kamen rider se desarrollo al mismo tiempo que la serie, y son complementos, aún más amo como la peli de Shin Kamen rider las trajo juntas de tan buena forma pero ahora me confunde bastante porque este kamen rider Black está siendo un producto completamente diferente a su serie... no sé cuál fue primero, aún así, realmente lo estoy apreciando por lo que es, y realmente este es un inicio brutal, por todo lo que amo Kamen rider (mi nombre da una clara señal de eso) jamás se me ocurrió estás "aventuras alrededor del mundo" serían un contexto tan genial y con lo brutal que está siendo esto espero que estén personajes como shadow moon y el rey de la creación espero ver cómo estén bajo este contexto

[Ashleii · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kamen Rider Black is and has always been my favorite Kamen Rider so I wanted to find the manga to read to compare to the show to see how it was in written form. I found the translated version of this on Internet Archive and thought that it would just follow the show but was surprised that it doesn't exactly follow the show. We actually start the story in New York rather than in Japan at the birthday party like the show. I like how the manga incorporates a conspiracy theory show as a premise to start off and explore what exactly is happening with Golgom.

[Diogo Muller · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very impressive retelling of the Kamen Rider Black plot. Good action, great pacing, good adaptation of the original plot, with creative ways of using it. The use of a conspiracy theory show as a plot point was also a genius idea.

Yes, it's not perfect. While the action isn't incredible, it works for what it is. The art is classic Ishinomori, which depends on your tastes, but also means it's very uneven at parts.

Still, those points are nothing close to everything this manga does right. Black and the creatures feel like real, biological monsters. The plot itself feels less repetitive and more global than the original series. The mystery is well paced and the series gives you enough info each chapter to keep the reader interested.

If you want to read a tokusatsu adaptation manga, this wouldn't be a bad place to start.

[Rockito · Rating 2 out of 5]

At least as of this volume, very much inferior to Ishinomori's original Kamen Rider manga.
No character feels interesting so far and Kotaro has pretty much no conflict.

[Moon Captain · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fuckin' baller

[Wilson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not sure if this was the first manga that I've ever completed. But I do think it is, because this was the first time I figured that the reading direction for manga is different as compared to western comics. It was confusing at first but I guess I was able to hold up well -I've finished the book, didn't I?

On to the review. The volume 1 of this series tried to provide a bit of history on Kotaro's (Kamen Rider Black) origins but left enough room and questions (probably for the next volumes) to keep the reader interested on the next materials. The artwork was decent and IMO very good for the time it was published. The fight scenes gave away the strength and capabilities of Kotaro and the dialogues informed the reader how he got his bionic strength. To me, this was a smooth introduction of the characters, both protagonists and antagonists. Another thing I liked was the humor -it was mature and dark at times.

One last note is I am glad to see how Kamen Rider Black looks like in the manga. I prefer the TV version however.