The Marshal King, Vol. 1

The Marshal King #1

by Boichi

The age of desperados is upon the wild west! For millennia, the steampunk west has been run by outlaws, brigands, and vagrants—thwarted only by the badges of the U.S. marshals. Ride along with Jimmu Godspeed as he travels the wild frontier in search of the legendary power of the Marshal King!

Genres: Manga, Westerns

216 pages, Paperback

Published August 4, 2026

About the author

Intending to be a manga artist from his childhood days, majored in physics in college as preparation to draw science fiction works, and also to learn the technology of performance and imaging, went on to graduate school to major in image technology.

In 1993, while still enrolled, debuted in a Korean shoujo manga magazine. Since then, he gained popularity releasing a number of works and publishing books on how to draw manga targeting a wide range of reader.

In 2004 he stepped into the world of Japanese manga. His “Ultimate Space Emperor Caesar”, serialized in Monthly “Comic Gum”, was his first tankōbon in Japan.

In 2005, 9 out of Boichi’s 11 hentai one-shot serialized in Comic Aun were reunited under the volume titled “Lover in Winter”.

In 2006, he released two science fiction one-shot, “Hotel” and “Present” which, in 2008, were compiled in a volume titled Hotel along the other one-shots “It was all for the tuna”, “Stephanos” and “Diadem”.

2006 is the year of Boichi’s first serialized manga: “Sun Ken Rock” in the bi-weekly magazine Young King. This manga will also have a side-story based on Yumin in 2011 and one based on Pickaxe in 2012. 2012 will also see the serialization of “I want to feed Yumin”, another spin-off of Sun Ken Rock based on Yumin and serialized in “Monthly Young King”.

Boichi also worked on a 5 volume long manga titled Raqiya and written by Masao Yajima where he was in charge of the art and published in 2009. He also only did the art of the Brutality one-shot by Takeda Yuusuke in 2007.

In later 2011, he started the serialization of another manga titled “H.E the hunt for energy” in a new monthly magazine: Jump X. In this year, he won the Gran Guinigi prize for “It was all for the Tuna”.

To express his sentiment towards Vietnam and apologize for Korea’s action during the war, Sun Ken Rock volume 2′s royalties were donated to the humanitarian organization “Child of Viet Nam”. He asked Korean manga artists to contribute towards drawing a support page for Japan in regards to 2011′s big earthquake, and giving the royalties from the proceeding to the Red Cross. He also donated the money he planned to use to buy a new car towards helping tsunami victims.

Reviews

[Anastasiya Olkanetskaya · Rating 4 out of 5]

By the illustrator of Dr. Stone. The artwork is impressive - there are some really cool perspectives in this. The story gets your attention but the pacing is breakneck. Still pretty fun, and I'll probably keep reading.

[Enairolf · Rating 3 out of 5]

J’étais vraiment curieuse de découvrir The Marshal King, surtout parce que Boichi est un auteur dont on entend souvent parler pour son style graphique impressionnant et que j’avais adoré Dr Stone. Ce premier tome pose les bases d’un univers qui mélange western, action et mystère, avec une ambiance post-apocalyptique qui fonctionne très bien. Sans être un énorme coup de cœur, j’ai passé un très bon moment de lecture et ce premier volume m’a clairement donné envie de découvrir la suite.

Ce qui m’a le plus plu, c’est l’atmosphère du manga et les nombreux thèmes qu’il commence à explorer. On est plongé dans un monde où la loi semble avoir disparu et où les desperados règnent par la violence. Dès les premières pages, une question revient sans cesse : qu’est-ce qui fait réellement un héros ou un criminel ? Jim Godspeed est un personnage intriguant parce qu’il se présente comme le fils du plus grand hors-la-loi, affirme avoir tué son propre père et annonce pourtant vouloir devenir marshal. On ne sait jamais vraiment quelles sont ses véritables intentions, ce qui entretient un vrai suspense tout au long du tome. L’histoire joue aussi sur l’héritage, le poids de la réputation et le choix de son propre destin. Est-on condamné à suivre les traces de sa famille ou peut-on décider de devenir quelqu’un d’autre ? Toutes ces interrogations donnent de la profondeur au récit malgré son rythme très dynamique.

Même si ce n’est que le premier tome, on sent déjà une évolution chez certains personnages, ou du moins les bases de cette évolution. Jim reste volontairement mystérieux, mais on découvre peu à peu différentes facettes de sa personnalité. Derrière son assurance et son côté presque provocateur, il semble cacher des motivations bien plus complexes qu’il n’y paraît. On ne sait pas encore si on peut totalement lui faire confiance, et c’est justement ce qui le rend intéressant. Les personnages secondaires apportent également de la vie au récit et permettent de mieux comprendre le monde dans lequel ils évoluent. On sent que les relations entre les différents protagonistes vont prendre de l’importance au fil des tomes et que chacun cache encore une partie de son histoire.

Côté dessin, Boichi montre une nouvelle fois tout son talent. Les décors sont magnifiques, les paysages désertiques dégagent une vraie impression d’immensité et les scènes d’action sont particulièrement dynamiques. Chaque combat est facile à suivre et les expressions des personnages renforcent parfaitement les émotions. On retrouve ce style très détaillé qui fait la réputation du mangaka et qui apporte énormément de personnalité à l’univers.

En conclusion, The Marshal King démarre sur de bonnes bases. L’univers est original, le mélange entre western et post-apocalyptique fonctionne très bien, et le mystère autour de Jim donne envie de continuer l’aventure. Ce premier tome prend le temps d’installer son intrigue tout en proposant suffisamment d’action pour ne jamais être ennuyeux. Ce n’est pas une lecture qui m’a complètement renversée, mais je l’ai trouvée vraiment sympa à découvrir. Je suis surtout curieuse de voir où l’histoire va nous emmener et quelles sont les véritables intentions de Jim dans les prochains tomes.

[Rakib Khan · Rating 3 out of 5]

First things first, I got this book from Edelweiss as an ARC, so thank you Edelweiss and Viz Media LLC for this opportunity.

Almost on a whim I decided to request this first volume of the newest manga by Boichi. I had read about him and liked the samples of his artwork that I had seen on the internet, and was meaning to check out what the fuss was about for some time now. This one was enjoyable while it lasted, has some room to evolve in the future, had great art, but wasn't anything out of the ordinary or much memorable upon reflection.

The story follows Jimmu on his quest to become the Marshal King, for which he joins the Marshal Academy in this first volume, acquiring a few friends and fighting some outlaws along the way. This is Boichi's attempt at creating a spaghetti western mixed with Japanese manga style humor and style. But sadly so far it reads like something that has been done before in various settings and nothing makes it stand out as unique.

Characters are quite generic as to be expected, but as this is just the beginning there certainly is some room for improvement in the future in this department.

The art is the strongest point so far; the background is crisply detailed, the action bits are exquisitely drawn, with some stylistic character facial work to create a sense of spectacle that made me return to various panels quite often.

Hopefully, Bochi improves upon the story and characters in the future to create something unique in the following volumes as this definitely has beautiful artwork to keep things interesting.

Overall Score -

7 out of 10.

For more reviews and stuff check out my blog -
http://ihate00critics.blogspot.com/

[Singe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks to NetGalley and Vizmedia for the arc of The Marshal King Volume 1.

The is a mad max style western following Jimmu. Following the moment he joins the Marshal Academy, to going for the King’s Magnum Excalibur. The art style adds to the grittiness of classic westerns. Excited to continue reading the Marshal King.

[Babeth]

Ce qu'il y a avec le trait de Boichi, c'est que tous les personnages ont l'air sympathique. Pour ce qui est du reste, c'est un beau bordel et ça rend l'action un peu brouillon ce qui fait un peu perdre le coté épique du manga... Mais en fait c'était plutôt sympa dans l'ensemble.

[Phoebe · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unfortunately not for me. There is a lot of graphic violence on the page, and the story didn't hook me at all.

Hope others enjoy it more than I did!

Thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for an e-ARC. All opinions expressed are my own.

[Colby Wolford · Rating 5 out of 5]

Boichi's unique art style is back the story isn't world shattering but its fun and the main charectors are all Likeable.

[Maxime Facon Lisiak · Rating 3 out of 5]

A spaghetti western with a lot of humor wtf, it's nice the fact that it's boichi help because the drawing is beautiful but otherwise there nothing more

[Adam Collinet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un bon tome ! J'avais jamais rien lu de rattaché à l'univers du far west, je suis satisfait !

[emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kinda mid battle shonen for adults, but also Agera is kind of awesome. Basically One Piece in the Wild West

[Kim · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't care for this manga. The illustrations were difficult to read and I felt no connection to the story or characters.