The Zeros Vol. 1

by Man Tsang, Book Buddy Media (Translator)

Blending crime, high-stakes action, and personal reckoning, The Zeros explores what happens after the trigger is pulled… and the cost of walking away.

Once known as one of the deadliest assassins in the feared organization Karma, Pak Ling walked away from a life of violence after a mission ended in tragedy. For five years, he’s stayed hidden—trying to outrun the past he helped create.

But the past doesn’t stay buried.

When new threats emerge, Pak Ling is forced back into a world of covert operations, shadowy alliances, and unfinished business. As old enemies resurface and loyalties are tested, he must confront the choices that defined him—and decide whether redemption is truly possible.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Manga

284 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2022

About the author

Also Man僧.

Reviews

[Zaghol]

Rasanya komik aksi paling gempak yang gempakstarz pernah terbitkan setakat ni. Siapa yang minat assassin, yakuza, ninja boleh lah layan komik ni. Penuh aksi tanpa henti dengan lukisan superb dari kartunis hong kong. Sedap berkrim hingga menjilat jari!

[Paige]

An action-backed thrill ride from start to finish. While I felt that the story moved quite quickly, the art was well done and the action scenes were impactful. Initially, I had issues opening the file in the NetGalley reader app, but it eventually loaded after several tries. Thank you to NetGalley for the free ARC.

[Kristina Butke]

I think this is a manga, but I’m not sure. It reads right to left like one, and the art style is reminiscent of manga, but the title looks Chinese to me and the creator Man Tsang is based out of Hong Kong. The story is set in Tokyo and Kyoto, too… If this is actually a manhua, I apologize for getting this wrong.

Anyway, I found The Zeros to be an enticing look into a world with yakuza, illicit drugs, impressive fights, and former bad guys seeking redemption.

We open up with Ling and his partner Lok infiltrating a traditional Japanese house where they joke about keeping track of how many people they kill. And they’re both extremely good killers.

However, Ling and Lok don’t account for a girl secretly hiding behind a shoji door, and she shoots Lok in the stomach. Ling takes out the girl while Lok dies in his arms.

Flash forward to the future and Ling works for the authorities now, and they’re investigating the underground drug “Molybdenum” (not to be confused with the scientific element) that grants enhanced strength and killing energy to the person who injects themselves with it. Originally Molybdenum was a computer chip you’d embed in your body, but it was soon developed into a liquid drug. People all over Tokyo are using it and dying from it.

Ling is partnered with Taec to look into this. The two don’t quite get along, but don’t quite fight with each other, either. Taec sees Ling as a rival and wants to work with him to “overcome” him.

Anyway, there’s a lot of mystery to this in terms of how this drug was developed, and who’s behind it, which ends up being Ling’s old coworkers back when he was a Jonin killer. There’s also Hina, the daughter of the head of the yakuza in charge of everything, and she’s another person of interest thrown into the mix. I won’t share anything more than that, but I found the whole manga to be equally exciting and interesting.

The action scenes are really well drawn, too.

While there is a resolution of sorts to the story in Volume 1, we get a brand-new character suggesting a brand-new adventure and mystery is about to start right up, setting things up for the forthcoming Volume 2.

I thought this was an action-packed, exciting, and beautifully illustrated manga and I’m giving it four stars, particularly for fans of stories with tech, underworld crime, and the good ol’ yakuza. Ling was a great “hero” for this story and I’m interested in seeing how he comes to terms with the loss of Lok, and I really like Taec, too. He’s a nice break from all of the gloom and trauma of the past. I’m sure he’s got a bigger story behind him, too.

[Nicole]

I find it difficult to rate this because the things I liked about it are easily connected to the issues I had with the story. The artstyle is really cool, especially with the watercolors, which makes it look surprisingly soft for an action comic. But aside from that, I felt like the blurb doesn’t really match the content, because Ling doesn’t take as much of a center part as I expected, and the past also doesn’t seem to catch up with him when he’s simply still working as an agent, just for another association now. That was actually my biggest confusion, because the sudden switch between him leaving his group and suddenly working again didn’t mention the fact that he switched. At first it just looked as if he decided to go back anyway.

The fight scenes are good and surprisingly easy to follow, and as a fan of action movies this was right up my alley, especially with the difference in character between him and his colleague, but it’s easier to read this on a surface level, since some things don’t really make sense if you think about them too much. For example, the pacing is pretty fast and there’s never a boring scene, but on the other hand the plot is happening so fast that some connections exist by the power of “the plot needs it to happen like that”. In addition, they’re supposed to be assassins, but their only targets are typical evil people, and after fighting the same guy multiple times to save themselves, they just keep him alive and leave, not expecting him to show up again? And halfway through the story we suddenly learn that superpowers exist, which would’ve felt much less random if it had been mentioned earlier on. It also made me a bit uncomfortable to see the female character, with so much focus on her skin and clothing when it comes to angles, and in one scene Ling even climbs through her window while she was asleep. It’s a nice read, but it definitely had its issues.

[Susanna]

Pak Ling used to be an assassin for an organisation called Karma, but after his partner died on a mission, he’s quit. He now works for an agency called Libra as its top agent, number Zero. Tokyo has been taken over by a drug that makes its users extremely violent. Traces lead to a yakuza organisation. Ling and his partner, Taec, go after the boss with the help of the boss’s daughter, battling assassins and other killers on the way.

This was action-packed start to a series. The beginning was a bit confusing, especially combined with the misleading description. Took me a couple of chapters and an info box to realise Ling now works for a different organisation instead of staying hidden. He’s surprisingly soft-hearted for a trained killer. Taec is more hot-headed, and Ling worries constantly he’ll lose another partner. In the end, they form a good pair. Art was great.

I received a free copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Relena_reads]

There are some great action sequences in this first volume that I could really see turned into animated sequences, but there are other portions of the action sequences that highlight the problems of the book. Between each chapter there's a tiny explanation of the mythos of this world, but without those it wouldn't be possible to tell the difference between our players through the art. The lack of differentiation is the biggest overall problem. The attempt to merge both incredibly complex theoretical technology and magic subplots are also a problem. The drug being used doesn't make sense, so why not just make it all magical?

I am interested in Ling, but probably not enough to keep reading.

Thank you to NetGalley for this eARC.

[Shiritaku]

Ein ziemlich starker Auftakt, sowohl optisch als auch von der Story her. Zwar sind die Dialoge als Nicht-Muttersprachler etwas schwer zu folgen, da sie teils doch recht komplex sind, dennoch war's total spannend. Das Pacing ist sehr angenehm, die Charaktere interessant und noch etwas mysteriös, das Thema fesselnd und das Artwork sehr detailliert. Die Idee mit den farbigen Elementen zum Schluss hin fand ich auch mega cool! So kam man noch besser in die Story rein und fühlte sich richtig, als wär man direkt dabei! Sehr actionlastig und atmosphärisch. Fände einen deutschen Release dazu sehr cool!

[Melanie]

I would like to thank Mad Cave Studios | Nakama Press and NetGalley for a free eARC of this title in exchange for an honest review.

This was a pretty action heavy manga which is always difficult for me because I have a hard time tracking high action with movement in graphic novels and manga. I can still say that this had great art and I really enjoyed the style of it. The paneling was very simplistic but it worked for making the story very straightforward. I think that also helped my issue with action scenes -- which is not a mark against this manga as much as just a me thing -- I like the group dynamics of the story and I liked that in this volume there was a clear beginning and ending even if, of course, there's more to be found in this world at the end of the day.

[Lailatun Nadhirah]

Nampak gaya, akan ada sambungan komik.

Serius enjoy baca. Komik ni mengingatkan saya kepada drama penyiasatan Taiwan tajuk Black & White. Cuma bezanya komik ini seorang tu cool & tenang, seorang lagi kalut & lembap. Hahaha!

Boleh nampak Ling agak berhati-hati dengan Misi Seksyen 0 ni. Akibat trauma lalu, dia jadi peka untuk lindung Sawa & Hina.

Tak sabar tunggu sambungan seterusnya.

[⋆˚₊dora]

2.25 ⭐️ while the art and fight scenes are drawn spectacularly…the actual story fell flat for me. both the plot and characters were hard to follow and, honestly quite forgettable. i spent a majority of my time reading this first volume trying to remember who was who, and what was going on.

[Dataico]

Stupito in positivo

[Simone G]

Action packed with phenomenal artwork!

A brutishly fun crime graphic novel with yakuza, assassins, and a gifted hacker. This was an enjoyable read despite being a bit confused in the first half. I felt like I was dropped into a story and it didn’t have as much pay off as I would’ve liked. But given it’s the first volume, I’d like to see where it goes. Because the characters were fun, they just needed a little more backstory to flesh them out. But the action was there. The artwork was there.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

[Chad]

Nonstop action following around a couple of agents of a shadowy organization. Kind of your standard bad versus good guys thing. Not bad and the art is really good.

[cidney]

Pak Ling, former deadliest assassin of Karma (highly feared org) walks away after a mission ends in tragedy.

Five years later, his past he’s been trying to bury gets uncovered as unfinished business and old enemies are thrown back into the mix.

Who can he trust? Is redemption possible?

***

I simply needed to read this after looking at this cover. It’s gorgeous!!! Beautiful artwork. The graphics were so intricately drawn, I loved!!

I wasn’t expecting just how dark and gore-y it was going to be, so it took me by surprise. But it was entertaining.

The spots of color felt even more impactful as the manga was all black and white. Everything felt very intentional and was well thought out. That ending though oh my goodness I wanna know what the next volume holds!

Themes:
Crime
High stakes action
Personal reckoning
Covert operations
Unfinished business
Shadowy alliances

Thank you NetGalley and Mad Cave Studios for allowing me to ARC read in exchange for an honest review.

[PurplePixie]

* Thank you NetGalley and Mad Cave Studios | Nakama Press for the ARC and my honest review *

The art in this comic is great. I'm always intrigued when I come across a good, dark mafia/yakuza story, and this one pops off from the jump. For some, that immediate drop into a story can feel jarring, but, for me, the action starting off from the beginning grabs my attention. Each character's attempt to place themselves in their current environment is explored, and I felt a bit interested in each one.
The fight scenes were illustrated well. The background scenes though were immaculate. A lot of time and detail went into creating the background, and I appreciated it.
I'm intrigued by where Ling and Taec will end up. I await more violence.

[Daniya]

The plot was good, the art style was awesome and the action was well-done. However, as the first volume in the series, it lacked the necessary world-building information. It felt like I was reading Volume 2 instead of Volume 1. Also, Ling and Hina trusted each other with their secrets way too fast for people who had just met.

[✨ gabi ✨]

The art style is the strongest thing about this, because the plot and the characters are not it.

The names and side characters are cliché and corny. I did find a little annoying that the targets were all such horrible people and the story framed the assassins in a “rightful” light. They’re paid assassins, c'mon. It's very on the nose, at some points. It's almost like the author wanted them to be vigilantes and not assassins.

Also, many things just don't really make any sense. Dude's an assassin and goes to throw hands with his target??? Shoot him! Wtf. The guns seem like they’re just props, ‘cause they don't use them for the majority of the time. “My gut tells me this is important”, you mean, the plot tells you, right? Because there's no justifiable reason for this.

The characters do not really feel like professional killers, but like high-schoolers, sometimes. “Do you look down on me?” dude says and then does everything except mind his business? Idk man.

Also, did not enjoy the way Hina was drawn. Almost always down → up, legs spread, focus on her thighs and ass. Like…… nah. Everyone is covered up and she's always using this tiny ass little shorts. The only other female character alive is apparently very professional and uses a super short pencil skirt. 🫩

[Curious Madra]

Thanks Netgalley and publisher for allowing me to read Volume 1!

I did like the action like the art was very much out there although the characters weren’t that much developed from what I gathered. I felt they were a bit robotic and just forgetful unfortunately. I’m only giving more high score really to again, the art and action involved in this graphic novel…

[Bibliothecat]

Review for volume one.

Many thanks to Mad Cave Studios for the eARC via Netgalley.

This is a crime and action packed series, but unfortunately, it drops you in on the deep end to the point that it's hard to follow the plot. It almost feels like reading volume two, any form of character or plot introduction is missing. It's easy to follow the direct actions such as the main character Ling is clearly hunting crime organisations, he has some kind of traumatic past with a former colleague but his current mission is to take down an organisation that has been messing with substances that enhance a person's strength. His colleague Taec is helping him and they seem to have a history too but it's all just so under developed that one struggles to care or feel about the characters. As this also ends on a cliffhanger, it truly feels as though both front and end are missing.

While not my personal style, the art is well done, I liked the watercolour effects. The action scenes were particularly well drawn. It was nice picking up if only for trying something new, but I won't be continuing this series. Fans of crime might get more out of this despite the messy beginning.

[Skirmantė]

The art was the best part of this action-packed graphic novel. Action scenes are hard to draw well and this book pulled it off really well.

My main issue was the characters. Ling and Taec just weren't developed enough. I wanted more background and more depth for both of them.

The world building was lacking too. I wanted to learn more about world and clans, etc., but I only kept on getting crumbs.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

[East of Reality]

This graphic novel feels like chapter 2 in a series. While the blurb hints at an assassin trying to retire after a job gone bad, that isn’t really shown in the story. It feels more like Ling was just had a bad night and was waiting to either be fired or called up again, and when the boss gave him a new job … cool. He has a rivalry with a fellow killer, Taec. Where Ling prefers knives and guns and more elegant methods, Taec prefers to use his fists, going for quick, brutal, physical force over patience or stealth.

The two of them are shown to be very good at what they do — and the action scenes are very well drawn, clean and easy to follow — but that seems to be the majority of the book. Violence, action, and then a strange moment where Ling talks about religion to their target. She doesn’t ask, she’s just in a bad place; Ling just felt the need to preach.

It’s a well put together series, but I think there’s a lack of character work at the moment, but as this is an ongoing series there’s hope that future books will give more background and depth to Ling and Taec. Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for the ARC.

[Lukasz]

The Zeros is a fast, violent action comic that barely stops to catch its breath.

The story follows a retired assassin dragged back into the life he tried to leave behind. It's not exactly breaking new ground, but it doesn't pretend to. Instead, it focuses on stylish action, cool characters, and one fight after another.

The artwork is excellent. Every action scene is clean, dynamic, and easy to follow. Whether it's knives, guns, or bare fists, the fights look great and keep the pages turning.

The story, though, feels a little thin. It often comes across as if you've started reading at volume two rather than the beginning. The backstory is only hinted at, the characters don't get much development, and some moments feel underexplained. There's enough there to keep you interested, just not enough to make it memorable.

Still, I had fun with it. It's quick, over-the-top, and entertaining while it lasts. Just don't expect anything particularly fresh or deep.

[Ｂｅｅｌａｈ]

Lukisan lawa dan kemas, memang cun habis!
Jalan cerita kemas dan lurus je. Rasa macam takde langsung putaran plot tapi kat mukasurat terakhir tu macam ada bau2 putaran plot je. Nantikan sambungannya (kalau ada).

Semasa Hiko (si pembunuh upahan yang diupah untuk bunuh Ling) menjadikan Hina sebagai tebusan, dia macam tak cam siapa tebusannya. Pelik kat situ sebab Hiko ni diupah oleh organisasi Karma yang diupah oleh kumpulan yakuza Yanagiba Gumi. Takkanlah dia nak cederakan anak ketua kumpulan yakuza tu?

Ada satu babak yang menggamit kenangan dimana Ling melompat turun dari motosikal yang Sawa tengah tunggang. Saya buat sama macam Ling tu, tapi naik basikal la. Konon2nya nak nampak terer, sekali terjelepuk kat jalan. Tak tahu la nak gelak ke sedih 😂.