Wayward Deluxe Book 1

Wayward #1-2

by Jim Zub, Steven Cummings (Illustrator), Tamra Bonvillain (Contributor)

Rori Lane is trying to start a new life when she reunites with her mother in Japan, but ancient creatures lurking in the shadows of Tokyo sense something hidden deep within her, threatening everything she holds dear. Can she unlock the secrets of her power before it s too late? Jim Zub (Conan-Red Sonja) and Steve Cummings (Deadshot) create a supernatural spectacle that combines the camaraderie and emotion of shows like Buffy with Japan s engaging culture and mythic monsters."

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Fiction, Supernatural, Sequential Art

310 pages, Hardcover

First published February 3, 2016

About the author

Jim Zub is a writer, artist and art instructor based in Toronto, Canada. Over the past fifteen years he’s worked for a diverse array of publishing, movie and video game clients including Disney, Warner Bros., Capcom, Hasbro, Bandai-Namco and Mattel.

He juggles his time between being a freelance comic writer and Program Coordinator for Seneca College‘s award-winning Animation program.

Reviews

[Jakub Kvíz · Rating 4 out of 5]

The back of the book says "If Wayward isn't the next Saga it will be a damn criminal shame." Well, it's a damn criminal shame. But don't get me wrong, Wayward is still a very good & entertaining series, especially if you're into Japanese mythology and their monsters.

Rori Lane is a teenager and half Irish half Japanese. She's moving to Tokio to live with her mother but once in Japan shit just gets weird. Rori starts to see glowing red threads all around the city that always seem to lead to some sort of troubles. She will meet other kids with magical powers and soon will find out that there is some conspiracy and ancient Japanese creatures are planning to take over the world or shit.

The story is well-paced, there's a good portion of the action and some really nice twists. The characters are cool and their abilities are kind of original but I would appreciate more backstory on them (hopefully in the next book) because right now I'm kinda not sure about their motivation and stuff.

The artwork is really nice and fits the story well. Steven Cummings did a great job and Tamara Bonvillain's colors are taking it to the next level.

The biggest upside of this book is the huge amount of research behind it. This collection contains a bunch of bonuses, especially essays on Japanese culture and mythology which add more layers to the book. The fact that the artist lives in Yokohama is also great because he's able to capture both nice and ugly sides of Japan in a realistic way.

Really looking forward to the next book.

[Alex Sarll]

A girl leaves her Irish father to go live with her Japanese mum in Tokyo instead, only to find herself seeing mystical trails which lead her to creatures from Japanese mythology, and other kids with weird powers. The two interact mainly by fighting, meaning it's pretty much a spandex-free superhero comic. But where a book such as They're Not Like Us gets away with that by keeping the powers vaguely subdued and the generational conflict metaphor to the fore, this too often feels like a bad attempt to adapt American Gods as a Japan-set beat-'em-up. It's clear from the backmatter that the creators are fascinated by the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons and the Japanese mythic bestiary in general, but once introduced into the story the beasts retain precious little of their particularity; no polite bowing kappas here, only shelled lizard goons, just as the tengu are simply dick-nosed winged goons for our heroes to face off against. The most powerfully strange stuff comes early on, with Rori newly arrived in a city that's fascinated her from a distance, only to find her Japanese isn't quite as good as she thought, and her red hair (despite being natural) is deemed suspiciously punk by her teachers. And then the first supernatural stirrings, and eerie cat-swarms, and it's all pretty promising...but all too soon it's another bloody slugfest. And for all the rhetoric around the Image boom, I don't think a slugfest using smoothed-down mythological figures is in any meaningful sense superior to one using corporate-owned superheroes.

[Misha · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was kind of a mess in terms of what it's missing. The story doesn't quite make a lot of sense, the character motivations are all over the place, as are their powers. I never quite understood what was at stake or what this great fight is over in the first place. What it does do right is lots of cool Japanese mythical creatures make appearances, and the artwork is kind of cool. After reading a "Book 1" hardcover, I'd expect to have gone through enough of the story to get an idea of what's happening and whether I'm interested. I don't know where it's going yet, and I could stop here at the cool final panel and not really care what happens to these two-dimensional characters anymore. Meh.

[Mersini · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this a lot. When something is described as being akin to Buffy, I stop and wonder; most things are nowhere nearly as good. But Wayward was a pleasant surprise.

Set in Tokyo, Rori Lane, half-Japanese and half-Irish, discovers something odd about herself and the city she has just moved to. Less vampiresque than Buffy, Wayward deals with an assortment of other creatures, like kappas, and dirt spiders, building an entire mythology that is entrancing as it is graphically stunning. Having said that, the plot needed some work, as it's not entirely clear why there's a fight, or who the bad guys are, but I assume that's deliberately ambiguous at this point.

The cast is a lot of fun, and is reminiscent of The Runaways in many regards, though much more magical and, so far, less discordant. Each of them carries their history with them, and that's how we are granted an insight into Japanese culture.

This particular edition also has a bunch of extras that are really awesome, detailing the history of Japan, as well as its mythology. While I get the impression that it was mostly included to show off the amount of research that went into the creation of the book, I'm also grateful. It's fascinating stuff, and worth it for the extra money I spent on the hardcover instead of the paperbacks.

[Timothy Grubbs · Rating 5 out of 5]

A young girl of two cultures finds herself even more connected than she thought…and at the center of a war between the old and new gods of Japan…

Wayward Deluxe volume one is a collection first ten issues of the Wayward comic, a story of old and new myths set in present day Tokyo…

Rori is half-Irish and half-Japanese, recently moved to Tokyo, Japan to be with her mom.

She does not expect to find herself able to see patterns and connections once she arrives in the nation of her mother’s birth…but she also didn’t expect to find herself drawn to other “weird wayward children” with similar unusual abilities.

Rori and her friends…including a cat girl, a young man that eats ghosts, an empath, and a materialmorph…are thrust into a world of Tengu, kitsune, Kappa, and Jorogomo…with more Kami and Yokai to follow as the series progresses…

The series has some amazing art depicting the various characters and monsters as well as modern Tokyo. I highly recommend this series for those with even a passing interest in Japanese folklore and culture.

The collection also includes “backmatter” from the first ten issues including character designs and notes, articles on Japanese culture and history (including the secret history involving the Yokai and Kami), and files on the various creatures appeared in the comic (for those who want a deeper explanation of what some of this stuff is).

[Whitney Jamimah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Did I love it? No. Am I intrigued? Oh yes.
I think these first ten issues were really good building blocks for what I hope to be a pretty good series. I can see how some people might be a little frustrated with this as not a run happened aside from world building for the first 8 issues really but I really hope what was spent in the build up will pay off in the end. I didn’t think this series was as incohesive as some people did but there were a time or two that I had to slow way down and take a second to think about some of the jumps that were made. I don’t think this comic would be as good for “new comers” though and that could be where we’re getting lower ratings because this was so advertised to be “the next Saga” and it’s not quite as accessible. Anyway, I’ll pick up the next one and see how it goes.

[Highland G · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this first volume. A lot to take in and things start moving forward quite quick, but a fun read overall.
Its like if a western anime and manga were put together and presented in the format of a full colour western comic.
Feels a little like the runaways, avengers academy or even morning glories. We have unexplained new powers or magic and a team of new you characters facing off against the old.
The biggest thing that makes this stand out is that it is a western full size, colour comic, based in Japan and not a small b&w manga.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

I lived in Japan nearly 20 years, and was lucky enough to meet Jim at an international comics event in Tokyo, where he signed my copy of the book one deluxe hardcover. It's taken a while for me to finally get to it though, and I was not disappointed.

The story is really interesting and made me feel nostalgic for my time there. The back matter, with more information about different aspects of Japanese myths and monsters was really interesting to read.

[Avi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent action story.

[Adrian Bloxham · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful rich art and a brilliant story

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Soph · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cool concept, but the story was all over the place.

[Edd Sanders · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Mediocre 4/5 Graphic Novel Book

[Isapropanol · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5
I have no idea what happened in the second half

[Suka · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting read. Good art.
I don't have much to say about this specifically, I'll write a proper review once i read all the volumes.
3 stars for the main comic, another star for the very interesting end matter.

[Alissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meeeh... The characters were kind of silly and shallow, but the concept was intriguing. The art was meh for me, I did like the use of color though. Don't know if I'll continue with this. Doubt it.

[Justin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Awhile back, I read the first volume of My Hero Academia and found it to be a really fun Japanese take on western superhero comics. Thematically, Wayward is kind of the polar opposite of that: a western take on Japanese manga--at least, the supernatural action branch of manga. And so far, this take on their medium is just as fun as their take on ours, but in a slightly different way.

Wayward tells a darker story than My Hero Academia. There are still flashy powers, and high-flying action sequences, but here they usually end up with someone (or something) getting killed. Interwoven with the life & death battles are strong themes of alienation, doubt, betrayal, and coming of age. Furthermore, all of the crazy supernatural stuff is framed quite well in the conformist culture of modern Japan--there's a friction here that creates a perfect crucible for the characters to want to pursue their newfound powers, rather than remain mired in the humdrum existence of everyday life.

Providing further contrast is the art. In a word, it's gorgeous, even when it's displaying something horrific. And the often bright, vibrant colors contrast the dark subject matter quite well, lending a sense that things are out of balance, that suits the story quite well.

As for the story itself, it does a lot with the tired "teenagers with superpowers" trope, and a lot of that is owed to the characters. As we get to know Rori & Co., it's hard not to become invested in their trials and tribulations. Even when (or perhaps especially when), they start making decisions that really might not be in their best interests. It's a diverse cast, both in terms of personalities and power sets, and while everyone seems a bit too eager to team up and start fighting these monsters that want to kill them, they still mesh pretty well together.

That said, Wayward isn't perfect. Beyond the convenient teaming-up, there are other times when the characters seem to take things a little too much in stride. For instance, there's a character whose power is absorbing the energy from spirits to make himself strong. We've established that it lets him dole out extra damage, but we aren't really shown that it lets him absorb more as well...until he gets impaled through the chest. To the best of my knowledge, that's the first time his companions ever witnessed something like that, but none of them so much as raise an eyebrow, as he shrugs off the attack.

But really, a handful of issues like that are my only main complaint here. Overall, Wayward is a blast. This kind of thing could easily have gone wrong, if the look at Japanese culture had been tone-deaf, but Jim Zub seems to get it spot-on. (To the extent that there are even copious cultural notes at the end, for everything from the various mythological creatures our heroes encounter, to the ins and outs of the Japanese high school system.) Definitely give this one a shot; its few flaws are easily overshadowed by its strengths.

[Ada · Rating 4 out of 5]

***vrijdag 25 november 2022***
It's still pretty good and the deluxe edition has some additional background information about Japan and the artist themselves. Which is needed because this story very much feels like it's written for Weebs.

Which is my biggest criticism of this comic. If I compare this with 'Just So Happens' (by a Japanese person who went on to live in London), it's startling to notice this tone of admiration towards Japan that can very easily turn into fetishism.
A few times a character said something that a person in Japan wouldn't comment on because that's how it is. And that took me out of the story because you know it's only put there for the audience.

On the other hand it's targeted at teenagers. And Teenage-Me would've eaten this up.

I would be curious what someone who has one Japanese parent would think of this. Would this be a compliment or insulting?

The story itself is action packed and I would compare it to a Jason Statham movie. Turn your brain off, enjoy the explosions, beautiful people and sometimes you will get some funny and/or emotional moments.

The art is decent most of the time even if it does have the usual casual sexist slant to it. Not enough to enrage me by far but just enough to make it noticeable.

***no idea when I wrote this***
I bought the whole series based on a old review of mine. I will look it up in a moment but the weird thing is I can't actually remember what this is about?

I have it on my tablet because once in a while I think: "Oh I should read that."Why can't I remember ever reading it... One of lifes little mysteries.

I'm adding this to my 'read' list because the deluxe version cover the first 10 issues which I read in two volumes. This way I can better see how long it will take me to continue on with this series...

My review of:
Wayward, Vol. 1: String Theory
Wayward, Vol. 2: Ties That Bind
My review of volume 2 is the same as volume 1 though...

[Art · Rating 2 out of 5]

This one is about a girl who is half Irish, half Japanese who goes to live with her mother in Japan. Only when she gets there strange supernatural things start happening to her.

I really liked the start of this book, Rori is an interesting character and I wanted to read about her and her relationship with her mother and how she would adjust to moving to Japan and starting school there. However, all that really interesting character depth got quickly sidelined for the supernatural stuff. I didn't want those things to be the main focus but they were definitely hinted at and I thought the writer was going to explore them but then they were just forgotten.

The supernatural/mythical stuff was kind of cool but again. not enough time was spent with the characters for me and there was a lot of smashing up monsters. I felt like there wasn't much of a plot and so I never really felt much of a connection to it and probably would have put it down after the first volume if i didn't have this bind up.

The art work is very good and showed the action very clearly. It was probably what I enjoyed most about this book.

I think if you are interested in reading a story set in Japan dealing with Japanese themes and myth which isn't Manga give it a go and if you know that you like this series this volume does have a lot of extra material. Not just art, but information about the making of the book and the culture that inspired it. But overall it just wasn't for me.

[Siina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wayward is an interesting comic. It's about this group of kids who have special powers in Japan. The main character is Rori, who's half-Japanese and suddenly she starts seeing these red threads that she will eventually learn to control and use. She meets others with similar powers and they fight monsters and try to understand what they are themselves and what they are supposed to do. The plot works and is interesting, although most of the comic is basically fighting creatures of different kinds and it kind of gets old when there's no explanation to it. Also, the comic is weeaboo, which is probably the worst thing about it. The characters don't look Japanese or even Asian at all, so it surely eats credibility. What was great though, was that most of the places actually exist, so that was a fun walk-through for me as I've lived and worked in Tokyo. I've never liked the "Cool Japan" stuff and Wayward was so full of it.

The colors are wonderful and rich, even if the mostly pastel ones seem overly cute compared to the otherwise dark plot. The combination feels weird and unfitting. The line work is lively and precise and Wayward surely looks great. Students saving the day is a big thing in Japan, but here it feels superimposed and kind of stupid. I wish Zub had used more time to introducing the characters instead of Japan this, Japan that. No one likes weeaboos.

[Phil · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read volume one of this series previously and really enjoyed it. This deluxe book (which I got as part of a Humble Bundle) contains the first two volumes of the series. Volume one was just as good as I remembered.

Volume two takes a hard shift in the story. It sort of makes sense based on where volume one ends, but it disrupts the flow of the story in this edition. I might not have had a problem with that if I had read the second arc separately instead of back to back as it is collected here. I had to reorient myself to the setting.

Once the story gets back on track and I could see how this ties into the first arc it was a lot more interesting to me. I really dig the characters. Zub does a good job of introducing them. The art team helps to make the important characters readily recognizable. And the setting is pretty cool. It's set in Japan and contains a lot of culturally appropriate mythical creatures.

The back matter goes in depth of a bunch of them to give the reader an idea of how they are identified and what they are capable of. This was one of my favorite parts because it shows how the creators actually thought about what they were using in the book.

Despite some issues in the second volume, I really enjoyed this book. I will definitely try to track down some of the later volumes to see what happens next.

[Cale · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a thick volume to delve, building a fascinating world of monsters, magic, and mystery in the streets of Japan. When Rori moves to Tokyo with her mother, she starts to discover mystical lines that direct the lives of those around her, and lead her to discovering several other youths with similar gifts. Ayume, the cat girl; Shirai the spirit eater, and several more, all of whom end up working together to challenge a mysterious organization that seems intent on bringing destruction. The story takes a bit to get started, and takes some surprising turns, and this volume stops at a point where the story is really getting interesting, but what's here is fascinating. The use of Asian spirits and mythology is prevalent, and this deluxe volume also includes a lot of articles and references at the end to explain the importance of many of them. The art is gorgeous, with the color work especially of note, and the effects used for magic are beautiful. Jim Zub has created an engrossing world here and I am very interested to see where it goes next. Highly recommended for fans of magic and Asian mythology and Tokyo.

[***Dave Hill · Rating 5 out of 5]

It would be easy to dismiss this title as a lightly westernized manga about the monster mythology of Japan and kids who are both part of and fight against it. Instead, it feels like so much more, from the amazingly beautiful art to the intricate meta-story to the endlessly interesting characters, none of whom are quite what they seem, none of whom wear pure white hats in their struggles.

"Supernatural Action for Mature Readers" makes this volume sound more graphic and "adult" than it actually is -- but it's not a tale for kids, either. The story confronts violence and the macabre without exploiting it.

I would wish for a bit more development here -- the story races ahead at breakneck speed, and the implications of events are not always clear or dealt with. Any of the issues here could be broken down into two or three. But that's mostly a quibble, because this is a fine ride, and a lovely exploration of modern Tokyo and the mythos below the cultural surface.

(The original comics included some marvelous text pieces going into more depth on the history and mythology touched on each time; those essays are included in this edition, and definitely make it worth the purchase.)

[Marcelo Sanchez · Rating 3 out of 5]

El arte de este comic es de los mejores que hay, el trabajo puesto en los personajes y en las ambientaciones es tremendo. La interpretación de la mitología japonesa también es estupenda con una buena reinterpretación de los monstruos clásicos.
Pero la historia se siente como un manga, uno de esos shonen donde hay un grupo de amigos enfrentándose son superpoderes a enemigos cada vez más poderosos (o en su defecto numerosos). Las motivaciones de los personajes no están claras y muchas veces esta motivación se limita a dejarse llevar por la corriente o por el hilo del destino. Lo cual es una lastima, por que el diseño de los personajes también es notable.
Adicionalmente, el autor provee pequeños textos donde explica las criaturas encontradas y algunos trozos de cultura japonesa. Todos bastante interesante y en algunos casos, bastante necesarios. Me interesa ver a donde lleva esta historia, pero más que nada por el diseño del mundo y los personajes, todavía no logro engancharme mayormente con la trama.

[Christopher Mclean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another Humble Bundle hit!

I went into this not knowing too much about Zub or the book itself and came away very impressed. Wayward reminded me a lot of Death Vigil, both offering a slightly foreign take on the Buffy style, witty, pop-culture referencing, teens banding together to fight monsters of legend. Moving the setting to Japan is an interesting twist although it feels at times like Zub is trying a bit too hard with the setting.

I'm a sucker for this type of story and this one is well executed, the characters are interesting and diverse and the dialogue is great.

My only really issue with the book (which unfortunately is a very big one) is the overarching plot, which didn't really offer anything apart from hoards of monsters to be dispatched with. This gives the book a bit of a summer movie vibe, where it's fun in the moment but as soon as you start to think about it everything unravels.

Of special note, the supplemental materials offered here are extensive and excellent. I loved seeing Zub dive into the back story and history of each element use in the book.

[Chris Petruccio · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series has a lot of potential and I am a massive sucker for anything based or referencing Shinto Mythology. Basically the tale of Rori Lane, leaving her father in Ireland to stay with her Mother in Japan. But before she can even get her roots dug in, she finds herself being able to see and follow read weaves that make up the world and gets herself wrapped up in power struggle for Tokyo against Japanese yokai, demons, and otherwordly figures. She's not alone as she befriends others who have similar powers such as a fellow student who needs to eat ghosts to survive, a girl who can manipulate man made objects or materials, A young man who can absorb emotional energy and release it in force or calm, and the best character Ayane: A girl literally made up of the spirit energy of stray cats who loves to fight demons.

While i find that the plot can be scattered at times, I love these characters, there is a lot of action, the art design is spectacular, and as I've said I'm a total sucker for anything mythological. Greatly looking forward to continuing with this one.

[Nicholas Driscoll · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book a lot more than I did. The art is really fantastic and captures Japan with surprising detail. And it's fun to see a lot of the common manga tropes reimagined in an American comic book. I like the idea of teens dealing with yokai in modern times. But the storytelling doesn't quite jive, and the kids seem really invincible--especially when one of them actually gets impaled and later eaten alive, but walks away from both of those experiences without a backward glance. It also just seems dumb to me that these stupid teens who don't know anything about yokai can just run around and kill them willy nilly. Some of the characterizations are kind of nice, though, and the end essays are really quite fascinating. I learned some things about Japanese culture I hadn't known before. Though I think the author's description of Japanese private schools is not entirely accurate. All private schools in Japan are terrible so far as education is concerned and nobody wants to be at them?

[Ali · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gorgeous, eye-popping art; an intricate, mythology-based plot, and characters who feel distinct, if not yet fully real - what's not to like? This book moves at a rapid clip, which those (like me) who are strangers to Japanese mythology may find hard to keep up (I wish I'd read the excellent material at the back first, and it will make future installments more interesting.) But it also means there is a lot of story in the first 10 issues.
This was compared somewhere to a Japanese Buffy, but it felt much more like a Japanese Rick Riordan to me, only way more gory, and that's no bad thing. I just wish the women would stop holding down their skirts when they fall - like they have nothing else to worry about. (But seriously - that artwork - even when it's hard to follow it's always amazing to look at)

[Weatherly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok, that was really cool! It was a little scattered, at first, and had a lot to set up (though maybe the story would have seemed to be slower-building/not as scattered if I'd read it issue by issue), but it started to pick up a lot by the end, and I really enjoyed it! I have to say, (SLIGHT SPOILER), having the "New Gods of Japan" be super white-looking, and one of them be half-Irish is a little... culturally awkward? But the story itself is really cool, and I was really into how much they actually acted like teenagers. This is similar to Runaways by Brian K Vaughan, with the superpower-teenagers-without-parents thing, but I have to say I liked this a lot more than Runaways. (Despite the surprise spiders, which were just awful. Fuck surprise spiders. Who does that? That's just mean.) I'm 100% going to be reading the next volume, or "deluxe book", and I can't wait.

[Danielle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although I didn't find Wayward to have any deep storytelling, I still enjoyed it. All I needed to hear was supernatural adventures in Japan and I was in, as they are two things that I really enjoy already. Add to that the gorgeously bright colored artwork, a group of interesting characters and world of magic that slowly unravels as the story progresses and it was an enjoyable read all around. I can't say it was fantastic and I'm not sure it would be for everyone, but if you enjoy manga of a similar thread, then you're likely to enjoy this take on it as well. There are a lot of interesting things going on that have me curious enough to keep reading and find out where it's all headed.
On a side note, the deluxe version is wonderful with lots of awesome goodies in the back and a nice all around volume.