I Am a Hero Omnibus, Volume 8

I am a Hero Omnibus #8

by Kengo Hanazawa, Kumar Sivasubramanian (Translator)

As the ZQN virus continues to mutate and alter those living and dead, Hiromi and nurse Oda attempt to get free from a zombie swarm and find help for Hideo. Across Japan, those who are fully ZQN begin to band together in surprising ways. When another group of survivors is found, Kengo Hanazawa's epic manga series beings to steamroll over readers and zombies alike as it revs up the action and moves closer to its stunning finale! A best-selling international hit series, a major motion picture, and—according to the Anime News Network—"the greatest zombie manga ever".

Genres: Manga, Horror, Comics, Graphic Novels, Graphic Novels Comics, Comic Book, Fiction

408 pages, Paperback

First published November 20, 2018

About the author

Kengo Hanazawa (花沢健吾 Hanazawa Kengo, born January 5, 1974) is a Japanese manga artist known for his seinen works. He won the Topic Award of the 2005 Sense of Gender Awards for Ressentiment and was nominated for the 3rd, 4th and 5th Manga Taisho for I Am a Hero.

Reviews

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is such a weird series. The beginning is packed with some crazy action with Hideo in the belly of this crazy mutant zombie that seems to be two humans combined. Then things slow down while the ZQN are off combining into these weird body horror kaiju. Even though this is weird, I find myself needing to see where this goes and if it will all finally connect at some point.

[Rod Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

This series is so weird in tone. This book for instance has a life or death CPR scene and zombie chases galore, and yet it seems like nothing much is happening for the longest time. Suddenly something major does occur, and even then it quickly feels like maybe it wasn't that important. I'm addicted at this point, but really don't know why I keep coming back.

[Jake · Rating 4 out of 5]

**Update: I reread this, it still became weird, and the events happening are getting to the root of ZQNs as beings, but only sort of**


This series is taking an intriguing direction, that becomes especially weird, but compelling with the end.

Our main trio of characters are featured heavily, which I really liked. There is a plot choice for one of the trio, that I was not a huge fan of, but it ends up being completed with some well done emotional scenes.

I am beginning to wonder how many more volumes are left in the series, things are getting weird, and there seems to be almost no one left!

[Jamrock · Rating 5 out of 5]

THE GOOD: Finished #8 and this was probably the best yet, especially in terms of character development for Hideo, Oda and Hiromi 🥰 Like many manga series I have read, this one did go full “Junji Ito” on the main story 🤯 and I think we are only just at the beginning of this plot development. ⁣
⁣
THE BAD: Black Horse publishing strikes again 🤬 I don’t know how many of their manga I have had to abandon reading the physical copies because they underprint and then take ages to re-print. I spent a fortune buying up rare editions of Eden only for them never to publish the UK translations of the final four volumes 💀 As much as I try and avoid reading pirate copies and especially now Manga Rock is finally fully gone 😭 then it’s gonna be old school online scanlations to finish this. I rate this manga a lot higher than the bloody publisher!

[Sam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Miss Oda 😭

[Mark Will Never Cry · Rating 2 out of 5]

We got a new ide of the worldview, death of one of the main characters and announcement of a new gang - I have a feeling that the writer just started getting bored.

[M Cornell · Rating 2 out of 5]

I would read more of this for the interesting zombie premise (which reminds me of the far more recent and insightful The Merciless King of Moore High) but I can't keep pushing through the extremely intense misogyny and sexualization of women in the narrative (which is far, far less critical than it thinks it is) to do so. Anytime I think a female character is getting some character development, it's actually a side tour into the author's fetish corner, or another reveal that when men aren't around, women are only capable of discussing and fighting over men, comparing their breast sizes, and talking in voyeuristic detail about their periods, body hair, and sex lives, even if they're survivors of repeated rape. Especially if they're survivors of repeated rape. The amount of sexualized torture female bodies go through in this manga is in some ways par for the course for horror, but it's not clever, or self-aware about its intended message in depicting those violences; its barely saying anything at all about violations of female autonomy, by this point in the series, except for the obvious (it's titillating to the author and the protagonist, no subversion here). Abandoning ship, like many seem to, post-Oda and her literal trash compaction. Cannot believe the hype after all this, but can believe that awards would go to this series, given how awards work, lol.

[Lisa Lynch · Rating 3 out of 5]

Here we are on Vol. 8 of Kengo Hanazawa's I Am a Hero Omnibuses. I have read 8 of these things and, despite the pacing being kinda all over the place, I am still invested in the story.

But I am going to take break from reading them for a bit.

This volume and the one that preceded it both focused heavily on character moments. And character moments are important and necessary, but these books really wear me out with how inconsistent they are.

Out of all 8 books, I've only rated 2 of them higher than 3 stars (which is average). Only 1 book fell below average, but the fact remains that I've found these books, largely, to be just plain average.

We are in December, the last month of 2019 and I'm not in the mood for something average. I want to find something exceptional. So that is why I'm taking a break from I Am a Hero.

I do want to mention a few things about this book that were pretty cool.

#1: A main character dies in a really cool way.
#2: THE ZOMBIES ARE MUTATING

I will continue with this series as there are only 3 more volumes left, but I am going to wait until next year to wrap it up. However, I have a sinking feeling that I am going to be left a bit disappointed. I hope I am wrong.

I rated Kengo Hanazawa's I Am a Hero Omnibus, Vol. 8 three out of five stars.

I recommend this series to fans of zombies, post-apocalypse settings, and horror comedies.

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

A new type of mutated zombie appears consisting of multiple zombies that are merging together.

One of our trio dies in this book and one has a major lifestyle change. And it's impossible to say more than that without major spoilers. I like that this series makes it feel like no one is safe - that ups the stakes. The death in this volume is hideous, and it made me sad. It also impressed me with all of the character's different forms of courage.

Only three more volumes left in this series - I hope the author sticks the landing!

[Lou Fillari · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable. Everything's coming together(ish). Feels like the beginning of the end here. I'll let you know how that feeling pans out.

[R C · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great chapter in the saga. It's exciting to see how the epidemic evolves and what we learn as it progresses.

[Matthew Kelley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fuck, this is some of the best shit I have ever read.

[Grg · Rating 2 out of 5]

When they were attacked by the zombie baby, I realized that I'm done with this series.

[William Hayman · Rating 5 out of 5]

A zombie-apocalypse from a very different perspective; one where difficulties stem not only from relationships and the impulse for survival but from within; difficulties that may have been lingering in the mind prior to the apocalypse itself.