Crying Freeman, Vol. 1: Portrait of a Killer

Crying Freeman #1

by Ryōichi Ikegami (Illustrator), Kazuo Koike

Un potier japonais est kidnappé, drogué, puis utilisé comme tueur par une organisation mafieuse chinoise. Après avoir mené sa première mission avec succès, à la surprise de ses commanditaires, il devient leur tueur attitré. Il est alors soumis à un rude entrainement au terme duquel un dragon est tatoué sur l'ensemble de son corps.

Tueur au sang-froid hors pair, il refuse pourtant d'abattre une jeune femme ayant vu son visage et qui pourrait le compromettre en témoignant auprès de la police ou des yakuzas, tous à la recherche du "Freeman". Après l'avoir aidée à fuir, il décide d'en faire sa femme.

Le Freeman est nommé chef des 108 Dragons, une branche fictionnelle des Triades chinoises et son épouse est acceptée par l'organisation. Un immense tigre est alors tatoué sur son corps.

À chaque meurtre, le Crying Freeman ne peut s'empêcher de verser des larmes, d'où son surnom.

Genres: Manga, Comics, Graphic Novels, Fiction

168 pages, Paperback

Published March 7, 1996

About the author

Ryōichi Ikegami (池上遼一) is a manga artist. He was assistant to manga artist Shigeru Mizuki in 1966. In 2001, he won the Shogakukan Manga Award for general manga as the artist of Heat. He became a professor at Osaka University of Arts in 2005.

Ikegami has worked on several popular series, such as Mai, the Psychic Girl with writer Kazuya Kudo, Crying Freeman, with writer Kazuo Koike, as well as Sanctuary and Heat with writer Sho Fumimura. He also wrote and drew Spider-Man: The Manga, a manga version of Spider-Man and collaborated with Garon Tsuchiya for the manga BOX (BOX 暗い箱). His most recent work is Lord currently serialized in Big Comic Superior.

Reviews

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first Crying Freeman tale and if you have seen and enjoyed the Christopher Ganz movie starring Mark Dacacos you will recognize the story as portrayed in this manga novel.
A young woman is painting when a shooting takes place and a few gangsters bite the dust. She sees the assassin and sees that after the killing how he cries tears for his victims.
Her being a witness gives her the certainty that the assassin will return and take her life which is not something she minds.
When she sees the Crying Freeman again he kills the leader of the Yakusa and she is considered important in finding the identity of this fabled killer of men.

A beautifull drawn manga in b/w which adds to the pull of this particular story. It is full on action, origin story and love story. I am not a manga fan but am invested in this particular character. The art is great and the story is good. And the movie is worthy to the source material.

[Serge Pierro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another interesting series with artwork by Ryoichi Ikegami. Once again he delivers realistic renderings of his characters and backdrops. Story revolves around the assassin "Crying Freeman" and the Chinese mafia "108 Dragons". NOT for kids!!

[Helen · Rating 5 out of 5]

amazing read