Hoshiro's fantastic vision of a Victorian England stalked by the evil Millennium Earl is a true original, although the action takes place more than a hundred years before the turn of the millennium. A wonderfully strange destroyer of worlds, the Earl wears a top hat and tails, and bears a passing resemblance to both the Joker and the leader of the Blue Meanies. His strategy is to overrun the earth with legions of akuma
, demons created through blasphemous rage. Against these nightmare soldiers are ranged the forces of good, human wielders of something called "innocence," a substance that was washed away long ago when Noah was in his ark. Chief among the good guys is our hero, Allen Walker, who has a concentration of innocence in his left hand. In his quest to keep the world safe, Walker recruits friends to his cause and seeks out the Black Order, a mysterious band recommended by his unseen master; this gang of do-gooders is also committed to fighting the Millennium Earl. Although the story line is imaginative, what makes Hoshino's work outstanding is the art, a fabulous collection of images both elegant and macabre, that should have much appeal for the crowd that reads Hellsing
and similar goth adventure manga. (May)
