cover image The Hero Returns

The Hero Returns

Yasuhiro Nightow. Dark Horse Comics, $9.95 (192pp) ISBN 978-1-59307-196-7

A Western set on a desert planet, this series begins two years after the finale of the original Trigun and chronicles the return of retired super-gunslinger with a heart of gold Vash the Stampede. Vash's skills are so destructive that he is officially classified as a natural disaster, and once his return is made public, all manner of ordnance-wielding scum come out in an effort to claim the obscenely high bounty on his head. With a priest who carries a human-sized crucifix/machine gun, Vash makes his way from one bullet-riddled conflict to another, each exploit marked with humor. The well-drawn, though occasionally confusing, art manages to strike a delicate balance between the look needed for the Sergio Leone-esque spaghetti-Western-in-space feel and the script's tongue-in-cheek tone. The story assumes readers are familiar with the original series. That's not necessarily a bad thing though, since readers are thrown headlong into a unique science fiction environment and left to discover the ins and outs of its workings for themselves. It's one of the things that make this first volume worth a look for those seeking a bit of light, time-killing manga reading.