Master Keaton

Urasawa (Monster) and his collaborators blend globe-trotting adventure, family drama, and classic noir into one irresistible volume. Taichi Hiraga Keaton travels the world as a freelance insurance investigator in the employ of the world%E2%80%99s most elite firms. Though the exotic locales and murder mysteries endemic to this profession are entertaining enough on their own, Keaton%E2%80%99s background as an archaeology lecturer and former member of the British Special Air Service is what takes the comic from good to great. Keaton is as charming skinning a muskrat in the Taklamakan Desert as he is being teased by his young daughter, as dashing with a hastily crafted slingshot as he is comforting a lonely young career woman. His knowledge of survival skills is especially entertaining%E2%80%94some of the volume%E2%80%99s best sequences are simple depictions of Keaton assessing bedframes and local architecture for possible weapons. Urasawa has long been regarded as a master storyteller across a variety of genres, and this volume is a sterling addition to his already impressive body of work. (Dec.)