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Sword & Sorcery
Flashing Swords
Pitch Black Books
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Reviewed by Penny Kenny
The flood of manga that has washed up on bookshelves world-wide has brought with it genres long ignored by American comic book publishers. Romance, Comedy, Romantic-Comedy, Mystery, Horror, Science Fiction, Action, and Fantasy series by the truckload are vying for the reader's dollar. Even our favorite, ye olde Sword & Sorcery, is making a significant appearance.
Actually, in the case of Claymore, a black-and-white manga comic, it's more sword-and-monster at this point. In an unidentified, yet vaguely Medieval European setting, monsters called Yoma prey on humans. They have the ability to disguise themselves as humans, so they're not easy to find and kill. Humanity's only hope is a breed of warriors known as Claymores--so called because of their weapon of choice. These hunters, most of who are young women, have eaten the flesh of a Yoma and become half-monster themselves. The silver-eyed slayers possess supernatural strength and keen senses of smell and sight. However, they must fight their own savage impulses or lose their humanity and become Yoma themselves.
Claymore follows Clare and the orphan boy, Raki, as they sense Yoma, find Yoma, are attacked by Yoma, lose Yoma, find Yoma, and spectacularly slay Yoma. It's a plot that could quickly become threadbare and repetitive, and yet in the first two volumes, creator Yagi has already shown some interesting variations on the theme.
In the opening pages, Clare is very much a cold, efficient killing machine. When she shows the monster inside herself in battle, she's just as frightening as the Yoma.
It's the addition of Raki, the boy whose Yoma-possessed brother is slain by Claire, who allows the young slayer to show she's still human. His situation parallels Clare's in some ways. Both have been orphaned by Yoma attacks. Both are forced to leave their homes because people are afraid they might be Yoma. But because Clare is female, she had the option of becoming a Claymore. Raki doesn't have that option. But I think it's because he's still human that Clare allows him to travel with her. He allows her to hold on to the humanity she has left.
But Raki's presence is also a drawback. Because he's human, he can be deceived and used by the Yoma to get at Clare. Because he's human, he can never truly understand a Claymore. This is vividly demonstrated in "The Black Card" chapter of volume one. Clare is called upon to kill an old comrade who is losing the battle to the monster within. Raki can only see the horror of the act. He can't see the humanity of it. It sets up an interesting conflict that hopefully Yagi will continue to play with.
Obviously you can't discuss Claymore without mentioning the art. Yagi eschews detailed backgrounds for the most part, instead choosing to focus on one main element per panel.
He favors close-ups of eyes and hands clenched around weapons; scenes that heighten the tension that is about to explode in a flurry of speed lines and flying bodies.
In the "Claws in the Sky" sequence in volume one, Clare fights five Yoma in a beautifully choreographed battle that flows seamlessly from panel to panel for eighteen pages. It's a ballet of blood and speed.
In volume two, Yagi gives readers another superlative battle as an injured Clare, fighting only with a dagger, and two young guardsmen take on the strongest Yoma we've seen to date in a cathedral crypt. The final six pages are an example of graphic art at its best.
Rated T+ for Older Teens, Claymore probably won't appeal to every S&S fan, but it is an interesting and entertaining take on the genre.
and our own web comic, Catspaw, go to the
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| Friday, May 16, 2008 Copyright 2008, SWORDandSORCERY.org |