Reviews

I was very pleasantly surprised. I’ve watched the Devilman crybaby anime and because I loved it I decided to read this. Despite being an old series, it’s really good. I especially liked the start of it and how it jumped right into the story. Perhaps because I already had the gist of it, while also introducing the story really well.

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4.0

Fudo Akira was a sensitive boy, mocked by his classmates, until he merged with a devil. Until he became... Devilman!

Devilman: The Classic Collection Vol. 1 collects stories from Go Nagai's Devilman run in the 1970s in a sweet looking hardcover from Seven Seas Entertainment.

My dive into manga history continues with Devilman, tales of a teenage boy fused with a devil, battling demons that threaten mankind. It's a lot of fun. Akira has gory battles with all sorts of demons, some even in different points in earth's history.

I really like the character design on Devilman and the other demons. Go Nagai's art is ahead of the curve for the time period. The stories are a little simplistic at times but I wouldn't say the comics from the Big Two were much more complex in the early 1970s.

Nagai's art gives the carnage a little more impact when it happens. I showed my wife a child's severed head in a puddle of blood and said "It's drawn cutesy so it's okay, right?" Actually, one of the more interesting parts of my manga education is noticing the cultural differences. American comics from the 70s don't have people peeing themselves, breasts, naked hermaphroditic angels, tons of gore, or people using their eyebrows as weapons.

The Devilman character is like a hybrid of Hulk and Wolverine, a violent badass taking on other violent badasses. The mythology behind the demons and their role in human history was really interesting and I'll be interested to see how it pans out in volume two. The time travel stories seem to be from a different time period. I'm wondering if they were inserted in this volume according to where they fall in continuity. Again, I guess I'll find out in the next volume.

Devilman: The Classic Collection was an interesting dive into manga history. I'm on board for volume 2 when it drops. Four out of five stars.

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4.0

Demons have infiltrated human society and the world is in flames! Can Devilman save humanity, even if it isn't worth saving?

Devilman: The Classic Collection Vol. 2 completes Go Nagai's Devilman run from the 1970s in a sweet looking hardcover from Seven Seas Entertainment. After the last Devilman collection, I wasn't sure what to expect. I sure didn't expect carnage of this magnitude!

Fudo Akira continues to wage war on demons but humanity might be his greatest enemy. After Satan, of course. The gore factor in this is tremendously high. No one is safe and there are fountains of blood and gore. From Akira and Ryo at Little Bighorn to the worldwide slaughter in the present, Go Nagai wasn't fucking around. There are decapitations and assorted mutilations, grotesque demons, hermaphroditic angels, and all sorts of other craziness.

Go Nagai had balls, that's for sure. I wonder if he had the big twist coming or it was something he came up with sometime during the creative process. Also, the series ender was a shocker akin to the Silver Age Doom Patrol.

That's about all I can say without spoilage. Devilman: The Classic Collection Volume 2 easily surpasses the first volume. Four out of five stars.

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5.0

(For both books and not including the Shin Devilman stuff shoved in the middle)

After reading a bunch of Go Nagai's work, it still feels so special jumping back into Devilman. He definitely feels a bit reigned in in comparison to some of his other works, but I also think he probably needs to be reigned in a little bit.

This is just so wildly good and you can feel the raw energy of Nagai's creativity pouring into it. The narrative begins simple and ends up really striking home emotionally with every complexity that gets added on top, by the end reaching an incredible tragedy.

It also can't be understated how queer Nagai's works feel. A lot of it is clearly his transgressive attitude of trying to push boundaries, but the love Ryo feels for Akira is so poignant and such a beautiful wrinkle to the story.

It's also so much fun to see how MUCH this inspired to come later, right off the top of my head and deep in public zeitgeist right now being Berserk and Chainsaw Man.

Again, absolute masterpiece. One of the best.