Zero Frights: Devilman in Comic Form (1972-2012 - manga)

The majority of my Devilman coverage in this year’s Zero Frights has been all anime related, but the Devilman franchise covers a wide variety of entertainment mediums from animation, to video games, to comics, to live action, and more. I decided it’s high time I got around to talking about some of the other Devilman entries outside of just anime. That’s why I’m going to wrap up my Devilman coverage by looking at some of the Devilman manga that are currently in print in North America. Sadly, Go Nagai’s presence in the North American market place has been lackluster to say the least. In many European markets Nagai is huge and his books sell incredibly well, with tons of his work translated into French, Spanish, and Italian, but sadly for the longest time Nagai’s works could just never catch a break in English speaking markets. Much of this can be attributed to his work being too controversial for America in the 80’s and 90’s ... well sort of.

It isn't as if the American comics market didn't have some incredibly visceral, graphic, and downright upsetting content as well, oh no, the American comic scene may have very well been ready for Nagai, but the American manga market wasn't. Manga was just getting its footing in the North American market and had many set backs. It took a lot of effort from many corporations to finally give the medium a fighting chance in book and comic stores, and getting American readers to warm up to vastly different manga was a herculean task as well. While there are some weird experimentations like the Fist of the North Star release in the late-80’s, it was much too dangerous to put the incredibly young North American manga market at risk with Nagai’s more risqué and graphic works. Sadly as the market place matured, much of his backlog became too old to be deemed profitable by that point as well--really missing their chance. However, recent years have seen a renaissance in retro anime and manga, and the market for classics have never been this healthy so we’re finally seeing the floodgates slowly open on Nagai’s works.

Seven Seas’ has been leading the pack with a fantastic line of retro manga in their Classic Collection series: including the likes of Space Pirate Captain Harlock, Space Battleship Yamato, Cutey Honey, and you guessed it, Devilman (1972). They also have a few more recent Devilman titles in print to boot. Let’s take a look at some!

Devilman Classic Collection (1972-79) - Like I said above Seven Seas’ Classic Collection line is really high quality. I love these huge hardcover tomes; this Devilman volume has over 680 pages and is about half of the entire manga, with the second half coming out in November. I really can’t recommend their Classic Collection line enough. As far as the manga itself goes, while Devilman is famous for its violence and sexual content, I think a lot of the 70’s campiness is often overlooked. This book is pretty goofy at times, and it may seem at odds with the graphic content, but this is where a lot of the fun from its era comes. This collection also contains all the chapters from the semi-sequel series Shin Devilman which featured time travel shenanigans. So one minute you’re reading a Devilman chapter where a child is being tortured to death by their monstrous parents, and the next minute it's a Shin Devilman chapter where Akira and Ryo are Quantum Leaping through time hoping the next jump will bring them back home. Thankfully Shin Devilman takes place during the original 1972 Devilman so this isn't really a continuity issue, but it being there can lead to some pretty hilarious connotations you don't usually see in most Devilman anime, like for instance, did you know Adolf Hitler was actually tricked into hating Jewish people by demons? I mean, yeah, the legendary ending of the 1972 original manga is one thing, but why aren't more people talking about Shin Devilman? This Hitler chapter, man, I just can't even. All jokes aside though I love this odd mixture of goofy and horrid; these two Devilman series make a great collection together and are a fantastic retro read that any fan of classic manga owes to themselves to check out.

Devilman Grimoire (2012) - Hey, did the original Devilman TV series ever sound interesting to you but you wished it was just as violent and sexual as the original manga series? Well do I have a manga for you! Devilman Grimoire by Rui Takato, is an interesting twist on the classic formula, where the demon Amon really does manage to posses Akira Fudo--it's Amon that's the one truly calling the shots here and in full control as the protagonist, but instead of going on a killing spree, he falls head over heels for Miki, himself just like Akira did. Miki is such a goddess even a demon can get a crush on her! With his newfound love, Amon lies and pretends to be Akira Fudo, and helps Miki fight off the many other demons now possessing people. This has become one of my favorite manga I've read this year, and each volume really tops the last. The sheer amount of fan service to the original TV series is insane, but there is also so many other nods and references to everything else in the franchise from Devilman Lady to Mao Dante. This is a series made by a huge fan of Devilman for other huge fans of Devilman, and I highly recommend it.

Devilman vs Hades (2012) - Much like Cyborg 009 vs Devilman, this is another cross-over that is hard to talk a lot about because of the sheer amount of spoilers for their respective series, but is a really well made homage to said series. I came into Team Moon’s Devilman vs Hades with zero expectations but came out really surprised how great it was. On paper Devilman fighting the villain of Great Mazinger seems rather odd, but it works incredibly well here in this book, and a lot of that has to do with the fact that it takes place in the post-apocalypse. Seeing the whole Hades title made me figure this manga would take place mostly in Hell, but a large chunk of it is in the destroyed ruins of Earth after the infamous ending of the original 1972 Devilman manga (so it is best to read this right after that). Seeing what remains of the Earth after the way the 1972 manga ended is a large part of what made this series for me. The fantastic artwork is both a blessing and a curse however, as when it works it is incredibly detailed and jaw dropingly beautiful, but there are more than a handful of times when the art is just incredibly hard to decipher what is even going on in the panels. There would be times where I would find myself thinking "it's pretty, but, what just happened?" Overall though, a really fun read that I did not expect.

Thank you so much for reading all my Devilman coverage this year, it has been one heck of a ride producing this much writing on Devilman in these past three weeks, and I hope you were able to enjoy it. Please look forward to Zero Frights shifting gears next week into GeGeGe no Kitaro! I have a lot I want to say about this franchise as well before Halloween is over, so there is still plenty horror based content to read here.