comiXology Unbound: #MangaMonday
↳Death Note
Light tests the boundaries of the Death Note’s powers as L and the police begin to close in. Luckily Light’s father is the head of the Japanese National Police Agency and leaves vital information about the case lying around the house. With access to his father’s files, Light can keep one step ahead of the authorities. But who is the strange man following him, and how can Light guard against enemies whose names he doesn’t know?
[Read Death Note on comiXology]
With the addition of VIZ to the comiXology family in North America, #MangaMondays will never be the same! Come back every Monday for a new Manga recommendation!
A comiXologist Recommends - MANGA EDITION:
Harris Smith recommends Death Note
Manga is hitting comiXology in a big way this week with the addition of Viz to our slate of publishers. Among the first wave of titles are several popular favorites (Dragon Ball Z, Naruto) and cult classics (Nana, One-Punch Man). Falling squarely in the middle is Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata’s Death Note. Originally published from 2003 to 2006, Death Note became something of a media phenomenon in Japan, inspiring a novel, a video game, an Anime series and three live action feature films.
Odd but eminently readable, Death Note tells the story of Light, a bored teenager who discovers a book that allows him to cause the death of anyone whose name and face he knows. The book belongs to Ryuk, one of the most remarkably designed demons in comics history, a hulking gothic-glam monstrosity who looks like a cross between Liberatore’s Ranx and Steve Ditko’s The Creeper. Rather than try to get his Death book back, Ryuk views Light’s murderous schemes with a kind of bemused ambivalence.
Rather than veer into familiar teen horror, nerd revenge territory, Death Note is fairly epic in scope, as Light, mad with his newfound power, uses the book to attempt to rid the world of evil, not out of altruism, but in order to recreate the world as a Utopia with himself as “the god of the new world.” This imaginative grandiosity is a big part of Death Note’s appeal. The story is daring and unpredictable, sometimes absurd and humorous, other times stark and frightening. Death Note is a fast-paced, fascinating example of the heights of creativity Manga has to offer.
[Read Death Note on comiXology]
For fans of: horror, supernatural
Harris Smith is a Brooklyn-based comics and media professional. In addition to his role as a Senior Production Coordinator at comiXology, he edits several comics anthologies, including Jeans and Felony Comics, under the banner of Negative Pleasure Publications. He’s also the host of the weekly radio show Neagtive Pleasure on Newtown Radio