[.ca] D. Gray-man Volume 1 (ISBN 1421506238)

The Earl's enemy:
If Tim Burton were ever to attempt a steampunk horror story, then I imagine the results would be something like "D.Gray-man." And the first volume of this gothic, deeply quirky manga series attempts just that kind of atmosphere. It starts off relatively strongly with an "akuma of the week" storyline, though it remains a bit slow-moving. But Hoshino Katsura's story really blossoms as our likable, haunted hero begins his new life among other exorcists. Two cops are investigating an old abandoned church when they meet a strange boy with a deformed hand, Allen Walker. After one is killed, he manages to save Officer Moa from an akuma -- an enslaved human soul who is under the control of the evil Millennium Earl, a demon who is trying to destroy God. When Allen is placed under house arrest in Moa's home, he reveals that the akuma is nearby... and very familiar to Moa. In another town, Allen finds a young boy named John, who is obsessed with defeating akuma and the Earl. Allen tries to warn him off, but John won't be dissuaded -- until he is lured into one of the Earl's traps, and Allen must rescue him. But even more shocking is the revelation of how Allen first encountered the Earl -- and why he is so obsessed with defeating the Earl. Finally, Allen arrives at the Exorcist Headquarters to introduce himself as an official exorcist. But things don't go very smoothly -- the exorcists turn out to be a bunch of weirdos, governed by a mad genius and a strange alien creature. But they also have great knowledge -- Allen finds out just what "innocence" is, and why the exorcists are racing to find it... Cyborg demons, cross-embedded arms, virus-filled biobullets, giant glowing worms with collagen lips, and a mountain fortress filled with eccentric exorcists out to save the world from a grinning, rotund demon who looks like a Blue Meanie and may (or may not) have rabbit ears. Yup, "D.Gray-men" is not your typical manga series, even as horror goes. Hoshino Katsura takes his introducing the gothic Victorian world he's created, and uses the first two stories to introduce the akuma, the Earl, and Allen's tragic history. The plots are secondary to the infodumping and flashbacks. Then we find out what the Earl's plans are, and what the exorcists' goals are. It's a pretty standard get-the-artifacts-before-the-bad-guys-do goal, but with a couple interesting twists. And along the way, Katsura fills the pages with macabre creatures, graveyards, dark thoughts and even darker memories. The stories of how the akuma come to be are truly tragic and horrific. But Katsura also injects a lot of humor into the story, especially when Allen meets the bizarre exorcists of the Black Order ("If you don't want to be traumatized, it's better not to look"). Allen is a pretty endearing hero from the start -- polite, apologetic, selfless and courageous, even when people are nasty to him. But he becomes a truly striking character when Katsura reveals how he got his cursed eye, white hair, and ability to kill akuma -- turns out it's connected to something terrible he once did, connected to the Earl. The first volume of "D.Gray-man" is a strong start for this ghastly, gothic manga with a twist of deliciously eccentric humor. And it only promises to get better from here on.