Benkei in New York TPB
Story:
Art:

Written by Jinpachi Mori
Art by Jiro Taniguchi

Published by Viz
Price: $16.95

My Verdict: A Nice Change.

The man's name is Benkei, and he's a Japanese expatriate. He's an artistic genius of a painter, he tends bar, he takes care of those who need a helping hand. Nice guy. Unless you've done wrong somewhere in your past, and the wronged individuals decide to hire him. His true business is adauchi...vendetta. And he returns payment on such things in very...creative, mostly disturbing ways.

The hitman has pretty much become its own subgenre of crime comics. They take cases, they deal with the people who need to be dealt with, and so on and so forth. But seldom do you get characters as fleshed out as Benkei. On one hand, he's a painter who can mimic pretty much any painting you put in front of him...from memory. On the other hand, if your ass is in his sights--forget it, you're toast.

When the stories enclosed are twisted and bizarre, such as a draft dodger who fled to Scotland, they are some of the best stuff you can lay hands upon. When they involve Benkei trying to remain human not just a killing machine, as when he befriends a stripper/prostitute--awesome stuff. But after these stories, some of the others just aren't as sharp. Is it the wild situations he finds himself in? Or is the dialogue that sometimes stings? "Take a close look, Gantino...at MUNCH's BLOOD RED SKY!" Maybe it's a little bit of all of it.

Regardless, it makes for a good read, and for those not familiar with manga, it's a good introduction. For those looking for some nice cold revenge stories, it's good eatin'.