Old Boy, Vol. 1
Comics and the movies more closely resemble one another in Japan than in the U.S. In adultmangalike this 1997 hit later made into the successful movieOldboy, the same scene is shown from different angles; the same focus is approached or departed from in ever closer or more distant panels that mimic moving-camera effects; and the degree and sources of light in the panels vary dramatically as well as according to setting (indoor/outdoor, day/night) and point of view (close, near, far). The obvious photographic sources of many panels further the cinematic resemblance. Only now being translated into English, this story is a revenge thriller. A man released after 10 years in a private lockup doesn't know why, by whom, or precisely where he was imprisoned, but he intends to find out. By volume's end, he's homing in on the lockup. There's a love interest (a noodle-shop waitress) and frequent cuts away to a rich guy who may be the culprit the hero seeks. Nobody looks cute; everybody looks tough. And marvelous.Ray OlsonCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved