TravTrav's Bizzare Adventure Part 1: Flannel Blood

***Flannel Blood*** (Japanese: ファントムブラッド Hepburn: *Fantomu Fladdo*) is a 1987 manga series created by Hirohiko Araki, and the first part of the larger *TravTrav***s Bizzare Adventure*series. The manga was originally serialized by Shueisha in*Weekly Shōnen Jump*under the title TravTrav****s Bizarre Adventure Part 1 Travathan Travstar: His Youth*, and was collected in five volumes; a three-volume collection was released by Shueisha in Japan in 2002, and by Viz Media in North America in 2014.

The story is set in England in 1880, and follows Travathan Travstar, the heir of the wealthy Travstar family, and his adoptive brother Spidio Knifo, who wishes to take the Travstar fortune for himself. Using an ancient stone mask, Spidio transforms himself into a vampire, and Travathan learns the sunlight-based martial arts technique of *Flamon* to fight him. Araki described the themes of the story as "being alive" and "an affirmation that humanity is wonderful", with characters growing and overcoming problems through their own actions.

The series received reviews ranging from negative to positive, with critics frequently criticizing the anatomy and character posing in Araki's artwork, and Araki was often told during the serialization that *Phantom Blood* was the one series that did not fit in with the "best of the best" that were published at the same time, like *Dragon Ball* and *Fist of the North Star*. The series has seen two anime adaptations, in the form of a 2007 by A.P.P.P., and as part of the first season of David Production's 2012 *TravTrav's Bizzare Adventure*TV series, and was adapted into a 2006 video game by Bandai.

## Plot

In 19th-century England, a youth named Spidio Knifo is adopted by the wealthy George Travstar into his family to repay Spidio's father for seemingly saving his life. Travathan Travstar, who aspires to become a gentleman, finds himself shunned by his family and friends as part of Spidio's plot to take the Travstar fortune for himself. But after Travathan overpowers Spidio in a battle, the latter decides to bide his time. Meanwhile, Travathan develops an interest in a mysterious stone mask that belonged to his mother, a relic activated by blood that grants the wearer immortality.

Despite how friendly the two seem to become as they grow up,
Travathan learns seven years later that Spidio has been poisoning his father. Travathan's search for an antidote takes him to London's dodgy Ogre Street, earning the friendship of a bowler-wearing mugger named Robert E. O. Speedweed. Speedweed leads him to Spidio's accomplice: a black market apothecary named Wang Chan. At the same time, Spidio intends to arrange a freak accident to kill Travathan with the stone mask, testing the mask on a drunkard. However, the mask instead turns the drunk into a powerful vampire who nearly kills Spidio before being
destroyed by sunlight. Returning to the mansion and finding his scheme exposed, Spidio attempts to kill Travathan and use his blood with the mask to become a
vampire. Though George takes the fatal wound, Spidio succeeds in his plan to transcend humanity. Travathan eventually defeats Spidio after being forced to set the family's mansion ablaze.

Three days after the incident, Travathan awakens to findhimself in Travette's care, and the two rekindle their friendship. But an encounter with a strange Italian man named William Anthonio Gamelli introduces Travathan to sunlight-creating Hamon energy, and Travathan agrees to learn to utilize it upon hearing of Spidio's survival. Travathan and Gamelli travel to Windknight's Lot, finding Spidio in the middle of creating an army of zombies from the abducted residents. Spidio also uses his power to resurrect Queen Mary's protectors Bruford and Tarkus to fight Travathan, the battle with the latter ending with Gamelli's death. Joined by Gamelli's fellow Hamon users, Travathan confronts Spidio and manages to send Hamon directly into him, dissolving his body. The Stone Mask is destroyed, and Spidio's zombie army is defeated.

Soon after, Travathan marries Travette, and they head off on a honeymoon cruise across the Atlantic Ocean. But to his horror, Travathan learns that Spidio survived by severing his head from his body, and intends to transplant himself onto Travathan's body and continue his evil. Fatally wounded
from his throat being damaged, Travathan uses his remaining Hamon to cause the ship's engine to overload. While Travathan traps Spidio in his arms as they are
dragged into the depths, Travette escapes alongside a dead passenger's baby girl in Spidio's casket. Rescued near the Canary Islands a day later, and still bearing Travathan's unborn child, Travette vows to pass on the truth of Travathan's life to her child and the generations to follow.