BOMBOS VERSUS EVERYTHING, Volume One by Maximo Lorenzo.
© TOKYOPOP
Mania Grade: B-
Story and Art by: Maximo Lorenzo
Publisher: TOKYOPOP
Rating: Teen (13+)
Price: $9.99
Story and Art by: Maximo Lorenzo
Publisher: TOKYOPOP
Rating: Teen (13+)
Price: $9.99
BOMBOS VERSUS EVERYTHING, Volume One
By: Nadia OxfordReview Date: Wednesday, September 05, 2007
In his author profile, Lorenzo lists the Super Nintendo cult classic "Earthbound" as one of his Favourite Things. The influence is obvious, and the pedigree for Bombos versus Everything is definitely worthy. Though it's an underappreciated title in America, few console RPGs have stories as playful and heartfelt as the kid-driven Earthbound. Lorenzo tries hard to capture the game's whimsy and surreal cast, and he would be successful if not for a few missteps.
The story for the Original English Language manga takes place in a bodacious post-apocalyptic world inhabited by strange beasts and stranger cavemen. Bombos is a paperboy (not a regular paperboy; think of the old Nintendo game that pitted you against killer dogs, tornadoes and even Death itself) whose route takes him through the small hamlet he grew up in. When he's not flinging paper, Bombos trains with his bat and dreams of becoming ferocious enough to enter the mysterious city of Bokonon. Easier said than done; to become a citizen, prospects must beat down the Qualifiers, agents of Bokonon who travel from town to town in search of fighters.
Volume one of the manga eventually builds up to Bombos' fight for entry. Until that point, he has to deal with a competitor named Veng and a savage training regime courtesy of his newspaper's editor-in-chief, one of those retired fighter-types who can light up like a powder keg whenever necessity sees fit.
If only one manga ever deserved an A for effort, Bombos versus Everything. The characters try extremely hard to be loveable and exotic, and if they exhibited a little bit of restraint, they would be as much. But with the way things stand at the end of volume one, Bombos seems set to do little else but kick ass, take names, then kick some more ass.
On one hand, it makes for a pretty interesting story. On the other hand, no comic or manga is meant to hold insults and wisecracks in every single panel--not of the rest of the story is meant to be taken seriously. Having Bombos' elderly mentor refer to his pupil as a ball-sucking little peckerhead is funny the first twenty times, but not so much the next twenty. There's a romantic subplot involving Bombos and a girl named Addy, but so much of the story is dedicated to Bombos hitting things and yelling that it's hard to care.
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