Cover Image: Helck, Vol. 1

Helck, Vol. 1

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Member Reviews

Who is Helck? We are only touching the tip of the iceberg in this volume. He seems unbeatable and unlikeable. Is he going to be the next Demon Lord? This is a highly unusual situation as Helck is human. What is he really planning? It is too early to tell. We will have to read of his further adventures to find out.

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I received a free digital ARC of this manga from Viz Media via NetGalley. The story follows a senior officer who is intent on getting a human thrown out of a competition to become the next demon lord - because they don’t want a human as the demon lord. This felt very rough. Helck has no personality and that may be the point, to keep him vague for now. The other competitors are not drawn out enough yet. The supervisor Vimirio is an ok character and funny, but there isn’t enough story to keep me invested. It just didn’t grab me, but continuing the series could bring about more depth…

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A lone hero has defeated the Demon Lord and humankind is enjoying an era of peace. But the demon world is gathering together for an intense tournament to crown the new Demon Lord. Among the contestants is a human warrior named Helck, who claims to hate humans. Helck seems to have no weakness, bowling through the other contestants and challenges set before him. There are some demons that aren't happy to see a human aiming for the title of Demon Lord. Especially Vermilio the Red, who will stop at nothing to prove Helck is an enemy to all demons.
A slapstick gag manga with an over the top hero and a main character desperate to put an end to him. Fans of One Punch Man may like this story although it is a bit over-simplified and cringe-worthy. I got tired of the constant running gags, but those who like slapstick may enjoy this title.

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I truly do not understand all the 3 star reviews on Netgalley. This was awesome! It's fresh while still hitting on the familiar battle royale tropes of Dragonball Z and the hilarity of One-Punch Man!

This is the first volume. While I do believe that 200pgs is slightly longer than the average manga volume, we are still only in the first nine chapters. Of course no one knows what's happening yet! This volume did a great job at what first volumes do: we got solid introductions to our main cast of characters, got a sense for who they might be (Helck excluded), got introduced to the problems within the demon lands (enemies beseeching them on all sides, some more powerful than the humans, poisoned lands and a militia stretched thin), saw a few other mysteries (namely Helck), and I also got a great sense of the tone of this story. It's funny, action-packed and the art is so clearly drawn! I can tell exactly what is happening in every panel. And!! The art style is so pleasant to look at too!

A hit out of the park. 10/10 stars. This is going in my January order for my library. I cannot wait to read volume 2!

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"Helck," reminded me of "Dragon Ball Z" in more ways than one. It was based around a fighting competition, held loads of humor, was action packed, contained different races of species and even had the same blocky artistic style. While this manga might not be my cup of tea, I believe that fans of those elements and Dragon Ball Z will enjoy this manga and find it fun as well as funny.

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This manga was delightfully weird. It absolutely didn't take itself seriously and was a lot of fun to read. I will admit I didn't fully understand what was going on but that's most likely a "me" thing than a knock on the manga. The characters were strange and silly and made me giggle out loud. I will definitely purchase this when it's released.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the digital ARC!

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I did not care for this book at all. It wasn't necessarily bad, but I was drawn in by the art and was disappointed by the story. I really thought I would like this one.

The story follows after the current lord of the demons is slain by a human (there is a war between the demons and humans). A fight in the underworld is commencing to crown the next lord of demons, but everything is messed up when a human - Helck - joins in the battles and starts winning. And not just the games, but the hearts of the demon audience. He claims to hate humans but is a human himself?

The character Helck is portrayed as being kind of a himbo - which I can get behind. But the main character, a high caliber demon herself sets out to figure out what Helck is really up to....if he is indeed up to anything at all...

I read the whole volume, but was still no closer to figuring out exactly what was going on. Maybe it was just me?

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I had fun with Helck! Watching a normal human* be ridiculously overpowered while the demons try to reign in the damage control he has caused and is still causing during a tournament of power is a simple, fun time. It would be really easy to cast Helck in a villainous role in this kind of series, but this volume goes out of it's way to show that our chiseled normal human* is a good cook, nice guy, and he's not totally brawns over brain, either. Surely, nothing else is going on beneath the surface of this RPG-flavored comedy plot!

*This normal human is built like He-Man and gives off big himbo energy, and it's delightful.

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I started but didn't finish it. I was bored right from the get-go, so didn't feel compelled to keep reading even early on. The art didn't wow me either.

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A promising first volume! Helck has a dynamic art style, some fantastic character designs and a story that starts off at a fun and exciting pace.

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