My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher Fantagraphics for an advanced copy of this new manga that updates a classic tale from the past and brings it to a dark future, one that looks very much like the results of the mistakes we are making today.

The future is looking dark. Real dark. And dangerous. People seem to enjoy leaders who like building monuments to themselves. People seem more than willing to sell their their souls for power. And violence seems to be more and more accepted in life. Search and Destroy Volume 1 is a reimagining of a manga tale Dororo written and illustrated by the God of Manga, Osamu Tezuka. This version by, Atsushi Kaneko, takes the original story and turns it up to eleven, moving the story to a future that seems on days away, and adding a little bit of the ultraviolence, that seems to surround us all.

The story takes place in a future city loaded with monuments to the powerful, and with giant cars that fill the streets. The powerful use cybernetic enhanced thugs to keep the human masses in line, leading to a world of fear, and quick savage violence. A young thief is about to meet a sad end when the thief is saved by something wearing a an animal hide that stinks to high heaven. The thief survives, surrounded by bodies, and tries to team-up with this creature, something the creature ignores. This creature looks like a young girl, with lots of cybernetic blades added, and seems to be on a quest, a quest that will lead to a lot more bodies before ending.

A familiarity with the story will Dororo would probably be helpful, just to get a gist of what is going on. The story might be a little hard to get into without it. That said I enjoyed this story, and especially the art, which does a lot of the work in the story. Manga with a lot of European influence. Also a mix of post-Soviet landscapes, statues to long dead icons, along with a strong feeling that there criminal aristocracy that controls everything. Everything is big the cars, the bad guys, the violence. However everything is really beautifully rendered, especially the action scenes which have a particular flow. And a few of the characters might seem familiar from other media. I swear the bad guy here is Zorg from The Fifth Element. And I think I recognized a few others, which again add to the story.

I enjoyed this and I am looking forward to other volumes in this series. A little odd, but a good story, that holds the reader, especially with the really good art work. I am excited to read more.

Fun post-apocalyptic robo-heist. Personally I thought the heavy black and white was a bit garish, more like a high visibility board book.