Comic Book Review: Monster by Naoki Urasawa
Review by Jeffery J. Timbrell
“Is it better to out-monster the monster or to be quietly devoured?”
- Friedrich Nietzsche
Dr. Kenzo Tenma, a young and accomplished Japanese brain surgeon working in Dusseldorf in the 1980s has everything going for him. He’s got a beautiful fiancé, a promotion in the wings, and the favor of the director of the Hospital.
The only thing he doesn’t have is a clean conscience. Seeing the politics involved in the medical field, Tenma is conflicted over class-nepotism as rich and powerful people are given treatment before more deserving patients with less money. And this bias is costing innocent people their lives.
One night, a young boy with a terrible gunshot wound to the head, and a prominent politician in need of immediate brain surgery are both brought in at the same time. Tenma disobeys direct orders and operates on the boy instead. The boy named Johan is saved and the politician dies, costing Tenma his relationship, his social standing and his reputation as a doctor.
Not long after the successful surgery, the hospital is stricken with a series of murders and disappearances; which work to the direct advantage of Tenma and his career. Facing scrutiny from the police who suspect him because of the obvious motives, Tenma escapes conviction due to lack of evidence.
Nine years later Tenma is about to come face to face with the consequences of his actions on that fateful night. He’ll see the truth about his failed relationship and fiancé, he’ll see the man he could have become if he had done what he was told, and he’ll realize the man he has to become to correct his one, grievous mistake; a mistake that has been haunting him for nine long years.
You see, Doctor Tenma didn’t save the life of just any ordinary boy that night.
He saved the life of a MONSTER.
There are very few people whose talent makes me jealous, but Naoki Urasawa is just so ridiculously gifted that it seems unfair.
Urasawa, a winner of the prestigious Kodansha Award, a two-time winner of the Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize, a two time winner at the Japan Media Arts Awards for excellence, and a three-time winner of the Shogakukan Award, is easily one of the best storytellers on the planet today. His most famous project 20th Century Boys is already being made into a major motion picture, and this very comic book Monster has been adapted into one of the most popular and critically acclaimed TV series in Japan, and the rights have been bought for two films by New Line Cinema who have hired John Olsen (A History of Violence) to bring it to the big screen. And if Naoki Urasawa was just one of the most award-winning, successful, respected and accomplished writers in his medium, I wouldn’t complain.
No.
Urasawa is also one of the best artists. His panel-work is nothing short of phenomenal. His composition and balance between words and art shows a mature talent beyond his years, his work flows with the kind of natural sense of rhythm that makes comic books look easy. He’s a dynamic one-two punch combination for the medium. An extremely talented author and an extremely talented artist with the right level of experience and natural understanding to know how to exactly pace his story in comics.
And that’s not all.
Urasawa’s also an incredibly diverse and sophisticated storyteller with a deep selection of projects ranging from sports/comedy/romance (Yawara, the Fashionable Judo Girl) to insurance agent action adventure (Master Keaton) to middle-aged salary-man who wants to become Japan’s first astronaut (NASA) to the genre-breaking, conspiracy-filled, superhero story with no superheroes (20th Century Boys). Urasawa defies and breaks genre-boundaries like they didn’t even exist.
The guy’s so gifted it is freaking infuriating.
Monster is Naoki Urasawa doing horror fiction, and it’s one of the best horror stories on the planet, regardless of medium. He grabs the entire genre, twists and turns it inside out, creates a flawless blend of mystery and intrigue and horror, and everything works so well, you take it for granted. After reading several chapters of Monster I sat through the movie Turistas and it was like facing a sudden decompression after enduring ten thousand times the standard atmospheric pressure. Monster’s incredible density in comparison to the typical horror fare is astonishing.
I often praise the writers, directors and artists who choose the KISS method (or Keep It Simple Stupid) because for most people it’s the right one. The other path of complexity and layers is extremely difficult and beyond the storytelling capabilities of most authors. Urasawa makes complex multiple plot threads, powerful atmosphere, deep pathos and sophisticated characterization look like child’s play. He creates layers of complexity while somehow making it appear simplistic, where the reader doesn’t even notice the sheer depth of the plot until they stand back and let it unravel in their heads.
Urasawa ignores the regular routine of horror as if it never existed, focusing less on gore, creepy imagery and scares and focusing more on developing a story about characters caught within a spiraling mystery that consumes everyone in its path. Monster develops not in giant spurts through explosions of violence or dead bodies, but by inches. Creeping up on you a little bit at a time, until it completely surrounds and suffocates you. And you won’t see it coming. Urasawa develops a intricate Hitchcockian puzzle of lies and guilt and manipulation, he challenges the hero’s morality and beliefs with every twist and every turn. And while we follow Dr. Tenma as he chases the Devil itself, we find ourselves caught with the protagonist as he sinks deeper and deeper into the Monster’s quicksand.
Urasawa has a knack for capturing that integral sense of the ‘everyman’ in his protagonists, making them likable, identifiable and interesting. Urasawa’s heroes could be any of us. Equally Urasawa’s antagonists are the exact opposite taken to the extreme. Fans of 20th Century Boys will recognize the unflappable sense of confidence and remorseless ambition in Johan, two traits that made the iconic ‘Friend’ one of the best villains of recent comic history. Johan is not so frightening for what we see him do, but for the stories we hear from other people, what we discover about his past as the plot opens up, and Johan’s own casual, terrifying, disregard for human life. Johan is a formidable villain, not because we see the character devise clever traps or speak in pseudo-Hannibal Lector style commentary, but because Johan is so very alien. Johan wears the face of a human being and looks like one of us, but Johan is not one of us. Johan is a predator, a monster from birth, the kind of terror that could live in your neighborhood for years, only to come knocking at your door one pleasant Sunday morning, when you least expect it.
I don’t care if you love comics or hate them, if you enjoy the art in Japanese manga and anime, or if it makes you want to stab your eyeballs out and replace them with golf-balls. Great storytelling is great storytelling in any medium and if you love great stories and you’re not reading Naoki Urasawa, you are missing out. I don’t know how to make this statement any simpler for you, maybe hand signs, aircraft landing flares, a ritualistic dance in a bikini?
What else can I say?
Read the damn comic book.
Vol. 1 available on Amazon
Popularity: 4% [?]
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