Compared to the Phantom Blood Arc, Battle Tendency hits the ground running. Sure, we have an introduction that updates us on Speedwagon and reveals Straizo as the first big bad guy; but we also get to a full-powered JoJo much faster.

This JoJo (Joseph Joester) enters the story in his late teens with a natural gift for Hamon, whereas Jonathan needed to train extensively with Zeppeli. Normally I'm against “natural talent” characters, but Jonathan Joestar maturation into a hero took up two thirds of the first book. If Hirohiko Araki wants to skip a second origin story so he can dive into his pulpy vision of late 1930s New York, I’m totally cool with it.

That raises the question of what is late 1930s New York to a manga artists in the 1980s? Dirty cops roaming the streets, putting the squeeze on small time criminals. The cops are portrayed as human monsters with grossly exaggerated features that reflect the ugliness inside. Naturally, seeing the weak being preyed upon by the corrupt and powerful sets our hero into action.  

Joseph Joestar deals with this injustice in a most American way—a Coca Cola bottle cap Hamonded (I made a new verb!) through a dirty cop’s thumb. Two fights to defend Smokey (the African American kid named after Smokey Robinson) show this JoJo to be just as good-hearted and skilled as his grandfather. However, he is a little more hot tempered as the Mafia goons he butts up against find out the hard way. But we all know JoJo is not really going to work up a sweat until he crosses paths with a super-natural bad guy and that brings us to Straizo.

Straizo’s an interesting choice as villain for the first act. He was an ally to the first JoJo against Dio, but that was half a century ago. He knows the power of the stone mask kept Dio “young and beautiful" and now he wants the power for himself. Even though Straizo is just a warm-up for something much worse to come, he’s far from a weakling. His battle with JoJo starts with him being unhurt by a full clip of Thompson submachine gun fire. JoJo blasting away with a Tommy Gun is the world’s image of America in the 1930s on a splash page! I love it!

One of the reasons Straizo is such a fun villain is the sheer grossness of his abilities! If you read the description, Straizo is basically blasting JoJo with tears and/or mucus. “Moisture from his eyes” can only mean so many things and you don’t want to touch any of it. The battle with Straizo ends with JoJo finding out about the greater threat that the reader has seen in the background since the beginning of Battle Tendency—the Pillar Men. 

The next major fight, between JoJo and Santviento the Pillar Man has a very different tone than the fight with Straizo. And before that battle even starts, we see a Nazi getting a shaving cut licked. That screams “we're going into horror.” Since the wound licking adds little to the story and said Nazi later acts heroically, I assume the rather jarring scene is pure atmosphere.

All that combined with a sense of claustrophobia adds to the terror. After all, the Pillar Man starts as a giant, shrinks down to do the classic horror bit “Oh my GOD, it’s in the vents!” and finally bursts out of a man's body! How do you beat such a thing? With irreverent humor, of course. What makes this fight particularly amusing is it's super gross and super funny. One minute, the Pillar Man, Santviento, is bursting out of bodies sending bloody chunks everywhere, the next JoJo's goofing around cracking ridiculous jokes at the most inappropriate times. It's a wonderfully conflicting read that will have you laughing and cringing from one moment to the next. 

This is a great start to a new arc and it's all wrapped up in a beautiful fancy hardcover edition. And the new red color scheme is sure to make a bold statement on your shelf! Don't miss the first volume of the Battle Tendency storyline! 

You can see some dramatic poses and super gory fights by picking up this volume available here! 

by Rob McCarthy