The Reformed

story by
Christopher Hart

manga by
Anzu

Del Rey, May 2008, 170 pp.
ISBN: 978-0-345-49663-8

Genre: Comics
Subgenres: Manga / Occult
Reviewed: 6/20/2008

Reviewed by: Conan Tigard

Book Cover

Manga Page

Synopsis

Giancarlo is hundreds of year old. He has money, a servant, is wealthy, and lives in a beautiful mansion. One night, he helps out a girl who is being mugged. Her name is Jenny and he offers to take her to his place so she can get cleaned up. Blue, Giancarlo's driver, drives them home, starts a fire to help dry Jenny's clothes, and cooks dinner for them. One thing leads to another and Giancarlo and Jenny end up spending the night together.

Detective Frost is a young police officer who becomes interested in a string of murders. The seventh victim of the Vampire Killings has just been found. All victims have been street walkers, have two puncture marks on their throats, and all of their blood has been drained. Detective Frost badly wants this case. When the lieutenant does finally assign Frost to the case, the first person Frost thinks of is Giancarlo. Finding circumstantial evidence that Giancarlo might be a vampire, Frost tries to convince Jenny not to see the Giancarlo anymore.

Meanwhile, Giancarlo has been doing some investigating himself. Although he is a vampire, he has not been killing the women. Giancarlo is no longer interested in being part of the Dark World. He confronts Urso, the demon that has been killing the prostitutes. But, Giancarlo is too weak to succeed.

Later, when Giancarlo tries to tell Jenny a little about himself, she freaks out when she thinks that he has been murdering her friends. Soon, she comes to realize that Giancarlo is fighting his own demons as he wants to be on the side of the good, not the bad.

Finally, Jenny makes a decision to be with Giancarlo, but is it too late? Urso has his eyes on Jenny and will stop at nothing to kill her.

The Reformed is a manga book written by Christopher Hart and drawn by Anzu. This book was Lettered by Michaelis / Carpelis Design. There is also some special extras in the following sections: A) Afterward by Christopher Hart, B) Afterward by Anzu, and C) Illustration Gallery. This manga book is intended for readers ages 16 and up.

Review

The Reformed is a gothic tale about a vampire with a conscious. He decides that he no longer wants to live the life of a vampire. I had a little problem with this. Vampires are the undead. They do not have a soul, which is why they can kill humans so easily. they feel no remorse. They cannot fall in love. Yet, Giancarlo does, which is why he wants to change.

I was reading the Afterward by Christopher Hart and he talks about how he had an idea breeze past his brain to have a vampire with a conscious and how this idea intrigued him. I had to laugh out loud. In 1997, Buffy the Vampire Slayer aired on television and ran for seven years. One of the main characters was Angelus "Angel", a vampire who had gotten his soul back because of a gypsy curse. On his spinoff show Angel, David Boreanaz continued playing Angelus and he would hunt down other demons and kill them while helping out humans. Hmmm . . . Giancarlo sounds strangely familiar.

Other than this obvious parallel, I quite enjoyed The Reformed. The storytelling was quite good and the artwork was good. I felt that the manga, although it was very detailed, seemed a little primitive, like Anzu is a new artist and hasn't quite got it all down yet. At least, that is what I felt. It may not be true. Still, even with all these minor things, I really enjoyed the book. I read it all in one sitting and was a little bummed that it is a one-shot. I did like all of the characters and the book ends with an interesting twist.

Overall, The Reformed is a great manga book and I highly recommend it to anyone that loves books about vampires.

I rated this book an 8½ out of 10.