Review by Frank Plowright

The zombie apocalypse is here, and the unlikely possible saviour is Hideo Suzuki, at 35 still a studio assistant to a manga artist. Hideo’s a bundle of insecurities combined with obsessive/compulsive routines who repeats the title as a confidence boosting mantra, yet also one of the few in Tokyo with a shotgun licence, a responsibility he takes seriously.

It took Kengo Hanazawa a fair time to get going over Omnibus 1, but once the dangers arrived he picked up the pace and I Am A Hero became quite the thriller. As Omnibus 2 opens the city at large remains ignorant about what’s going on, and Hideo’s getting pelters for not showing due consideration for those who’re patently ill. The sample page shows him in a taxi along with two people gradually becoming zombies, a terrifying enough experience brilliantly escalated by Hanazawa, partially via Hideo just being too damn polite.

The upside to Hanazawa’s pacing sometimes being extremely leisurely is that he takes the same meticulous approach to his artwork. He’s not content to tell his story via figures and the occasional basic background, and includes every detail for a real experience. The effort taken over the telegraph poles and wire in the sample art brings to mind the animation of Makoto Shinkai, and Hanazawa’s version of a dense forest is equally stunningly rendered. Although Hanazawa’s already highlighted the Japanese studio system, so these could be the work of assistants while Hanazawa concentrates on the figures.

Hideo’s personality is no accidental blessing, but essential to the horror. He barely functions in the real world, so when that falls apart his few certainties disappear along with it. An extended sequence shows him having to spend a night alone in the woods, a situation massively removed from his comfort zone, but one that’s eventually to his benefit, and where most of the remainder of Omnibus 2 is set. The exceptions are sequences flashing back to how life is for Hiromi, a girl nearing the end of her school years, and the final chapter’s closure where a new form of horror is introduced.

By the end Hideo has managed to access government emergency footage, and it seems the situation is so much worse than he imagined. That takes us to Omnibus 3.

At times you’ll wish Hanazawa would just pick up the pace and wonder why he considers so many pages necessary for a relatively straightforward sequence of events, but if you want the great moments, that’s the price. I Am A Hero continues to astonish.