Review by Frank Plowright

A joy of reading good writing is the ability of the writers to be able to sell the impossible utterly convincingly. Is there an area of forest in Yorkshire where an ancient Forest God known as Hili still holds sway? Naoki Urasawa and Hokusei Katsushika will have you utterly believing that’s the case as mysterious events plague an archaeological dig, bolstering their credibility with a strange young child attuned to woodland wildlife.

After nine volumes there’s a comforting certainty to Master Keaton. Each volume will have a story about Keaton’s father, one about Keaton befriending a lonely youngster, one where meets an old friend or classmate, and he’s likely to be carrying out insurance investigations in Germany and the UK. The certainty shouldn’t be mistaken for predictability. Within those parameters the stories are immaculately drawn, well researched in the days before online connections and provide likeable people in hard times. You’ll want to see justice done, or hope things will work out for them, admire their persistence and bravery, and have the utmost confidence in Keaton to put things right. He has the qualities that make people under-rate him the same way they underestimated Columbo.

Along the way Katsushika and Urasawa won’t shy away from the unsavoury politics of other countries, although they’re noticeably reticent when it comes to commentary on Japan. Look to Master Keaton 10 to put that right. The only continued story here concerns the disclosure of evidence about how the 1980s Falklands War was provoked to boost the British Prime Minister’s failing popularity and boosted the coffers of British Aerospace. It’s a view long held among a minority in the UK, and of course dismissed as conjecture by the British establishment, but here the basis for an intriguing game of cat and mouse between entrenched views and an iconoclastic TV journalist determined to broadcast the truth. He’s drawn to resemble Richard Branson, so make of that what you will.

As usual, Keaton’s unique blend of military training, deductive mind and archaeological skills are all called on in another selection of very readable stories, although some regular readers may this time be ahead of Keaton in solving a couple of the mysteries. Whether this is just familiarity resulting in being able to put the reader in the writer’s mindset or signs of a slight decline will be proved next time.