With more people reading manga and Webtoons (aka vertical scroll comics) than ever before, Beat’s Bizarre Adventure gives three writers an opportunity each week to recommend some of their favorite books and series from Japan, Korea and elsewhere. In this special 50th installment of the column, we have talking lizards, a sexy demon king, and the birth of gekiga. Also, Justin Guerrero wrote about BIONICLE.
The Lucifer and Biscuit Hammer
Writer/Artist: Satoshi Mizukami
Translation: Jocelyne Allen
Adaptation: Ysabet Reinhardt MacFarlane
Lettering: Lys Blakeslee
Publisher: Seven Seas
It begins the way that these stories often do. “One morning I woke up,” a boy named Yuuhi says, “and there was a lizard in my room. We stared at each other until the silence was broken…by the lizard.” The lizard introduces himself as the knight Neu Crescent, who seeks “to defend our lady from the evil wizard who seeks to destroy the planet.” Would Yuuhi be so kind as to help him in his quest? Yuuhi wants no part in it; he throws the lizard out the window.
The Lucifer and Biscuit Hammer follows your expectations to a point: a boy is chosen by a mysterious power to save the world from destruction. But then he turns it down, because who would actually accept something as ridiculous as that? Later, when Yuuhi meets the lady that the lizard wants him to defend, she turns out to be his next-door neighbor Samidare—and she’s already decided to use her newfound power to destroy the world after the wizard is defeated.
Yuuhi and Samidare team up with a dozen others and their animal companions to defeat the golems, servants of the wizard. It’s an ordinary battle action story except when it isn’t. Yuuhi’s teammates include children, office workers and an old man. Sometimes they die in battle (including the children!) Rather than a team of larger-than-life shonen heroes, the cast of Biscuit Hammer are just ordinary people thrown into an extraordinary situation and asked to make great sacrifices.
At the center of it all is Yuuhi and Samidare’s relationship. Yuuhi was abused, Samidare is terminally ill. They are united by their belief that the world is unjust and must be obliterated. But could there be another way forward that lets them live out the rest of their lives rather than reject the future?
Satoshi Mizukami improved significantly over the course of drawing The Lucifer and Biscuit Hammer. By the time he drew Spirit Circle in 2012, he had found his groove as an artist, telling heartfelt stories of love and pain across multiple genres. While that series would be my first recommendation for new readers, I still have a soft spot in my heart for Biscuit Hammer. It’s the kind of book you could live your life without stumbling on, but when you do, you feel glad for having found it. — Adam Wescott
Seduced by the Demon King: A Sensual Rebirth
Writer/Artist: FOXIES
Translation: Christine Dashiell
Lettering: Carl Vanstiphout
Publisher: Seven Seas
If you’re looking for a spicy blend of supernatural fantasy, reincarnation drama, and dangerously tender romance, Seduced by the Demon King: A Sensual Rebirth might be your next guilty pleasure. This manga offers an enchanting escape into a world where love and vengeance dance hand-in-hand, all sparked by a fateful encounter between an overworked office worker and a devilishly charming stranger who just so happens to be a Demon King.
At its heart, the story follows Haruka, a weary real estate employee drowning in workplace mishaps and heartbreak. Her humdrum existence is shattered when a mysterious man—claiming to be a Demon King—crashes into her life, literally, via a meteor through her window. He boldly declares she was once a saint and his mortal enemy in a past life. Now he’s back to exact revenge; not through violence, but by giving her joy so intense it shatters her soul before casting her into utter despair.
Beyond its sexual packaging, Seduced by the Demon King taps into a deeper emotional terrain: the juxtaposition of past-life burdens with present-day desires. Haruka’s journey from skepticism to surrender isn’t just a trope, but a cleverly layered exploration of trust, memory, and emotional rebirth. The Demon King, while vowing to ruin her, becomes her fiercest protector and most attentive lover. The tension between his dark goals and the tenderness he shows creates a delicious emotional whiplash.
Aside from being eye candy, the Demon King is a complex figure grappling with lingering grief and suppressed affection. Haruka, a corporate drone, gradually reclaims her inner strength as fragments of her saintly past resurface. Scenes where she tries to make him smile, even though he’s supposed to be her destroyer, tug at the heart between the steamy moments.
I am very picky when it comes to adult romance. The artist’s style, page layouts, and the transitions to and from erotic scenes should be perfectly balanced in terms of keeping and releasing tension. drawing style, transitions from normal scenes to erotic scenes, overall page design etc are all should be perfectly balanced in terms of keeping and releasing the tension, surprising the reader, etc. In these respects Seduced by the Demon King is on par with my favorites. The only place where it comes up short is story development, which I think could use improvement. But I have high hopes for later volumes. — Ilgın Side Soysal
A Drifting Life
Writer/Artist: Yoshiharu Tatsumi
Translation: Taro Nettleson
Editing and Design: Adrian Tomine
Publisher: Drawn & Quarterly
Surely in the pantheon of great graphic novels, A Drifting Life ranks as one of the greatest. Few comics work simultaneously as a work of autobiography, history (both of country and art form), comics criticism, and a call to action. This mammoth work written and drawn by master cartoonist Yoshiharu Tatsumi feels immense and not just because the physical book could be a doorstop.
The core of the story is the genesis of the manga industry as well as the formation of gekiga, a manga movement aimed at creating more adult and literary work. The ideas behind it and the arguments around aesthetic choices will fuel manga as an art form for years to come. Tatsumi includes figures ranging from the God of Manga himself Osamu Tezuka to Golgo 13 creator Takao Saito.
Tatsumi’s narrative begins during his teenage years and ends with the publication of his work Black Blizzard. In between, he tracks his growth as an artist, but also details his doubts and frustrations. The joy of this book lies in seeing him apply the lessons he learns from art, literature and his life in post World War II Japan to his practice. When his younger self declares that he will create gekiga at the end, it’s a moment of triumph for both himself and the art form.
What makes all of this so powerful isn’t Tatsumi telling his story or using it as a way to document a piece of history. It’s that he frames his story as part of a continuum. Tezuka influences him which in turn leads him to create art that influences and will influence others. At the same time, he’s taking in art literature from his home country and abroad. He wants his readers to remember that art doesn’t exist in a vacuum. It’s the sum of who both we are as people and how we react to art around us. — D. Morris
BIONICLE
Writer: Gregory T. Farshtey
Artists: Randy Elliot, Ray Kryssing, Stuart Sayger, Leigh, Gallagher, Pop Mhan
Publisher: DC
BIONICLE was a series of popular buildable figurines by LEGO that lasted from 2001 to 2010, with a brief resurgence around 2014 before it faded back into obscurity. It’s best known for its deep and rich lore inspired loosely by Polynesian culture. What people might not know, though, is that there was a BIONICLE comic series published by DC.
Each of its 48 issues was released monthly in comic stores and included for free with a monthly subscription of LEGO Magazine. I collected every issue from the 2004 Metru Nui story arc to the 2010 Glatorian arc; I unfortunately do not have any of the issues prior to that.
All of them were written by Gregory T. Farshtey, who also wrote the BIONICLE novels as well as the Ninjago graphic novels. His comics include plenty of the rich lore BIONICLE is known for: the island of Mata Nui, Metru Nui, and the constant battle between their light and the dark that is Makuta, the brother of Mata Nui. Mata Nui represents the joy of creation, crafting, and building with legos, while Makuta represents the destruction and chaos brought about by dismantling said creations. Together they are the yin and yang of the BIONICLE universe.
The Toa, bio-mechanical heroes summoned by Mata Nui from various origins, protect Mata and Metru Nui from Makuta and its destructive children. Each of the Toa represents an elemental power: Fire, Water, Air, Ice, Earth, and Stone. Their masks give them immense power.
Lore tidbits aside, let’s jump into the art! There have been various artists throughout the series, each with their own unique style. Randy Elliot was the penciler and inker from 2001 until 2005 with the conclusion to the Metru Nui arc. His very detailed linework and shading makes each BIONICLE character and environment look believable while staying true to the toy designs. Meanwhile, Ray Kryssing inked Elliot’s pencils from 2003 until 2005.
Starting from 2005’s Ignition arc and lasting until 2007’s Sea of Darkness arc, Stuart Sayger was brought on to do the pencils and inks. His grittier and edgier style in mind was meant to represent a tonal shift in BIONICLE at the time which compliments the brutal Piraka and eventually the deep ocean Barraki. Sayger was succeeded by Leigh Gallagher with the 2008 Battle for Power story arc; Gallagher shifted the book’s art style back towards Elliot and Kryssing. Finally, Pop Mhan was put in charge of the Glatorian arc that lasted from 2009 to 2010. That story concluded with the BIONICLE DVD film, BIONICLE: The Legend Reborn. I don’t have much to say about Mhan’s art except that his work is in line with Gallagher, Randy and Elliot.
As of writing it is difficult to find surviving physical copies of the BIONICLE comics. Right now, online resellers or your local comic book shop’s back issues are your best bet. That is, unless DC plans to re-release these comics one day for new and old readers to enjoy. — Justin Guerrero
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