King City has a long and sordid history.  August marked the first run on King City in what Brandon Graham calls the “burly” 32 page over size book form.  This gives Brandon more space to play with, and that leads to some interesting inserts.  If you aren’t reading this book, you should be.  Amazon has the manga, but your local store might be carrying the Image stuff.  If the story is already written in the manga, which book should you fork over your hard earned internet dollars for?

Following our protaganist, Joe the Cat Master, the titular King City is a place full of spies.  The most recent issues put the cat Master in Danger with the Owl Gang and begin to show more of the sordid world Pete (Joe’s best friend) and Joe have to work in.  For those that are following from the beginning, we see why Joe needed the key he stole in the first issue, and what secrets the Owl Gang fights so hard to protect.  We also get a glimpse of the darker side that survivors of the Korean Xombie War (from Issue 2) face just trying to get through a day of their lives.

This is a world full of humor, sarcasm and street life.  The urban is captured very well.  Brandon told me this was the closest he’d ever come to autobiographical comics.  Heavily influenced by graffiti and the vibe of the streets, the most valuable asset of King City is its ability to draw you into the world.  That street vibe carries us into the depths of a treasure filled city running on power generated by the heart of a Godzilla like monster (more on that in later issues).

The TokyoPop manga ends halfway through the series run.  This gives you a very clear picture of the direction the story was headed before the project was scrapped (and later revived).  This amounts to roughly 6 issues worth of Image stuff that is a repeat of the manga.  During my interview with Brandon, we talked about additions that had been put into the image stuff, and having read the issues myself, the extras are worth it.

This all goes back to what makes Brandon such a great artist and creator.  What’s great about the oversize volume is that all the inserts that made the manga stand out as different are almost doubled in the image volume.  No ads leave space for  lots of content.  For example, an advisory warning for the drug “Chalk” teaches you about the dangers of the substance, a crossword puzzle quiz concerning a Russian Sasquatch to keep kids busy for hours or a short about Brandon himself running from his own creations.  It’s this extra content that immerses you in Joe’s world and colors the not so black and White King City.

If you are looking for a book that will surprise you every time you open it, go to your store and buy King City.  If you are disappointed, comment here and I will personally apologize to you.

I’m Rich, and that’s how Comics have Impacted me

Richard Bashara
Rich@Comicimpact.com