Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, Part 1: Phantom Blood vol. 2

The good news, for anyone who decided to stick around after the first volume’s rocky and dated start, is that things are getting better.  It takes a while for Jonathan Joestar and Dio to finish their business from the previous volume, in the form of an epic battle in the former’s mansion — while it’s on fire!  Then mangaka Hirohiko Araki breaks out the tropes to introduce us to Baron Zeppeli.  Not only is he here to let Jonathan know that Dio is NOT DEAD, but the man is going to teach our hero the fighting technique that will allow him to defeat his nemesis.  After a week of (off-panel) training, Jonathan heads off with Zeppeli and crafty thief Speedwagon (because someone needs to serve as comic relief here) to Dio’s stronghold town of Windknight’s Lot.  There, he encounters vampirized and zombified versions of Jack the Ripper, knights Tarukus and Blueford, and some regular zombies ready to defend Dio to their (un)deaths.  Much punching, rending of limbs, and posing ensues from here.

It’s not at the level of the “Stardust Crusaders” arc, but I can see the sparks that eventually allowed the series to catch fire.  Aside from being incredibly gory, there’s some genuine creativity with how it’s handled here.  Jack’s initial encounter with Jonathan and co. occurs when he pops out of the decapitated horse that was drawing their carriage.  Then we get to see where he keeps all those knives he likes to use (it looks pretty painful).  The trend of villains with tortured backstories who have dedicated themselves to Dio also begins here with the two knights, and it’s nice to see some henchmen who don’t come off as disposable thugs.  Araki’s art also gets bigger and bolder here, inching towards fully stylized future glory.  Yeah, it’s a lot of burly dudes fighting with a hero who’s kind of bland as shonen manga protagonists go.  I’m still inclined to stick with it to see how much better the series can get before it really hits its stride.