One-Punch Man vols. 30 & 31

I was thinking about skipping a writeup of vol. 30 for this series.  Why?  Because it was just more of the same expertly executed superhero fighting that we’ve been seeing for a while now.  The stakes get larger as Black Spermatozoon takes on a more powerful form, Garo re-emerges from the underground, and Homeless Emperor and President Ugly show more of what they’re capable of.  What’s left of the Hero Association hasn’t given up either as Genos and Terrible Tornado fight on against impossible odds with what they have left, Atomic Samurai gets an upgrade at a terrible cost, and Bang prepares for his final full-on fight – this one against his wayward pupil.  It’s interesting to see the history of Bang and Bomb here, but the volume’s gutsiest move is in how it sets things up at the end for a big confrontation between the Monster Association and the World’s Strongest Man, King.

That’s how vol. 31 begins on an interesting note.  One of the longest-running subplots/jokes in this series has been how King is just an ordinary human that everyone, Heroes and Monsters alike, have fooled themselves into thinking is the World’s Strongest Man.  Now he’s facing his greatest threat and… both sides still haven’t realized this and it winds up being their respective salvation and destruction here.  Whether or not this is actually funny, well… I guess that would depend on your thoughts regarding this subplot so far.

One of the things that “One-Punch Man’s” writer, ONE, has concerned himself with over the course of this series, as well as in “Mob Psycho 100,” is how heroism is perceived.  Saitama may be able to defeat any enemy in a single blow, but he doesn’t present like the kind of person with that kind of power, and he also got terrible marks in the written part of the association to join the Hero Association.  King, however, has an imposing look to himself, his signature rumbling “King Engine” that lets people know he’s getting ready to bring the pain, and a well-established reputation when we first meet him in the series.  All of that causes everyone to believe the hype regarding him and things have continued working out in a way that continues to support that.

What we’ve gotten here is a long-running joke about humanity’s capacity for self-delusion and how things can conspire to feed into that.  Every outward sign shows that King is an individual of immense, almost godlike power, and it’s because of that reputation that no one has actually thought to test it.  So belief in it continues to grow bigger and bigger until we get to a point where the character is finally going to be turned into a fine red mist by forces that are logarithmically more powerful than he is.

As to whether or not that happens here, long-time readers will likely find no surprise in that.  They’ll likely be more impressed by the lengths ONE and artist Yusuke Murata go in order to set up King’s Supreme Purgatorial Explosive Heat Wave-Motion Gun as an elaborate gag.  That’s how I felt, at least as the character has always walked a fine line between drawing sympathy for his situation, and how he still tries to front as a proper hero and enjoy the perks of such.  I do wonder if the series is headed towards a reveal that King actually does have the power to triumph over the forces against him, so long as he makes a proper effort to face off against them as he does here.  That does seem unlikely, so it seems that we’ll just have to content ourselves with seeing the writer and artist dream up even more elaborate scenarios for King to improbably succeed in.

King’s big moment may be a big part of this volume, but it’s not the only significant part of it.  To my surprise, the creators manage to pull off the reveal of even bigger threats facing down the Heroes here.  We get a couple of Threat Level “Unknowns” at the end which seem imposing enough and look like they’ll be providing credible threats for the cast to face down in vol. 32.  However, they’re secondary to the reveal of what looks to be the actual Big Bad of “One-Punch Man” here.  The eldritch horror that can only be described as God.  Or, Threat Level “God,” if that makes it more palatable.

This thing isn’t given a name, but it’s given an imposing entrance as it emerges from the Moon and proceeds to withdraw the power from a member of the Monster Association in dramatic fashion.  More surprising, and genuinely creepy once it’s revealed, is an encounter this thing has with a member of the Hero Association which implies that it’s not really about using raw power to achieve its goals.  That, along with this thing’s look, make it a skin-crawlingly good addition to the series despite the brevity of its appearance.  Is it the thing that will finally provide Saitama the chance to have the knock-down, drag-out fight that he’s always dreamed of?  Probably not, but if he ever does have to throw down with this thing, I’ll be glad to see it wiped out of existence with one punch.

Oh, and Saitama does make another appearance here.  He, Flashy Flash, and Manako finally make their way back above ground and his first instinct is to go check on his buddy, running past Garo to do so.  It’s a nice moment and the scene of King being pathetically grateful to the man is also cute too.  I’d complain about him being further sidelined in his own title, but that really feels besides the point here.  It’s clear that he’s not going to play a major role in the story until its climax, and even then the question is whether or not he’ll actually have a genuine fight with Threat Level “God” or just knock its ass out with one punch (bet on the latter).

These two volumes show that not only can this series deliver the superhero goods when it’s just moving characters from point A to B in the plot, but there’s still interesting stuff going on thematically and plot-wise in it as well.  This fight against the Monster Association may have been going on for so, so long, but it still continues to surprise and raise the stakes into what’s looking like a proper apocalyptic conflict.  That’s impressive on its own terms, even as I wonder how all this is going to fare on a re-read, and if that will provide a refresher on how King’s superhero career originated or if it’ll just remain the longest-running joke this title has perpetuated.