Black Lagoon vol. 12
It’s only been a little over two-and-a-half years since the release of vol. 11. That’s progress, right! Well if you’re looking for an explanation as to why the second decade of “Black Lagoon’s” serialization has been more sporadic, the lengthy interview at the end of this volume with mangaka Rei Hiroe and his editor will explain things for you. In short, if you thought Hiroe was being lazy all this time, congratulations – you’re an asshole because he’s been suffering from depression! That said, the editor is absolutely right in that they should’ve announced this before rumors started spreading on social media. Fandom always tends to think the worst of creators when they don’t deliver after a while without any explanations. Just ask George R.R. Martin.
As for vol. 12 itself, it’s a step in the right direction for the series, even as I get the feeling that it’s never going to get back the momentum it had.
The setup for this new arc, “L’homme Sombre,” does get off to a good start as we’re introduced to the Five Digits. They’re a multi-ethnic group of five women who have come to Roanapur on the trail of a black man who was involved in something relating to Burkina Faso on September 18, 1989. We see in the first chapter that they’re as deadly a team of killers that this series has produced, so it’s not hard to take the threat they represent seriously. Especially when you realize that there’s one prominent black man in this story who is likely the man they’re looking for.
That’s right, this is where we’re finally going to find out about Dutch’s backstory after all these years… is what I thought after getting through that opening chapter. It’s been hinted at for a while that what little we know about the man is suspect, so the idea that we’re at long last going to get some information about it is definitely appealing. That Dutch will also be getting more of a prominent role in the series, after having spent so long in the background, also has its own appeal too.
The problem is that none of this actually happens in this volume. Despite being the ostensible target of the Five Digits, Dutch doesn’t wind up playing a major role in this storyline so far. “Black Lagoon” vol. 12 is still very much the Rock and Revy show, and while that’s always been true, it feels like it’s to the detriment of the story being told here. The implication is that this arc is finally going to go into detail regarding Dutch’s backstory and he doesn’t get a starring role in it. Continuing to focus on Rock and Revy feels weird and not in an entertaining chainsaw-wielding girl who is also a mute crime scene cleaner kind of way. I’d feel better about this if we got to see a new angle to their existing dynamic, but that’s not the case here.
What does work are the Five Digits themselves. Sporting black business suits like they just walked off the set of “Reservoir Dogs,” with all of Mr. Blonde’s people skills to boot, they make for a stylish first impression. There’s even just enough development to let us know that they’re not entirely plot devices, and actual humans who have been on this particular job for far too long. This is best seen through their angriest member, Le Majeur, who is nursing a nasty grudge about how things went down at their last stop.
In fact, it’s Le Majeur who gets the most interesting material in this volume. In addition to rubbing her comrades the wrong way, she’s eventually put in a position that causes this relationship to fracture. Left to help her through this are Rock and Revy, and I’ll at least give them credit for offering the exact kind of help that I’d expect them to. This leads to a ferocious shootout which closes the volume and promises a climax that’s fraught with drama. Maybe even actual answers about Dutch’s past that don’t amount to him just handwaving them away in favor of continuing the status quo.
All of this is to say that vol. 12 does have a lot of stuff I like about “Black Lagoon” from its expertly-staged action scenes, interesting antagonists, and morally questionable decision-making. Unfortunately, its handling of a long-teased backstory is more mystifying than actually interesting, leaving me to believe that Hiroe just couldn’t trust his audience enough to have them accept Dutch in a leading role for this storyline. I’m still onboard for finding out what happens next when vol. 13 arrives, but the wait for it isn’t going to bother me as much as it used to.