written by Naoki Urasawa

For Dr. Tenma, a Japanese surgeon who’s moved to Germany to work in a Dusseldorf hospital, work is all about saving people’s lives. He’s frustrated by the politics of the hospital, and how the lives of “important” people are put ahead of the lives of everyone else. When a boy with a bullet in his head is brought in, Dr. Tenma works on him instead of the mayor who’s brought in shortly afterward. Dr. Tenma knows he’s the only chance the boy has for living.
 
And the boy does live. But the mayor does not. Dr. Tenma is blamed and his career is virtually over. But then some of the hospital staff is murdered, including the director who was so opposed to Dr. Tenma’s decision to save the boy over the mayor. Soon afterward, the little boy disappears and we learn that his parents have also been murdered. The only one left untouched in the bloodbath is the boy’s twin sister, but she too has gone missing.
 
Years pass. Dr. Tenma is again a well-respected physician. The murders have yet to be solved and a serial killer (or killers?) is on the loose. And now well-to-do families with no children are being killed.
 
The lead suspect for all these murders? Dr. Tenma.
 
But who is the real culprit? Well, it appears to be the little boy Tenma saved, who’s now grown into a man with blood on his hands. Yes, Dr. Tenma put his principles before his career, and it backfired, because he let the mayor die and saved the life of a monster.
 
All the same, how could a boy kill people? Let alone a boy who was wounded when the killings happened? There is more to this than meets the eye, so Dr. Tenma, needing to clear his name, investigates the background of the monster he helped unleash on Germany. The story gets stranger and stranger, and at this point, the reader is figuring out things alongside Dr. Tenma. We don’t know any better than he does of what’s happening.
 
Monster is really an incredible read in every sense. The drama is there, and the intrigue, and the passion for Dr. Tenma, who’s a hero in the story from the very beginning. The art is also terrific, from character expressions to realistic portrayals of Germany, like the details done on Heidelberg Castle. The only real negative side would be the necessary suspension of disbelief at parts, but if you go along for the ride, it’s absolutely worth it. This series is highly recommended. 

-- Danica Davidson

Commenting closes after a story has been up for 2 months.