With Search and Destroy, Atsushi Kaneko (Soil, Deathco) takes the basics of Tezuka's masterpiece and transposes it into an uncompromising science fiction story!
Tezuka revisited
This year, Delcourt editions continue to celebrate with fanfare the 90th anniversary of the birth of the genius Osamu Tezuka! After the release in early February of the prestige edition of Dororo as well as the first volume of the tribute magazine Tezucomi, it is the turn of Atsushi Kaneko to get his hands on the work. With Search and Destroy, he promises us a triptych bursting with talent and infernal rhythm. Search and Destroy sets its story in the heart of the city of Hachisuka. Here, misery and luxury rub shoulders in the streets ravaged by a former civil war. Behind the buildings and gigantic statues hailing the victory, humans and robotic creatures called "creech" try to survive. This is the case of young Doro, a little boy who earns his living by robbing passers-by. But he commits one too many thefts the day he breaks into the apartments of Kick, the powerful Creech leader of the local underworld. As he is about to be eliminated, a figure armed to the teeth appears! She decimates in the blink of an eye Kick's close guard and then the godfather himself, and finishes by taking his tongue … This silhouette with mechanical limbs is Hyaku. Orphaned by war, the girl has a revenge to take! Indeed, when she was a child, forty-eight "creatures" dismembered her body to grab the pieces. Since then, Hyaku, transformed into a machine, leads a ruthless revenge to recover what belongs to him! And it seems that the young Doro and his special abilities could be a valuable asset…
A rabid quest for identity!
Search and Destroy takes up the main lines of Dororo's story: a seemingly mismatched duo, a body divided into 48 parts, a fight against malevolent forces. But where Atsushi Kaneko stands out is first and foremost through his inimitable graphic style. Thus, in a play of shadows and light, the boards become very cinematic. The fight scenes are masterfully transcribed, with a very immersive rendering (see the fight in the motorway tunnel, a real nugget!). Search and Destroy's second strength is its main character. Indeed, Hyaku poses from the beginning as a strong heroine, with a face marked by an anger that nothing seems to be able to bend. However, behind his body made of metal, it is very human emotions that collide! The last part of this first volume allows us to learn more about her, and to understand the stakes of the battle she undertook. Because beyond a fight against corrupt and criminal "creech", Hyaku is looking for an identity, his own identity. Who is she? What is his past? Why was she a victim of these forty-eight creatures? Will finding the parts of her body be enough to soothe this rage that bubbles inside her? Will she reach the end of this desperate quest? Finally, some touches of humor (Doro's bagout, the little robotic nurses …) bring down the pressure. Because from the first cover, the tension is at its maximum! Hyaku's color scheme and almost hallucinated look catch the reader and offer a taste of what the story will be: a titanic war between enemies ready for anything! Search and Destroy transcends homage to become a unique work, putting science fiction at the service of a gripping and intense narrative. This first volume lays the solid foundations of a quest for identity with multiple ramifications: objectification, discrimination, question of innate and nurtured, resistance to oppression… Immerse yourself without hesitation in this masterful reinterpretation of Dororo, alongside Hyaku, the girl with the skin of a beast! Series planned in 3 volumes, Delcourt/Tonkam editions. To read an excerpt, it's here! To see Atsushi Kaneko's interview about Search and Destroy, it's here !
