Gehenna comics contain multitudes. There’s nudity, high-octane action, and busty women leaning into the sexploitative genre, but like some of the greats before it, it lifts up these powerful women by having them kick butt. Gehenna In Tokyo #1 launches a new miniseries featuring the title character, and while it’s not a continuation of the previous series, it’s set in the same universe. Here we find Gehenna attempting to end the contract on her life. The problem is, contracts are pretty easy to pass along to anyone willing.
One of the reasons Patrick Kindlon’s Gehenna speaks to me is its punk rock sensibility. It’s messy, loud, sometimes offensive, frequently innovative, and often far more original than other comics on the shelves. It’s also no-holds-barred action comics, never going too deep but keeping the slick coolness of its lead in focus.
Even if you haven’t read Gehenna: Naked Aggression, this issue is easy to jump into, and all you’re missing is the knowledge that Gehenna is really hard to kill and really good at killing mobsters and hitmen. This issue also delivers new info about her, fleshing her out a bit more. By the end of the issue, you’ll know Gehenna’s struggle a bit more, while writers Kindlon and Marco Ferrari also establish another kickass hired gun in the process.
Exciting stuff!
Credit: Image
The secret weapon of Gehenna in Tokyo is mangaka Atsuji Yamamoto, melding manga styles with a more American comic layout and feel. The issue opens with Gehenna getting beaten by an unknown tattooed assailant, and quickly, she’s being attacked by the Yakuza. Yamamoto keeps you invested in the hand-to-hand combat to start, drawing your eye to key fight moves and quick thinking by Gehenna. Your eye is drawn down the page once the Yakuza show up, from Gehenna using the guy she just beat as a human shield for all the bullets, then a cool shot of the skyscraper she’s in as the bad guys getting blown away.
The action never stops, moving seamlessly from one fight to the next, with a cutaway to Gehenna’s arch-enemy in this story making love to a woman in a bathhouse, and then right into a motorcycle chase. The fact that Yamamoto keeps you invested while Gehenna flings the motorcycle into a bad guy’s for another round of fighting shows how breakneck the action can be.
Since the sex scene between Chizu the Flame Demon and her lover establishes Chizu, it gives us some information, be it her calm demeanor or the woman she bagged. Did we need to see them topless? Probably not, but it also leans into this series’ anti-establishment attitude.
It’s also worth noting the use of sound effects in this book, many of which are in Japanese. Matt Battaglia designs and letters the issue, with the lettering larger than usual, likely to emulate manga. The sound effects, in particular, are great at drawing the eye or reframing the art. It’s a cool way to make the book feel louder and more aggressive.
Aside from the loudness and nudity not being everyone’s bag, this issue, like all Gehenna comics, is fairly simplistic. A quick flashback gives us a bit of info, but really, this is wall-to-wall action. It’s not thought-provoking, but that’s also not the point.
Gehenna in Tokyo #1 knows exactly what kind of comic it wants to be and executes that vision with confidence. Patrick Kindlon, Marco Ferrari, and Atsuji Yamamoto deliver a loud, violent, stylish thrill ride packed with inventive action sequences and memorable visuals. The issue expands Gehenna’s world just enough to raise the stakes while never losing sight of what makes the character compelling in the first place. Readers looking for layered drama may find it light on substance, but fans of high-energy action comics will find plenty to love. This is an exhilarating start to a new chapter for one of comics’ most unapologetically punk protagonists.
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