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EAGLE VOL. 22: FATHER & SON
Recommended (8/10)
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Viz Comics
Writer/Artist: Kaiji Kawaguchi
Translation: Yuji Oniki
Touch-Up Artist: Steve Dutro
Editor: Carl Gustav Horn
Price: $6.95 US/$11.50 CAN |
And so the
series that began my slow spiral into manga collecting comes to an end. The
finale is not quite as strong as I had hoped, veering into almost soap operatic
territory for a good portion of it, but it's a satisfying conclusion to what has
been a fairly incredible saga. The examination of politics, mixed in with the
politics of family and history, has been well-researched and entertaining, and
in this concluding volume we get a nice conclusion to the story of Takashi Jo
and Ken Yamaoka, as well as a lovely parallel between Takashi and Ken that had
not occurred to me previously.
Throughout this story, there
have been two important stories. The tale of Kenneth Yamaoka's race for the
Presidency was an important story, but perhaps more important was the story of
Takashi Jo, young reporter and son of Yamaoka, and I have to admit to being
pleased at the way Kawaguchi brings them together in this final issue. The
reason for Yamaoka's abandonment of Takashi and his mother, and indeed the
reason for Yamaoka to request Takashi's presence on his campaign, have both been
shrouded in mystery since the beginning. At the end, we get an explanation for
both, and it makes sense, making Yamaoka a more sympathetic character and
explaining the seeming inconsistency of those two actions.
Though I spent a fair bit of
time complaining about Takashi's relationship with Rachel, I see in this final
issue just how important a story element it has been. The parallels between his
relationship and the one that Yamaoka had with Takashi's mother are made very
clear in this issue, and that delivers a choice for Takashi that was important
to the emotional closure of the book. Though I had thought the big climax of
this story would in fact be Yamaoka's win or loss in the race for the
Presidency, in fact it is a smaller and more personal relationship that gives
the most satisfying ending and change in character for the book.
I did sometimes find myself amused or annoyed by the over-dramatic storytelling style that Kawaguchi uses, and unfortunately that was the case this issue as well. Having the manipulative father-in-law take care of his henchman and perform a rather outrageous feat in order to push Yamaoka to victory felt more like something that belonged in Days of Our Lives than West Wing, and weakened the beginning of the issue quite a bit for me.
Fortunately, the story quickly veered back on course, but it was elements like
this, which took the story from the realm of idealized fiction into melodrama,
that were the main flaws of the story.
If nothing else, Eagle has been successful in opening my eyes to the
potential that manga has. It hasn't been a boon to my comics budget, but it has
allowed me to read some books that I wouldn't have given even a second glance to
previously. More importantly, though, it has been a breath of fresh air in
comics, with subject matter that is barely covered in comics at all and doing it
very well.
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