manga: Hellsing Vol 1

[meganbmoore]

Stealing the descriptions of others again:

There's a secret organization somewhere in England created to defend the Queen and country from monsters of all sorts. Yes, it's hard to believe in this day and age... but really, isn't this the true age of monsters? Enter Hellsing, an agency, long in tooth, with the experience, know-how, and... er... equipment to handle the problems that arise when vampires, ghouls, and the like take on these dark forces. "What equipment?" you may say. How about another vampire, and a big pistol loaded with special silver bullets? That oughta do the trick.


It leaves out the part where his boss, Intregral Hellsing found Alucard, the vampire in question, in the family dungeon when she was about 13, was relatively unphased when he slaughtered the people trying to kill her, and then used him as a shield when she shot their leader. Or how she went toe-to-toe with the genetically-enhanced priest who chopped him up. (It didn’t take for long.) Or the part where he acquires an underling by shooting through a cop to kill a vampire. After making sure she’s a virgin, so he can turn her.

In a lot of ways, it’s very much a case of style over substance, especially when it comes to Alucard and guns. The mangaka is very in love with drawing that. Or anyone with weapons. There also seems to be something of a glasses fetish going on, to the point where there’s a footnote saying “It’s starting to seem like everyone wears glasses. What to do?” And Alucard and Vash clearly have the same tailor.

It’s also quite fun, and some comments telophase  made at A-Kon have me very interested in reading more.

Spoil me and suffer torments far greater that what I can come up with off the top of my head.

Comments

[smillaraaq.livejournal.com]

Ah ha, something must be in the water. I've been meaning to check this one out for ages and ages, and that's been bumped up a little higher after hearing Red rave about it recently -- snagged a copy on BookMooch about a month ago that finally showed up today. And meanwhile, another friend has recently binged on it and is non-stop spazzing about her love for Integra -- and Niru's one with tastes very similar to mine, so that bodes well.

BTW, you may want to be a little cautious if you're considering looking for other works by the mangaka -- it's my understanding that prior to this series he was mostly doing hentai.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Didn't know Red was a fan. Not surprised, though.

I think I've heard that about the mangaka's other works. Though, really, the fact that there was a note about it not being an adult book right after pages and pages of blood splattered everywhere and bodyparts lying around and flying around should have been a clue.

[paperclipchains.livejournal.com]

Hahaha, well, the original version of Hellsing was porny and many of the characters have made appearances in his other "adult" books. I believe Integra is one of the few who didn't.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

I'm getting used to only being able to read 1 series by a mangaka due to almost everything else being hentai/adult/etc at this point.

[sir-hellsing.livejournal.com]

"Integra-prototype" was a Nazi hitwoman who tried to assure the success of Operation Barbossa.