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

[paperclipchains.livejournal.com]

Ahhh, you haven't read Hellsing yet?

It's a strange case. It is very style over substance, but you have some very solid characters and very interesting relationships buried in this violent vampire manga that seems to stop taking itself seriously after a point. I'll be very interested to know what you think as you keep reading.

And yes, there is a definite eyewear/white gloves fetish.

[woodburner.livejournal.com]

Hellsing: Makes no sense whatsoever, BUT WHO NEEDS SENSE WHEN YOU'VE GOT INTEGRA???

[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.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Yes, Integra is one of the AWESOMEST FEMALE CHARACTERS EVER. They took away her sense of humor in the anime (the original series, not the OVA, which is a lot closer to the manga).

[ipperne.livejournal.com]

footnotes of hellsing are fairly entertaining, and Integral has bigger balls than any male character ever to excist in current history.
Waits patiently for vol. 9... or is that 8.? dunno, but, I wait for it!

[sir-hellsing.livejournal.com]

I'm late.

But I join the Integra chorus. The Anime did a valiant job EXCEPT THEY CRIPPLED HER, MOLESTED HER AND MADE HER A DAMSEL IN DISTRESS FOR ALUCARD TO SAVE THEN STRIP HER FROM POWER?

Wtf.

Manga Integra grows to be the Boss and everybody are her bitches. They like that.