Hellsing volume 1

Hellsing volume 1
Dark Horse Comics
by Kohta Hirano
BW, 208 pgs, $13.95 US / Higher in Canada

This action and gore-packed horror comic has just enough sly humour to take the edge off the guts and guns, putting this manga in the same territory as Trigun and Scryed. Both of those manga use both action and humour just like Hellsing, but those two series failed to put any sort of smile on my face. So, what’s the big diff, you wonder. Hellsing has two things going for it that those other two manga did not: 1. Outstanding art; 2. Wildly entertaining storytelling. Kohta Hirano is responsible for both.

I really enjoy the look of Hirano’s characters. Sure, the protagonist Alucard looks a lot like Vash from Trigun (I think it’s the red jacket, big gun and youthful, triangular face), but it’s hard to call one a knock off of the other considering the original manga ran alongside one another in Young King Ours. Where character designs of Trigun are inconsistent,  Hellsing’s are always striking and true to form. The police girl / vampire-in-training, is both sexy and scary. Alucard is both deadly and witty. I especially like the red scarf tied loosely and jauntily about his neck. For all his power and age, Alucard is a bit of a fashion plate.