Trigun Maximum Volume 1: The Hero Returns [Paperback]

Yasuhiro Nightow (Author), Justin Burns (Author)

Book Description

Series: Trigun Maximum | Publication Date: May 26, 2004

As an anime series, Trigun gained a multitude of fans across the otaku landscape before gaining a huge mainstream manga audience. Now, Trigun goes beyond the storyline laid out in the anime and the first two volumes of the manga into brand new territory! Our hero Vash the Stampede disappeared for two years after blasting a crater onto the moon orbiting the desert planet he saved from annihilation. But, with good and bad people alike trying to track him down he won't stay lost for long! Count on more crazy gunslinger action, new dastardly villains... and a new outfit to boot!

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A Western set on a desert planet, this series begins two years after the finale of the original Trigun and chronicles the return of retired super-gunslinger with a heart of gold Vash the Stampede. Vash’s skills are so destructive that he is officially classified as a natural disaster, and once his return is made public, all manner of ordnance-wielding scum come out in an effort to claim the obscenely high bounty on his head. With a priest who carries a human-sized crucifix/machine gun, Vash makes his way from one bullet-riddled conflict to another, each exploit marked with humor. The well-drawn, though occasionally confusing, art manages to strike a delicate balance between the look needed for the Sergio Leone-esque spaghetti-Western-in-space feel and the script’s tongue-in-cheek tone. The story assumes readers are familiar with the original series. That’s not necessarily a bad thing though, since readers are thrown headlong into a unique science fiction environment and left to discover the ins and outs of its workings for themselves. It’s one of the things that make this first volume worth a look for those seeking a bit of light, time-killing manga reading.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From School Library Journal

Adult/High School–Vash the Stampede has been missing for two years, and a pseudo-Vash is terrorizing a town with his gang. At the same time, Wolfwood tracks down Vash to tell him that every man, woman, and child is missing from another village and the only clue is the name Knives scrawled across a monument. After they defeat the impostor, Vash and Wolfwood head out to track down Knives. Nightow has tightened up his storytelling here, and his artwork is fluid, with fine lines and lots of detail. The tale is a blend of humor and action, with a bit of intrigue involving Vash and Knives's past.–Susan Salpini, TASIS–The American School in England
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Dark Horse Books/Digital Manga Publishing (May 26, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1593071965
• ISBN-13: 978-1593071967
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 5.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #533,602 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #74 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Comics & Graphic Novels > Graphic Novels > Science Fiction

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Vash is Back!, June 29, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Trigun Maximum Volume 1: The Hero Returns (Paperback)

Although the wait was intense, it was well worth it. The book had many new and unique things about it, different from the ever popular anime. Many times it is hard to fully understand the action that is being illustrated, but in the end, you get the general idea of what has happend. The illustrations sometimes leave me wondering "This is awful", and again, some illustrations are wonderful. In the end, it really does not matter as long as the stroy gets told. And in the end, I found Trigun Maximum #1 to be a well spent $10.

22 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Taking the wild west wackiness TO THE MAX...-IMUM, June 18, 2004

By 

Del Keyes "Elaborate Chattering Nut" (In The Middle of the Sunshine) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Trigun Maximum Volume 1: The Hero Returns (Paperback)

The "love-and-peace'n", irritating, moronic gunslinger is back, and nothing's going stand in his way for doing what he does best...expect for donuts and babes. (YAY!)

[1-VOL REVIEW]

Trigun Maximum isn't so much a new series, as it is a continuation of an already popular manga in the US. Yep, America loves it, and Japan wants to forget it(hey, facts are facts). From this point on, the things you knew from the anime series is completely different with this one; it parallels itself from that counterpart. I mean, come on, look at the black sides from Vash's hair in the book cover; IT'S DIFFERENT! With its new physique, expect some additions and differences onto this new adventure: new companions, new enemies, and from this manga ongoing, Nicholas D. Wolfwood doesn't die...hopefully.

The parallel thing doesn't start, yet. The first volume pretty much covers episodes 18-20 of the anime series, which is Vash leading a new life with a new identity as he lives with a young girl named Lina and her granny, but after being forced to bark like a dog in the nude by those sasafrassin' baddies and later got into a bullet blitz with Nick Wolf on his side, he realized he can't avoid what he is, so Vash the Stampede was reborn and left the caring ones behind to avoid harm. Enter the two stoogettes, Meryl and Millie, plus the conflict on the kidnapping and family vengence, and it's the whole celebro hoo-ha. There's only some key differences between this and the anime, i.e. Vash getting his new outfit during the feud chapter instead of the flying ship episode from the anime and this manga actually took place two years after the Fifth Moon instead of the five years in the anime, but other than those, I can only assume the true parallel act can happen in the second volume.

This is actually my first Trigun manga ever bought. I would like to buy the first two 300-page volumes, but I've seen the whole anime as it is, so why read the chapters originated for the ones I've already seen? That, and plus I don't want to pay five extra dollars more than the average TOKYOPOP manga for each volume(yea, I'm a cheapskate). Thankfully, Dark Horse made the TM series more accesible by making it cheaper, while keeping the same format and quality as the last two. In other words, the sound effects remains untranslated, and strangely, the honorifics are there as well. Not to be biased with the honorifics, if its there, it means that Digital Manga is doing great with the translations, but I don't recall ever seeing or reading a western medium where someone called the superior "sempai." It's just weird, that's all.

Some guy isn't kidding when he warn me about the art style of the manga, and I should've heed his words, cause that's the manga's biggest flaw. Trigun Maximum is VERY SKETCHY. I've read manga with sketchy designs before, but this is the creme de la crop. Characters are angled and not that detailed and polished, even some of their clothes are just scribbled in. And the panels within are so messy, even if they're big, I can't determined what's happening; like in one panel for example, and I was thinking, "What the-? Is someone playing paintball or are those gunshot wounds? WH-WHAT'S GOING ON?!!" That's the reaction I have with this design, and it made me lose track from fluently guiding through the whole story. Although the design does provide a positive message to future comic book artists: "Kids, you can draw as crappy as this, and you can still make a lot of money on your work."

Trigun Maximum is a great way to continue what's already a funny and stylized action series, and make it a little different by its looks. The messy art style alone prevents me from giving it a perfect grade, but it doesn't destroy what's good about this series, either. If you bought the other Trigun books, you probably have one in your hands right now, but if you haven't read the first two volumes, and have seen the entire anime series, Trigun Maximum is a perfect start to continue along this seemingly fun westerner. I Reckon'men'd this here book.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hurry up, Dark Horse, September 21, 2004

By 

Linda L. Burgess - See all my reviews

This review is from: Trigun Maximum Volume 1: The Hero Returns (Paperback)

Short review-
Dark Horse is doing an excellent job on their translations for Trigun. All honorifics are left in.

About the actual content- This volume's mostly filler, following the fifth moon incident. Wolfwood's huge cross is revealed to be a machine gun, and Vash is still a god with his revolver. The art is pretty sketchy, but I still love Nightow-san's syle.

Also, there's been some talk about Vash's 'new' look. Most Americans have seen the anime, in which he keeps his original look the entire time, before reading the original manga, in which Vash's look abruptly changes in Maximum. Vash's new coat is a little crazy looking, but/so it fits Vash's personality a bit more. What's more, does it really matter what Vash looks like? He's still Vash.

9.5/10