Black Cat, Vol. 18, 18

The final battle between Chronos, the sweepers and the Apostles of the Stars is finally underway -- and poor Train is stuck in a nightmare. And the eighteenth volume of Kentaro Yabuki's "Black Cat" is the most surreal part of the storyline to date (gnashing flowers! Evil dolls! Creed's eyes!), but it also takes the ambiguously-grey guys into a position to beat down Creed once and for all. And our hero Train receives a ghostly visit that helps to dispel some of the demons of his past -- now all he needs to do is defeat Creed. Train and Eve are trapped in the Doctor's Warp World: Train is pursued by homicidal doppelgangers of Kyoko and Saya, while Eve is first chased by enormous knife-swinging dolls -- then by doubles of Torneo, herself, and a murderous Sven. As Train struggles to take out two unkillable women, the Doctor prepares to vivisect Eve in the name of science. But the Black Cat receives some unexpected otherworldly help from an old friend.... On the outside, things are heating up -- Train, Eve and Sven rush headlong into an ambush by the monkey Taoist, and scare him into taking them to Creed. And the Numbers aren't doing too badly either, since Shaolee unveils his orichalcum weapon and teams up with Jenos. And Sephiria challenges Creed to a one-on-one duel -- two expert swordsmen with unstoppable blades. The first half of "Black Cat Volume 18" is quite literally like a nightmare -- we've got poor Eve in a bloodthirsty parody of "Alice in Wonderland," and Train has to fight the girls who've loved him most (whether romantically or platonically). Not to mention the toothy flowers, flying scalpels, and a sociopathic doctor who could have a second career with the Nazis. Fortunately the nightmarish tone is lifted slightly once Train breaks free with the help of a very familiar ghost -- an unusual supernatural twist in a mostly action/sci-fi manga. But it does serve to put our quirky hero's demons to rest, and helps give him some new enthusiasm. Then it's right back into the comic relief ("Aren't you worried about ME, daddy Sven?" "I'M NOT YOUR DADDY!") and explosive action scenes, as well as a brief glimpse of Creed saying (with his usual crazy eyes) that he'll have to kill Train if he won't join up, and that that would break his own heart. Little time is actually covered here because Yabuki devotes a little time to everyone who's fighting -- and he includes more of Train's awesome gunplay (he shoots straight into a bazooka) and knuckledusting (he punches the monkey into submission). We also get to see the Numbers in action once more, and they're about as good as Train when he's not trying terribly hard. And we get to see Shaolee's weapon -- as graceful and unusual as he is -- and Sephiria gets to rule the climax as Creed's first challenger. The eighteenth volume of "Black Cat" revels in the surreality for awhile, before leaping back into the fray with a vengeance. There's no stopping Train now.