Black Cat, Vol. 6, Volume 6

One of the more shadowy Apostles of the Stars is Durham, a chi gunman. Guess who's causing trouble in the sixth volume of "Black Cat." And his little independent action has massive ripple effects, both for the good guys and the bad guys -- we get to see a nastiness that Train has rarely shown before, resulting in a superhuman shootout that doesn't rely on mere bullets. And when Creed shows how close he is to Crazyville, his own minions start questioning his actions. Durham savagely beats up Eve and leaves a message for Train, scrawled in the little girl's blood. As an anxious Sven cares for her, Train heads off to deal with Durham. The chi gunman wants to be known as the best gunman of all, but Train doesn't care about that -- he's just gunning for the thug who nearly killed one of his friends just to deliver a message. Though Eve makes an accelerated recovery, Sven decides that they can't endanger a little girl by dragging her along. Needless to say, this makes both of them very sad -- and Sven's concentration starts flagging while trying to find a bomber. Guess who shows up to save a baby hostage and stop the bomber. And Durham's little stunt angers the Apostles of the Stars -- and when he says that he plans to "tear Train to shreds" at their next encounter, an angered Creed coldly murders him. Shocked by this, Charden and Kyoko start discussing their future with Creed's organization. Most bounty hunters wouldn't exactly be dragging a little blonde girl everywhere with them, no matter how unique she was. So it's not surprising that eventually Kentaro Yabuki dealt with Eve's presence on Sven and Train's team -- and demonstrated that even though she's a little naive girl, her nanomachines and quick wits give her a distinct edge. So unsurprisingly there's a lot of painful growth for Train and Sven in this volume. Neither of them has worried much about Eve before, but Train gets fairly brutal with Durham ("I know you wouldn't want me to kill, Eve, so... don't worry"). And Sven is devastated by the possible loss of Eve, whether it's fear for her safety or the loss of her daily presence. Poor guy -- he can't win. In the meantime, Yabuki shows us one of Train's nastiest battles yet, with plenty of explosions, toothy masks and big billowing clouds of smoke. Fortunately things start easing up after that, with Eve's timely reappearance ("When someone so important ust disappears, you don't just feel hurt... you feel like DYING!") and some Train-centric comic relief (Eve's present to Train is a fishcake). And Creed contributes some bloody swordplay and whacked-out laughter, which is sufficiently disturbing that some of his underlings are actually doubting him. Oh yes, and Charden finally takes off his hat and glasses -- turns out he's quite hot. The sixth volume of "Black Cat" tackles the touchy subject of taking a kid on bounty missions, even as it shows the further crumbling of Creed's little gang. And I doubt things are going to calm down.

I was really itching to get volume 6 and I devoured it in the 30 minutes after my Calc final, oh my! Volume six moves a bit more slowly, even though a good deal of the book is a fight scene. One of Creed's (I swear Creed looks like "Sephiroth meets KISS") "Apostles of the Stars" goes off on his own to challenge Train for the title of Ultimate Gunman. Of course, to draw Train's attention, the man in the metal mask injures two of the Black Cat's friends. Needless to say, Train couldn't care less about the title, but he's pissed. Big gunfight ensues... ...And Creed is not happy. WARNING! Insane looking Creed in this volume!!! (In volume 2 he looked like a fruit. In volume 6 he just lost it.) You can begin to see some unease amongst Creed's followers. But the best part of this particular volume? CHARDEN. HE TAKES OFF HIS GLASSES. In case you're wondering, Charden is the guy with the huge top-hat and the sunglasses. Kyoko has a good point. He looks really cool without them ^__________^