Black Cat, Vol. 3

In the second volume of "Black Cat," Kentaro Yabuki introduced us to the main villain of the series, his Evil Plan, and his servants. And in the third volume, Yabuki gives us some new information about both Creed's little gang and the powerful Chronos organization. But our heroes don't get neglected -- there's still plenty of fighting, clever tricks and narrow escapes for them to handle, when they're not fretting about bills. After arriving in Rubeck City -- and racking up more debt -- Train, Sven and Eve are approached by Belze, an elite Chronos assassin. Fortunately he's just delivering a message from the mayor, who also happens to be the man who raised Train. He needs some help -- a vicious killer has been preying on innocent citizens at random, simply ripping them to shreds. What none of them know is that the killer -- a bloodthirsty ex-boxer named Gyanza -- was given his superhuman powers by Creed, and that two of Creed's servants are following him. The only way to smoke him out is to use bait -- and when Eve offers to use herself, neither Train nor Sven realize how hard it will be to deal with Gyanza... The third volume of "Black Cat" is a nice, polished piece of work that reveals a lot of new information for the readers -- more about the Creed's little organization (which is apparently called "the Apostles of the Stars" -- how pompous), about Chronos and the people involved in it, Train's past, and how these superpowered chi-people actually get their powers. Let's just say that not everyone can do it. It's a lot of information, but Yabuki is turning out to be very talented at weaving it into a captivating, tense storyline, peppered with comic relief ("You've got some GOOD MILK!"). The story pretty much revolves around the cat-and-mouse games between Train, Sven and the psychotic Ganza -- lots of punching through streets, gruesome deaths and mind-games with someone who kills for pleasure. But Yabuki also includes a later battle, with Belze facing off against the blood-manipulating Chardin and perky fire-starter Kyoko, with an invincible spear as his weapon. This battle is more shocking and nasty, although it has a slightly disappointing finale. And our heroes get some new dimensions in this one -- Eve contemplates her future, and we find out why Sven wears that eyepatch. What's more, we find out some more about Train's past, both as a street urchin and an unhappy "caged cat" working for Chronos, as well as the risks he takes in leaving it. And Karl and the grim warrior Belze show us that though Train hates Chronos, not everyone in it is necessarily bad -- and they don't necessarily like how Chronos manipulates the world. The third volume of "Black Cat" is stuffed with kinetic action, light comedy and plenty of new info -- a solid read, which only promises to get even better.