One Piece, Vol. 46

With a new crew member and a new ship, the Straw Hats once again hit the seas. After wandering into the Florian Triangle and meeting Brook the gentleman skeleton, the Straw Hats are drawn into Thriller Bark for their creepiest and weirdest adventure yet. Are you ready for a Thriller night? One Piece finally crosses into the horror genre as Oda creates an entirely new world that's equal parts traditional gothic horror, Universal Monsters, The Island of Doctor Moreau and homage to a certain King of Pop. There's zombies, ghosts, foul creatures cobbled together by an inhuman science and other genre staples that we've come to expect. The atmosphere is completely convincing and for the opening chapters you'd think the Straw Hats had wandered into another series. Yet they haven't, and one of the strengths of the Thriller Bark saga is that Oda again expands on the rules of the universe he's created but does not break them. If you were able to accept a civilization in the sky and a train that runs on water, you'll find more clever additions to the One Piece lore here (hint: more cool Devil Fruit powers at work). I also appreciate the small clues peppered throughout the volume about the true nature of Thriller Bark and its inhabitants - I'm not talking about saga-changing revelations or callbacks here, just a good sense of setup and storytelling that rewards the observant reader as each mystery is unraveled. And finally, even with all the zombies running loose One Piece never loses its sense of humour. In fact Oda probably subverts just as many genre conventions as he acknowledges - watch Luffy distinguish between the undead and badly injured seniors, zombies with no endurance and a three-headed dog where the three heads don't match. If you thought about taking a break after Water 7, don't bother - One Piece is still going strong.