Golgo 13: Supergun is the first of 13 planned collections of the master assassin's greatest "hits." While longtime fans can rejoice at the opportunity to read tales they may have missed over the course of his career, newcomers owe it to themselves to pick up this series and take hold of a major piece of manga history.
American audiences will particularly enjoy the first story, "Supergun" (May 1997), chronicling Golgo 13's attempt to help President Clinton stop Saddam Hussein from unleashing one of those so-called weapons of mass destruction on the United States. When diplomacy fails, it's interesting to see what one sharpshooter with a gun can accomplish. The renderings of President Clinton, Madeleine Albright and Saddam himself are worth the price of the book alone.
The second story, "Hit and Run" (April 1979), illustrates the power of Golgo 13's reputation. The title character doesn't even make an appearance in this story. When a mob boss gets away with the murder of an innocent person, we're quickly given an example of the power behind Golgo 13's legend.
Those unfamiliar with Golgo 13 will be quickly brought up to snuff with the informative dossier included at the end of these two stories. Armed with this knowledge, they may find themselves re-reading these stories, with a better insight into the motivation of this classic character. As Golgo 13 himself puts it, his professional career can be summed up as "10% talent, 20% effort, 30% cowardice... the remaining 40% is probably luck."
Golgo 13 Vol. 1: Supergun Written by: Takao Saito |
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These stories take the best of James Bond, Clint Eastwood, Chow Yun-Fat with just enough Tarantino thrown in to keep it from getting too grim. The book is rated M for mature, and given the nature of Golgo's work, it's easy to imagine why. There's also some graphic sexual content, pretty much what they wouldn't let you see in a Bond movie. Still, any action manga fan should own a copy of this book, if not the entire series.