Blame! Master Edition Volume One Review

Science fiction as a genre has fostered grand achievements over the years. It, as well as other genres with a fantastical bent, have been a tried and true vessel for an author to let their imagination run wild. Yet for a corner of fiction that is filled with infinite possibilities, science fiction is plagued with cliches and trappings. So much so that original works feel inseparable from their influences. Blame! Is the epitome of the aforementioned.

 With all due respect to the cult fanbase that Blame! has amassed, Tsutomu Nihei's manga feels largely enslaved stylistically to it's dystopian, cyberpunk contemporaries. I say largely, because there are a scant few areas in which Nihei attempts to give Blame! a distinct style when it comes to his depiction of faces and his accentuation on limiting dialogue in favor of wordless panels emphasizing the location. These two characteristics of the book are laudable, but they fail miserably in my opinion; I'll explain why:

Firstly, we'll start analyzing Nihei's pencils. While unmistakably Japanese, he nevertheless strays from Manga norms in how he draws faces. Out are the exaggerated eyes that are unavoidable in Manga, in exchange for more jagged noses, and more spaced apart eyes. It would certainly be appropriate to compare Nihei's characters to those of American comics artists Scott McDaniel, and Leonardo Manco. Deviating from the norm however, does not always guarantee equate with success, as it is humorously unfortunate that the  characters Blame!, look more akin to disfigured felines rather than human beings.

Secondly I will state my view on Blame's lack of dialogue. Wordless (or almost wordless) comics, in my opinion hardly succeed in what they are trying to accomplish. Unlike film, wherein there are no sneak peaks, only the present, word deprived comics seem to lack the tension or emotional impact of comic books with the presence of words. I suspect the reason for this is that the dialogue captions and balloons force the reader to stay in one panel for a particular amount of time. Becaus of this, the reader becomes used to the status quo of that segment of the page, making the changes made in the following panels more impactful. With wordless comics you don't have this experience. Another obvious benefit of words in comics is their role in character development. Very few artists are able to show the characters' emotions with their art without depending on the writer to insert their word balloons. One might presume that Nihei conducted this approach to have readers to immerse themselves in the setting. Some artists with their detail so meticulous that their backgrounds have a personality and wit of their own. A Geof Darrow or a Moebius can get away with dedicating a series of pages to a birds eye view of downtown. Nihei, unfortunately, does not have this talent. The environment of Blame! is bloated and spacious, but more hideous and drab than impressive.

Blame! is a weird, ugly comic. Neither it's conventions nor it's quirks could keep it afloat.

2/10