Black Lagoon
(Vol.1)
(dr. Sunao Katabuchi 2006)
published in Empire No.79, Sydney, 2008
Never underestimate the Japanese salary man. So says Okajima Rokuro after he has teamed up with a vicious yet affable pirate trio aboard the Black Lagoon in South East Asia. With plenty of testosterone ammo unleashed in this first volume, Black Lagoon could devolve into the most formulaic of cigar-chomping pyro-action. However its narration by Okajima – nicknamed Rock by his new ‘family’ – lends the story an inspirational charm as it charts Rock’s liberation from the most oppressive regime of Japanese society: working for the company. Mottled with humour, pathos and psychotic sea-bound battles, Black Lagoon is set to be a sly take on macho adventure.
