One Punch Man (2021)

[ワンパンマン]

Volume 24

Author: ONE
Artist: Yusuke Murata
Publisher: Jump Comics

Synopsis:
Atomic Samurai's apprentices and the mercenary captain continue to delve deeper into the Monster Association's headquarters.

Story/Characters:
We open with more of the apprentices and Tongara (as his name is later revealed), continuing to play on Tongara's cynicism as a mercenary and the ideal of heroes, giving the concept a decent throughline. We then cut to Saitama putting down Pochi the guard dog before moving on to Tatsumaki taking on Gyoro Gyoro. We get a nice high-level psychic battle where Tatsumaki displays more of her power than we've seen before. We then have Saitama's confrontation with Orochi. Orochi thinks of himself as being on the verge of attaining godhood while Saitama sees him as nothing more than a noisy neighbor. Anticlimactic? Yes. But funny, which fits in with the rest of the series.

The main conflict is pretty much settled, but there's still mopup to do. Do-S regenerates and plans to get her revenge on Amai Mask, only to encounter Fubuki with Bang and Bomb. Do-S may have to change her name to Do-M once Fubuki is done with her. We learn that there may be hope for people infected with the monster cells, which could make a difference in how things get settled with Garou. We close on Amai Mask encountering an enemy who is more than a match for him, striking him at his greatest weakness. I'm kinda rooting for the monster, to be honest with you.

Art:
We get a lot of excellent action scenes this time around. It is what the series is known for, after all (that and the humor, of course). There's a beautifully intricate two-page spread when Saitama puts down Pochi. The Tatsumaki vs. Gyoro Gyoro fight is excellent and the contrast of Orochi in full last boss mode offset by an annoyed Saitama is also great. Also, if you're a fan of Captain Mizuki, she gets featured on the covers of Chapters 114 and 115 despite only appearing in a single panel in both chapters combined.

Other:
We get a bonus comic of a budding monster who picks the wrong target. Kurobikari's fans are just as cool as he is, by the way.

Conclusion:
Everything you like about this series is on display here. We get big action shaded by comedy and a little genuine character drama mixed in as well. The fights with Orochi and Gyoro Gyoro are sufficiently big in scale, but we still have to settle things with Garou. So far, we've gotten some pretty good payoffs for this arc of the story, enough for me to recommend this one for the collection.

Rating:
Own It