Roughly eight years ago, we covered the sole issue of the anthology All-Negro Comics. Released in 1947, it featured seven comics handled by All-Negro Comics’ team of Black writers and artists. To be honest, the only remarkable thing about the comic is that it is a Black first in publication.

However, there is one story in those pages that was salvageable. Well, let’s say one-and-a-half. Let’s look at the stories “Ace Harlem” and “Lion Man”.

The Usual Loop of a Golden Age Comic

The antagonist typically had some scheme or committed some crime in any given issue. Our protagonist either investigated the situation before encountering their foe or they just so happened to know exactly where to go to confront them.

We can’t forget the protagonist either being able to escape any trap or having the luck to do so. If the antagonist was captured and meant to be a reoccurring character, they either escaped capture after their plot was foiled or just escaped prison.

Layered storytelling or even just backstory into the major characters involved didn’t become industry standard until the late-1960s or early-1970s when we’d see more multi-part stories, story arcs, and events. You know, the stuff that lays the foundation for a comics universe.

This was the same issue with Ace Harlem and Lion Man.

Lion Man

Of the two, “Lion Man” is the half of a story that was salvageable. By salvageable, I mean that it could’ve gone further with more tales, characters, and character development. It was very much an episodic comic but as mentioned, the majority of the dedicated comics from larger publishers were very “villainous act of the issue”.

In All-Negro Comics, Lion Man is an intelligent ambassador of sorts for the United Nations. Now, it’s briefly explained how and why he was sent to Africa to protect some uranium but there could’ve been more backstory here.

This guy had collegiate or professional-level athleticism and a college education, so he’s a good pick for a powerless superhero but for him to be a pick to go protect uranium for the UN means there’s something more there. Also, he went alone. The UN can rally a peacekeeping force to provide some backup to Lion Man or something.

Then again, his main threat in the issue were resource thieves which he handled readily with his martial arts. He definitely pieces these guys up solo. He must have had quite the background but we wouldn’t know. He’s just a pre-cooked badass.

Salvaging the Uranium Warden

The best way to expand upon “Lion Man” is just to provide some lore to this guy and give him a regular foe. An organization that traffics in multiple crimes in the country or throughout the continent. Even easier, just give Lion Man similar situations and adventures as the titular character in Lee Falk’s The Phantom.

I mean, Lion Man was basically The Phantom but leaned more Tarzan. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, “Lion Man” could’ve gotten by with just that storyline loop without that much lore and world building.

Plus, like many heroes who were around during the Silver Age, he would have enough prior adventures and character to retcon and build upon for future audiences.

Ace Harlem

“Ace Harlem” was my favorite comic in All-Negro Comics. It was definitely a product of the Golden Age approach to writing but I love pulp and detective comics and comics such as Dick Tracy, The Spirit, and Black Mask. Since detective stories like this tend to lend themselves to more storytelling even during this period, I’d say this is an easier comic to salvage.

The titular character was a private investigator with what I figure is a boxing background. You couldn’t be a private detective without some martial arts background or being a marksman with handguns. You’ll need more than observation and deductive reasoning, here.

These crime fighters were often dealing with masterminds with violent streaks or criminal groups and their main opposition were Golden Age cops. In the comics, they were still patrolling by foot and largely ineffective outside of chatting outside of the deli and putting goons in the police wagon.

They needed either private eyes who were on a case that happened to involve this criminal the cops were getting slammed by or a masked vigilante who happens to have investigation skills.

Certainly there were comics with heroic, able police officers from this period but even then, that was often one exceptional cop who always made the collar. The rest of that department was mid at best while Officer Hero stopped bank robbers…with a service revolver 1 v 4…with no harmed or killed hostages. All money returned.

Officer Hero gets a medal and the chief is happy.

Salvaging Ace

No, these cops needed Ace Harlem to solve a crime they probably wouldn’t have actually bothered with. These weren’t exactly cops from the community. Harlem was just on good terms with them in this instance.

The “Ace Harlem” story could’ve easily been expanded with a couple of multi-part cases. Some private work that has ties to the larger criminal underworld in the community (or beyond). Then tie in a big, underworld-civilian world-altering event. Very basic stuff but it gives lore and continuity to the series.

Like “Lion Man”, it would exist at a time where a chain of one-off, “Crime doesn’t pay” cases would suffice. However, I see something in the Ace Harlem character for a comic strip or just ongoing short stories.

It would be an interesting take on the pulp detective given the period in time. It’s post-Renaissance and pre-Civil Rights movement and immediately post-war.

If you’re wondering about the other stories in All-Negro Comics and how they could be salvaged or revived: those stories aren’t particularly good or interesting .

They probably wouldn’t have made it out of 1947. I know the stories included were meant to be a little something for everyone but the everything else just seemed like cutting room floor funnies.

If you’ve read All-Negro Comics, what were the stories that stood out to you? Haven’t read it? The sole issue is available on the Internet Archive and the Digital Comic Museum free to read online.

Staff Writer; M. Swift

This talented writer is also a podcast host, and comic book fan who loves all things old school. One may also find him on Twitter at; metalswift.

It’s worth noting that in American comics, there is a reason for why it’s not unusual to have corrupt cops, lazy police chiefs, mayors on the take, evil presidents, or cities where the heroes do the job of the police—sans the pay. Then again, if they were paid they would be government superheroes and that’s always proven to be a problem.

No, the reason for this lies in the Comics Code. The short of it was that in the 1950s and 1960s, the U.S was in the throes of one its many moral panics/witch hunts. Some stuffy lobbyists, busy-bodies, and politicians came to the conclusion that comics were part of thing ruining the youth—along with devil’s music, devil’s lettuce, and whatever other “subversive elements.”

The Comics Code Wasn’t Having It

Actually, this was just part of a larger witch hunt but that gets into politics and history. One of the terms of the Comics Code involved how law enforcement and government officials are depicted. This particular rule from the 1954 code:

Policemen, judges, government officials, and respected institutions shall never be presented in such a way as to create disrespect for established authority.

This meant for years, police weren’t to be depicted as corrupt or patsies—even if Batman is doing all their heavy lifting or they’re in a standoff with a bank robber and need Superman to walk them down. You would see both situations in those early comics—before the writing got better—and it’s just vigilantes helping the cops.

Actually, the cops were more accepting of adults in underwear solving their problems back them. The pre-hatred of paperwork days.

That rule was also tied into other rules that made it hard for layered, poignant stories to be written without taking some risk as was the case with EC Comics and the stories they often published. Hell, an iconic franchise like The X-Men had to work around these restrictions. At the time, Marvel Comics set out to produce a superhero group that reflected times while also tackling issues of the times while going on adventures and facing down threats.

Mutants were considered different from humans but you had these other Marvel titles where superhumans were lauded for saving the world or stopping the criminals. The X-Men would do the same but faced prejudice. It’s not like the difference between mutants/mutates/gods/disguised aliens were known to 1960s 616 dwellers.

However, that rule meant that the U.S government couldn’t be depicted as a force of oppression. Another rule tied to this meant that Magneto couldn’t be sympathized with nor could Senator Kelly be punished for targeting mutants:

Crimes shall never be presented in such a way as to create sympathy for the criminal, to promote distrust of the forces of law and justice, or to inspire others with a desire to imitate criminals.

Inclusion of stories dealing with evil shall be used or shall be published only where the intent is to illustrate a moral issue and in no case shall evil be presented alluringly, nor so as to injure the sensibilities of the reader.

In every instance good shall triumph over evil and the criminal punished for his misdeeds.

If you present bigotry and racism as an evil, Kelly should be punished but you can’t depict the government unfavorably—even if it’s just the one guy pushing for mutant killing robots. And you certainly can’t have people warming up to Magneto and feeling “Well, Robert Kelly is such a d**k maybe Magneto ain’t wrong.”

Again, rules for comics written during a time when the country was involved in war and social issues—and there was a distrust of the government by people who got shafted and soldiers left out to dry.

By 1970s, those themes were explored and the writing became less “Aquaman saved some sailors” and more “What is Superman even fighting for if you’re all treating each other like this?”

A Dreddful Use of Power

My favorite depiction of the ineffective/incompetent authority in western comics has to be President Robert Booth from the Judge Dredd franchise. This guy was the prime example of “Don’t let him have the launch codes.”

I’ve said a lot about Judge Dredd, Booth, and the world of Dredd over the years but someone who could cause a global nuclear apocalypse as well as a civil war off of big d**king—incompetent. The 22^nd century is a mess and the only effective authority happens to be the Judges. Sure, there’s issues among the Judges and with each decade of publication their power seems to weaken but it’s better than being under Booth.

I suppose you could say that Booth was effective at destroying the world or rather d**king the world, especially with all the mayhem that followed as the U.S and other countries got back “normal”.

Staff Writer; M. Swift

This talented writer is also a podcast host, and comic book fan who loves all things old school. One may also find him on Twitter at; metalswift.

For instance, one trope I hate is the naming of characters and places in most fantasy anime. Normally, the names are European in nature—nothing unique but expected. However, it gets ridiculous when the names are lengthy. When this happens, the name is announced by some haughty noble with an obnoxious amount of self-importance.

It annoys me because it tends to happen more than once in the series because this character is part of a larger family, so them and their siblings all have four or five names, a title, an heir ranking, and so on. I don’t know, many one of the snooty nobles becomes a friend of the main character. You know how it goes.

On that note, the fantasy series Bastard!! can be disgusting with this particular trope as Kazushi Hagiwara uses heavy metal references. I mean, some of the band names and musicians would make for cool character, attack, and location names…I just can’t stand by a spell called “Stryper” blocking a spell named after Slayer.

Sure, 80s Stryper was very good with releases like Soldiers Under Command and To Hell with the Devil, but those albums aren’t Hell Awaits or Reign in Blood.

Incompetent Authority in Anime and Comics

But this is AfroGamers, not The Black Rock and Heavy Metal but Bastard does present us with our featured trope—and a favorite of mine: incompetent authority and government. In the first few episodes of Bastard, the kingdom of Metallicana comes under attack by several powerful foes.

Well, they’re powerful for season one, first half of the season enemies. They’re definitely above the knights’ skill level and paygrade as far as threats are concerned. The kingdom’s council/king’s advisors all elect to summon a sealed away evil wizard—Dark Schneider—to defend them. Summon an old, easily agitated, lecherous magical wild card who tried to turn your kingdom into a parking lot a decade and a half go…to defend said kingdom.

Things have gotten to a state where the kingdom is just down horrendous when you’re asking opps for help. To say the kingdom is weak would be inaccurate, they just can’t deal with the threat of magic and mayhem. It’s nothing to be ashamed of, that’s why characters like Doctor Strange, Brother Voodoo, The Sandman, and Spawn are around: magic and the paranormal have a tendency of messing things up differently from alien agendas and super science.

Ultimately, it doesn’t matter what the nature of the threat is, whatever authority is in charge is typically ineffective at what they do. In the case of Bastard, the council repeatedly requests Tia Noto Yoko to unseal Dark with her virgin’s kiss whenever a threat arrives. You could say that the kingdom had 15 years of peace and didn’t need to bolster its defenses for similar foes but I don’t know maybe…build your forces up anyway. Just as a precaution.

I don’t what the case in the Super Mario Bros franchise is but the Mushroom Kingdom is ridiculously poorly defended. Bowser might as well just walked in each time and snatched the Princess. He never needed his airships, Clown Car, or Koopa Troopas. Now depending on what you think Mario and Luigi’s origins in this other world are—whether they were born in the Mushroom Kingdom or fell in there—entrusting the rescue of a head of state to plumbers just seems irresponsible.

Seriously, where does the confidence come from in that decision? It’s probably the same brilliant minds who figure bringing randoms from another world/dimension to solve their world’s problems is a great idea.

It’s not. There are always additional problems in isekai summoning such as a religious powerhouse or a cult/conspirators working behind the scenes. They’re the wrench in the works. Sure, there’s a world-destroying threat and we’re on a schedule but that doesn’t stop nobles, royals, and clergy from complicating the whole situation.

At the moment, isekai is my favorite manga/anime/manhua genre and this trope always stretches out the story just enough to provide lore and a constant, looming threat to the world and the MC’s quest. If authority just worked as it should, the MC might not be needed half of the time. In these series, the MC is basically a heroic janitor—who might have a blessing or cheat—here to clean up these otherworlders’ issues.

You know, so they can eventually go home.

We can’t get into ineffective authority without touching on Western comics but that’s a-whole-nother piece because there are too many examples to list! Share your favorite or least favorite instances of bumbling or ineffective authority in a series!

Staff Writer; M. Swift

This talented writer is also a podcast host, and comic book fan who loves all things old school. One may also find him on Twitter at; metalswift.

Why the Sonic the Hedgehog Archie Comics Rocked

There were still humorous moments in the comic but things were more serious. Sonic started out the series as the Knothole Resistance’s most active field agent. In these issues and SatAM, their goal was simply to stop Robotnik in his evil deeds.

What were those evil deeds? In a call back to the Sonic games on the Sega Master System and the Sega Genesis, Robotnik was capturing woodland creatures and turning them into the robots that Sonic faces. Don’t ask me for the exact science on that.

It’s super-science! It’s so advanced and out there that there is no real-world explanation. So, we have Robotnik doing this and the animals who are somewhat evolved are out to stop him. It’s not particularly mentioned in the games that this is the backstory.

Like many games of the early 1990s, you were told what the main boss was doing and that it was up to you to stop them. You just rented the game, that’s a lot of responsibility to place on someone who doesn’t live on Mobius. Actually, a lot of these games placed a lot of responsibilities on kids. This princess was kidnapped, this gang is terrorizing the town, win this tournament against eight other skilled fighters including one with psycho power.

It’s a lot. I’m just saying.

Linking Comics and Games

What does eventually plays into the game and the comics is the importance of the Chaos Emeralds. In the first two Sonic games, they were simply valued because you could go Super Sonic. You had to be really good and really dedicated to those bonus stages. Me? I just used the code, folks.

By Sonic the Hedgehog 3 the Chaos Emeralds are given more importance because we know more about them. The game gave some hint that the comics really upsold the Emeralds and the introduction of the cool new character Knuckles the Echidna.

The Archie series ran for a very long time, even during periods when Sega was horrendous and had to end console manufacturing. The Sonic property always had mileage, it merely activated at times when there wasn’t much buzz on the game front or after the game had dropped.

Storyline-wise, the Archie comics filled in some spots where my imagination would’ve stepped in and actually made it make sense with the rest of the game. That’s the thing: technology wasn’t there to where full-on, detailed stories could be told on consoles outside of RPGs and point-and-click adventure games.

Action and platformers really didn’t have time to waste when the actual action is the selling point. So, having a comic book adaptation was a great touch. It kept my interest in Sonic even after I stopped playing the games. Of course, now consoles and PCs have the power to retell the first three Sonic games in one long remake with cutscenes, voice acting, and better in-game graphic.

…while having room for Sonic Spinball and Sonic 3D Blast.

Did you ever read the Archie Sonic comics? What did you think of them and what other games could’ve benefited from a comic book or cartoon adaptation? Let us know down below!

Staff Writer; M. Swift

This talented writer is also a podcast host, and comic book fan who loves all things old school. One may also find him on Twitter at; metalswift.

The result is often scammers and film-flam men presenting some new trend or sensation that has civilians—with time and money—to indulge that. When this happens, the Judges end up investigating this new thing and bust it up before further damage is done. That’s often the storyline loop of some early Judge Dredd standalone adventures.

The main setting of Mega-City One is one of several megacities in the franchise and the one that hasn’t been totally blown up by a nuclear strike. At one point it ran from Maine into Florida and out towards Montreal but now it goes from Maine to the Virginias. At one point, the population was at 800 million but in the “Day of Chaos” story arc, roughly 90% of the population was wiped out and now Mega-City One struggles to keep order, combat threats, and just economically.

How Did Mega-City One Get to This Point? President Booth

The reason the Judges rule things in MCO now and the laws are so strict is because they had to consolidate power during the term of the tyrannical President Robert Linus Booth. After servicing as governor of Texas City in the 2050s, he rose to the position of Vice President in 2060. Booth would achieve the role of President in 2068 but not without rigging voting machines.

Again, Mega-City One and the world of Judge Dredd is very corrupt. It’s a dystopian comic, after all.

While in office Booth pushed the Autonomy Law which allowed for Mega-City Two and Texas City to govern themselves, killed robot restrictions—so robots had more advanced AI, imposed strict immigration laws, and brought forth legislation that allowed for extreme violence in sports as long as it went down on the court or the field.

So, President Booth’s doing all of this was keeping rhetoric up around immigration and continued leaning hard into patriotism—to the point of accusing the rest of the world of leeching off of the U.S. Now, this wasn’t true as most megacities and countries pretty much handled their own business at this point without American intervention.

These threats and Booth’s push confirmed what the Judges had suspected: President Booth was unhinged and couldn’t be trusted. Chances were he’d have to be put down.

The 2070 Atomic Wars

Two years into his term, Booth had the U.S Army occupy different regions globally. Of course, this didn’t jive with everyone, and protests ensued. Booth would threaten dissenting voices to either get with the program or be clapped to sleep. At the time, megacities—or most of them—had a protection against a nuclear strike, so he Booth didn’t fear other countries spinning the block.

He launched nuclear missiles at America’s perceived enemies, destroying many cities. Missiles we’re fired back and much of the U.S was obliterated creating the Cursed Earth. Civilization would return to the Cursed Earth with some settlements popping up here and there.

With this, the Judges mobilized to bring Booth down and imprison him for war crimes. Since he had given robots advanced AI, he had his loyalists who joined him in fleeing MCO. A bloody war ensued between the robots and the Judges with Booth eventually being arrested. He was sentenced to 100 years in cryogenic stasis underneath what was left of Fort Knox. Three robot retainers would make sure Booth remained alive by cycling out his blood every year.

This would present a problem years later as the robot apparently ran out of blood and began taking it from locals who had established a settlement in the Cursed Earth. This led to rumors and folklore that a vampire existed in what was Kentucky.

Booth would return as a menace to the country until Judge Dredd entered the Cursed Earth en route to deal with zombie problem in Mega-City Two (California, Washington, and Oregon). He made his intent at a coup known and was handled by Judge Dredd and forced to work on a farm in the settlement where he had been imprisoned.

Ex-President Booth would return again planning another coup and had an army of mutants this time but he’d run into Judge Dredd once again. By this point his mutant army had tired of him and Booth was shot and killed as Dredd used him as a shield and hostage. Booth’s influence would take the form of the extremist faction Sons of Booth, led by his unaware son Linus.

So, a lot of the nonsense and insanity that goes on in Judge Dredd and the nature of the Judges running Mega-City One and other megacities? Yeah, an unhinged President Booth is the root of it.

Staff Writer; M. Swift

This talented writer is also a podcast host, and comic book fan who loves all things old school. One may also find him on Twitter at; metalswift.

The World of Apex Future Martial Arts

This one is a manhua, which refers to comics, manga, or manhwa from China. The series is interesting in that it has a modern-future setting but is concerned with the future of humanity. Martial arts schools are all over and the main means of education. Everyone’s future is determined by their performance in martial arts school, whether they will go on to martial university, and—later on—the military.

Schools teach general studies as accompanying courses but it’s a student’s skill in physical, mental, and spirit arts that matter. They are tested on both their combat power or raw strength as well as their blood level. There is also a third test—so far, I’m 65 chapters in—which tests psychic power.

In this world, monsters—or aggressive beastly versions of animals—exist and the military as well as students are tasked with fighting them. In these series, there’s always a branch of the military which is under-financed or dealing with strain in the form of manpower. AFMA is no different and like other series, it’s the part of the military our hero joins.

It’s all a modern version of murim which is easier to grasp when it’s in an ancient or feudal setting. The domineering clans are replaced by martial families with ties to academia, the military, and industry. Instead of large war alliances, families cooperate directly.

However, murim trappings such as cultivation pills, elixirs, and baths all still exist in their times.

Enter Lu Sheng

It is 10,000 years from now when the human race is wiped out by monsters after all martial artists exhaust their powers trying to stop them.  Apex Future Martial Arts is based around 18-year-old struggling martial artists Lu Sheng who happens upon a means of training in his sleep and becoming powerful.

Now, I had to re-read the first few chapters to remember how Sheng got that gift. Apparently, it just activates after he blacks out while training. See, Lu Sheng like many other modern murim heroes, comes from an average family struggling to get by. His family’s hopes are actually on his younger sister since his own potential has only been so-so.

At 18-years-old, it’s pretty much a wrap for him if he can’t get his blood level to a certain level which opens up his potential and ability for martial arts. Think of the blood level as one measurement of what level a martial artist is.

After blacking out, Sheng goes to a post-apocalyptic world—his world 10,000 years into the future. He had been having nightmares of this place but he would find a blessing here: by fighting and defeating enemies in his dreamworld, he can become stronger. Months and years of training can be done in a couple of hours. Not only that, skills and techniques he learns in the ruined world can be used in the real world/present.

I’d liken it to being able to go into the Hyperbolic Time Chamber from Dragon Ball any time you go to sleep. It’s something of a cheat when you think of it. In training there, Lu Sheng unlocks a system which explains the history of the world and gives him access to different techniques as he becomes stronger. It also grants him access to government information about himself in the future.

While our hero Lu Sheng has ambitious goals to save the human race which is destroyed 10,000 years in the future by monsters, he still falls into the manhwa hero path of acquiring skills, wealth, connections, and pulling his family up.

There are just certain tropes that can’t be escaped despite the writer and theme.

Despite that, they’re welcome tropes. The writer could’ve been adventurous and tried some completely out-there tropes and wasted a good series, so this is fine. The artwork is very good, again Solo Leveling and Volcanic Age are the two manhwa/manhua series where the artwork simply impresses me and Apex Future Martial Arts isn’t there but it’s still very good and gets better during fight scenes.

Pacing-wise, AFMA has a mid-tempo. It’s not a speedy series like Solo Leveling and is closer to Volcanic Age in how it builds up to these big tournaments and tests with a lot of transitional and borderline filler stuff going on. I say borderline because some of it goes on for a bit but it’s all tied to some major adventure.

Overall, Apex Future Martial Arts is a murim/cultivation series worth checking out! If you’ve read it, let us know what you think of it!

Staff Writer; M. Swift

This talented writer is also a podcast host, and comic book fan who loves all things old school. One may also find him on Twitter at; metalswift.

Now take those two and put them together and you have something that is both great and overdone. Martial arts isekai is a safe genre to run with for a creator. There’s another element of this combo that makes this my undisputed favorite genre of manhwa: cultivation.

We’re going to get into a super brief introduction to cultivation manga/manhwa as well as a few examples. Not all of them are isekai series and most are manhwa from South Korea—just a heads up.

What is Cultivation Manhwa?

In manhwa series, cultivation is basically mental, spiritual, and physical training to prepare a martial artist for immortality and to travel different realms. The motivation for protagonists varies from series to series as do their entry into the world of murim—the world of martial artists.

With the end goal being immortality, characters in this world are guaranteed to either encounter danger or have experienced dangers in the past. These dangers often come from other martial artists or mysteries of the world.

The training that all characters undergo—cultivation—has an added benefit of prolonging life. Some characters can be a few hundred years old or fight like younger fighters in their 90s. However, they’re not immortal—they’re simply long-lived and hard to kill.

Of course, because it the nature of the murim world, few live long enough to get that old.

The Murim World

Murim isn’t really distinct to manhwa, Dragon Ball, Flame of Recca, Naruto and Fist of the North Star all take place in worlds where might makes right. Martial arts is the law and the enforcer. You could say that this is less so the case in three of those series because they tend to take place in more civilized times.

The setting of Naruto is an interesting case because it’s modern-ish but there’s still some feudal elements there. It’s what makes martial arts series interesting: they’re normal to the point a fighter can make a living, go on pilgrimages, and reputation is tied to what they do with their ability.

Many cultivation and murim manhwa take place in a world inspired by ancient or feudal Korean. Note that there are series that take place in modern times where murim either evolved into being a part of work, education, and so on or it’s similar to a juiced-up version of how some styles and schools of martial arts exist now.

The modern setting for murim is always an intriguing read but because writers use modern society as the setting, you run into a lot of unscrupulous characters and situations where characters are looked down upon. You’ll see this even in series that are more fantasy or feudally set but end result of magical martial arts violence seems more in place in the fantasy/feudal setting.

Perhaps it’s me but when a character kills another with a blast at a mansion outside of Seoul, dealing with that situation via strings being pulled does little for me. You’ll also notice extremely powerful allies intervening for the weaker main character often early on in the modern-based series.

A favorite series that does this is Cultivation Chat Group where the main character stumbles upon a chat group made of cultivators. Because he is new and initially shows little talent for cultivation, he is protected by a number masters who are all friendly with each other.

Part of that arrangement—and others in a few modern series—is to keep the existence of cultivators a guarded secret. As a result, it’s not unusual to have main characters go on missions to deal with threats to that secrecy. This is the crux of a lot of adventures in The Gamer.

The Fantasy Aspect and Power Levels

Whether it’s feudal, ancient or modern, fantasy plays a huge role in cultivation and murim manhwa because characters are able to wield magic or give effects to their chi or aura in addition to the raw power an attack from them would have.

This is where series can diverge. Mastering the body and spirit can open the door to magic in those worlds but there’s also the system explained. I’ve always maintained that Kinnikuman is the origin of power levels as we know them in manga—as well as tournament arcs—while Dragon Ball popularized the concept.

In manhwa, power levels rarely take the form they do in some manga. While you might get the numerical or letter grade rating system, there’s often a whole system with stages. Each stage is more powerful than the last and feature levels. In simplest terms: an early, mid, and late level to those stages.

For example, in series like God of Martial Arts, Star Martial God Technique, and Martial Peak, a character can be said to be in “the late Nascent stage” which might become right before “Gold Core stage”.

Terminology also varies but one common aspect is that some tribulation is required before advancing and that tribulation tends to come in the form of lightning striking the character. It’s not always the case and sometimes lightning strikes only come into play the closer the character gets towards immortality. One reason I’ve read is that the act of cultivation is the technically against the will of the Heavens and the tribulations are a punishment.

Next time, we’ll dive into a lot of other elements in this particular genre such as mysteries, the importance of bloodlines, and why secrets are so important.

Staff Writer; M. Swift

This talented writer is also a podcast host, and comic book fan who loves all things old school. One may also find him on Twitter at; metalswift.

I’ve discussed the debut of Dragon Ball in the West and its impact both personally and on a large scale. He was my inspiration when I drew homemade comics in middle school an high school. When I became older and learned more about him creatively, one of the things I found interesting was that originally he was a gag artist.

For those unfamiliar, gag manga are basically comedy comics. His parody work Wonder Island 2 almost took him out of the industry since it wasn’t successful. However, he stuck with it and began delivering works that would lay the groundwork to Dr. Slump and Dragon Ball.

Akira Toriyama Had a Distinct Style to His Work

Another thing I found interesting was that he was consistent with his art style. Toriyama also had a distinct style that was different from a lot of anime that became popular in the wake of Dragon Ball—at least in the West. You have to remember, this was the late 1990s, a lot of anime that made it to air had a similar style if it wasn’t the more mature stuff you got from Manga Entertainment, ADV Films, or Viz.

It didn’t have the standard style as far as hair and eyes and he used a lot of expressions you’d see in gag series. You could say that it wasn’t as clean as other styles and that it was a bit dated compared to newer series such as Naruto and One Piece which debuted while the series was still broadcasting in the U.S.

I found his style easy to copy and I practiced as a kid. The facial expressions, clothing styles, attacks—even his story pacing were elements of his style I really took to. I also shared his dislike of doing backgrounds in panels. His style was so unique that I thought he did artwork to the original Dragon Quest Dai series and not the talented Koji Inada.

Writing-wise, his Dragon Ball work had a formula where Goku had to get to a fight or there was something that made it difficult for him to make it to or stay in the fight. As a result, his allies often took a beating before he arrived and handled the big bad.

Dragon Ball Z also featured this thing in Goku’s fights where it was rarely a clean win. He had to die to kill his brother Raditz. While he did a lot of damage against Vegeta, Gohan really made it so that the Prince of Saiyans couldn’t continue the fight and had to retreat. He and Gohan defeated Cell and so on.

However, despite noticing these and character tropes, he made a great series that influenced others and held up years later. His work had a canonical timeline and an extended universe. In that sense, it was bit ahead of the times as many anime series were contained stories with Slayers, Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, and Kinnikuman being contemporary series that featured a continuous storyline told across time or different, large arcs as opposed to smaller arcs.

Akira Toriyama did a ton for the anime and gaming industries and for fans of both. As for me, while he inspired my art style—when I drew—more importantly, he made me a fan of this stuff and opened the door to more series than I could ever finish and more artists than I can remember. Growing up as a Black anime fan, Dragon Ball Z was a craze and adults in their late 30s and early 40s can still tell stories of just waking up on Saturday morning and sitting through the meh cartoons just to get to a replay of last week’s episode—followed by the new one.

Goku was the first animated hero I saw who made the ultimate sacrifice—within the first few episodes—over saving a son he’d miss chunks of his childhood. You also saw him mature more throughout the series—as much as he could mature, anyway.

That was Toriyama really showing the passage of time with timeless characters and making essential characters out of side characters.

Finding Toriyama’s other works piqued my interest in the other works of other mangaka outside of their popular work.

Rest in Peace, Akira Toriyama and thank you for being a part of my childhood—and adulthood—as well as those of many other fans’ around the world.

Staff Writer; M. Swift

This talented writer is also a podcast host, and comic book fan who loves all things old school. One may also find him on Twitter at; metalswift.

It’s often funny if not unnecessary. For those who don’t know, “subbed” refers to anime with subtitles thus keeping the original language while “dubbed” features anime with voice overs for markets outside of Japan.

The other can descend into ugliness and that’s anime versus manga. In case you’re wondering, the mainly or pro-manga side tends to be the dunkers and we’ll find out one reason—the main reason I feel—why that is. However, let’s look at the pros and cons of both sides and I’ll let you know where I fall.

The Case for Anime

I love animation, I will sit and watch old cartoons and anime all day. Anime is often the adaptation of manga although there has been a few anime that dropped first and got a manga afterward. I will always find that a bit odd. Like, a sequel? Great. Spin-offs? Love those. Prequels? Also great. A comic retelling of an animated series? Ehhhh…

If I already watched the anime, I’m not reading the manga unless the anime is on hiatus and the story is further along or I just really want to see what was left out of the anime. The animated version gives us the epic battles in color and with motion, stories pop because of voice, tone, music and pacing.

I feel that in many ways, anime is how fans get attached to characters. While it’s an animated work, the characters are alive in that world for a 30-minute to two-hour span. Anime is for fans who want their stories in living color. They can save the imagination power for speculation, roleplay, and/or fanfiction afterward.

Now, the big issue lies in the production and delays that come with anime. See, decades ago in the West, an episode didn’t drop shortly after it aired in Japan nor did we really have news of a new season. Anime just popped up on our shores and you got the new season when you got it.

The reason for the delays and uncertainty then rested in the dubbing studios as most series we got in the 90s and early 00s were either completed or far into the series and we were a couple of seasons behind outside of Japan.

Now, it’s the native studios themselves. Anime requires a lot resources and time to produce. That means, it has to make money to warrant the expense. If it doesn’t, we won’t be seeing it anymore and you end up with a bunch of viewers lamenting the loss of the series— it’s unfinished.

If it’s a continuing series, you might have to wait a bit before seasons start. It’s not that different from TV in any country, really.

The Case for Manga

Now, this is simpler. Manga’s main flaw is that it’s print—or digital now—and you don’t get the living color aspect of anime nor is there an alternative. Sure, manhwa and manhua are often in color but those forms of comics usually don’t get an animated adaptation. That’s pretty recent with God of High School, Noblesse, Solo Leveling, and so on.

I’d say that’s part of manga’s strength. Creating manga takes time and talent as well as the treasure of a publisher. It also has a release pace where it’s regular until the series end, something unfortunate happens to the creator, or the publisher decides to cancel it. The thing is, you’ve got a better chance of finishing a series’ manga adaptation as the amount of money invested by the publisher isn’t as great as what a studio has to put in.

Make no mistake: it has to be successful but a publisher can let a series cook before dropping it or moving it to a more suitable publication and schedule. Another strength is the pacing. If you enjoy a speedy pace and want to just take in the story without a massive investment in time: manga is the pick.

You’re reading and taking in the artwork but this series gets to occupy only so many pages of an anthology. The artist has to make the most of the pages they’re given, so you don’t get the drawn-out exposition or filler that you might stumble across in anime. You get the story without being edged by animation pacing—which I feel kind of felt became egregious as the late 90s-early 00s wave of anime went into their second and third story arcs in some cases.

Where Do I Fall on Anime or Manga?

The fence-sitting answer would be “I enjoy both” then I would tell you “Get it how you live: enjoy it how you wish.” While I maintain that you should enjoy it how you wish and never mind the others since they don’t cover your Crunchy Roll or Shonen Jump subscriptions. However, I prefer the manga version of most series for the strongest reasons mentioned above.

There’s a greater chance for the series to be finished via the manga. It’s not too often you hear a mainly manga reader say “I wish the publisher or artist would finish the series.” Oh, it happens—especially in manhwa—but it’s not often. Of course, I also don’t want to deal with filler or episodes that are drawn because of—as BlerdsOnline founder @TheOriginalKingD once said—exposition. Sometimes, there can be a bit too much in the middle of a dope fight.

Yes, I’m looking at you, Chunin Exams Arc in Naruto.

So, I’m more of a manga reader than an anime watcher—but anime definitely introduced me to the world of manga while also being the reason I prefer the print/digital version of a series. How about you? Which do you prefer or favor more: anime or manga? Let us know in the comments!

Staff Writer; M. Swift

This talented writer is also a podcast host, and comic book fan who loves all things old school. One may also find him on Twitter at; metalswift.

For those unfamiliar, isekai involves a character leaving their reality and going to another. This can occur by the characters being summoned to the world or dying in their world and arriving in a new world. I’d also say that MMORPG gaming manga and manhwa can be included in this in some cases. There are also series where the character dies and goes back in time—often with the knowledge of future events in that timeline up until their time of death. 

So, if Steven dies at 70 and gets isekai’d back to a being a baby, he’ll retain decades of knowledge and the events will occur as they are supposed to. Of course, the main character always interferes or takes some advantage of their knowledge. 

The world they are sent to often involves some level of magic or enhanced abilities. In most cases, the main character will develop some sort of mastery or feature a special trait. If they were considered trash or a waste yute in their world or time, they tend to excel when they go back in time or they become used to the world they’re in become stronger. 

Just like The World After the Fall. It’s worth a read. 

Swordmaster’s Youngest Son 

But this is about SYS, a series that follows young Jin Runcandel who grows up in the world’s mightiest swordsman martial family, the Runcandel Clan. The youngest son of the family’s patriarch, he is considered a waste and is eventually banished from the family after he fails to make significant improvement in swordsmanship. 

He would find out he has a talent with magic—a grave offense in his family—and eventually make a contact with the family’s guardian: a god of shadows. The god unlocks the curse placed on him that stifled his ability with the sword. 

Following his death, he is sent back in time as a child and uses his knowledge of future events and magic to unlock mysteries, gain power, and rise in status with the brutal Runcandel family. He also aims to become a major force in the family and in the empire as his clan wrestles with the sorcery family the Zipple. 

That’s just a sum up of Swordmaster’s Youngest Son—at least without giving away the specifics of the story.  Going to the artwork, it’s one of the better-done manhwa—which tends to have very good artwork that rivals manga. It’s manhua where things become a mixed bag and runs the gamut of really good-to-about  publishable. 

However, SYS delivers with artwork from character design to action scenes to special effects for the attacks. I’m not putting it up there with Solo Leveling but the artwork is valid. 

Is It Worth a Read? 

This series isn’t that unique after you’ve seen a lot of martial isekai or just fantasy martial arts series. You get to know the tropes and whatnot about family wars, internal conflict, strength systems, gathering secrets, politics, and so on.  

Many series feature all of that in martial isekai, so if you’re familiar with any of that, you’ll be at home with Swordmaster’s Youngest Son and I believe you’ll enjoy it. That is, unless you want something unique. For new readers, SYS is a good introduction to isekai as there isn’t a lot of concepts to gather or understand early into the manhwa. 

That’s a nod to Ice Penguin who did a great job at pacing this series in a way that the reader gets into the action and adventure a few chapters in. SYS isn’t a slog to and between major fights as Jin is involved in power struggle with extremely powerful siblings—some who get him into these major fights. 

Ultimately, I’ll say this is a series worth reading 100-percent. It’s a fun, fast-paced series thst just gets it done for me. If you’ve read Swordmaster’s Youngest Son, let us know what you think and recommend some of your favorite isekai series. 

Staff Writer; M. Swift

This talented writer is also a podcast host, and comic book fan who loves all things old school. One may also find him on Twitter at; metalswift.