Gehenna in Tokyo #1: A Stunningly Unfulfilled Contract

Gehenna in Tokyo is marketed as a one-shot comic. A one-shot is a comic industry-standard format: a self-contained story completed within a single issue. Gehenna in Tokyo is not a one-shot comic: it ends with a “to be continued.” This comic abandons its premise, making itself the first issue in a story rather than a self-contained story. Readers who expect a self-contained story will be disappointed with the ending. This is a marketing problem with the book. 

The issue is redeemed by the writer duo Marco Ferrari and Patrick Kindlon. These two pair well together in writing Gehenna’s character. Ferrari and Kindlon give Gehenna a distinctively dry sense of wit in this issue. A scene occurs in which Gehenna describes the Yakuza; the juxtaposition between the first- and second-page descriptions is so jarring that it is genuinely hilarious. This works because Ferrari and Kindlon never write the joke; instead, they write the absence of one. She speaks about her mercenary lifestyle so casually and so coldly; her register never shifts, and that restraint is the mechanism that makes the delivery so comedic. Ferrari and Kindlon do an excellent job giving each character a unique voice. 

The standout of this issue is the art by Atsuji Yamamoto. Yamamoto’s art style for this comic blends 90s manga aesthetics with Western comic panel spacing. In particular, the third part of this comic highlights Yamamoto’s artistic skillset. Yamamoto contrasts the modern and technological Gehenna with traditional Japanese architecture. The art combines the kinetic and classic to create visual tension that a script alone could not produce.