I don’t think I’ve ever read a comic book as fast as I did this one. I mean the wordless ones, sure, but the ones with dialogue? This was 175 pages and I blew through it in what felt like 10 supercharged minutes!
The last volume left our heroes at the whim of Nappa, one of the Saiyans, who had just begun to fight Piccolo, Son Gohan and co. Son Goku is racing out of the Underworld to the battlefield in one of the most tense sequences I’ve ever see in a comic.
Akira Toriyama conveys the urgency perfectly and I mean totally and utterly perfectly - I actually stood up to read this part of the book! And the sequence of Goku’s flight from Underworld to Heaven to Karin Tower to Kinto’un and then right at the last second to the battle? Phewf! Real seat-of-the-pants entertainment!
With Yamcha dead at the end of the last book, even more characters die before Goku arrives (not Gohan though - that’d be too rough!) so it’s basically Goku vs Nappa, with Vegeta hanging back looking on. Goku’s training under the Lord of Worlds has given him some amazing new moves but it’s still a tough fight as Nappa’s no pushover.
There’s a real sense of menace with Vegeta and, though I’m sure Goku will somehow beat him, I still keep wondering who else is going to die and whether the cost of defeating Vegeta will be too high. Simply incredible storytelling from Toriyama.
The volume closes out with Goku having used his most powerful move on Vegeta, only for him to have deflected it. The two hover over the desert ready for the final battle. I think I need a lie down before I attempt the next book!
Dragon Ball Z, Volume 3: Hurry, Son Goku!
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