Free Comic Friday: Kaiju No. 8 / Sakamoto Days

FCBD 2022 Kaiju No. 8 & Sakamoto Days
Kaiju No. 8 excerpt
Story and art: Naoya Matsumoto
Translation: David Evelyn
Touch-up art and lettering: Brandon Bovia
Design: Jimmy Presler
Editor: Karla Clark

Sakamoto Days Vol. 2 excerpt
Story and art: Yuto Suzuki
Translator: Camellia Nieh
Shonen Jump series lettering: Eve Grandt
Touch-up art and lettering: Snir Aharon
Design: Kam Li
Editor: John Bae
Published by: Viz LLC
Released: May 7, 2022

“Godzilla Minus One” is still critically acclaimed and the trailer for “Kong v. Godzilla X Whatever You Call It” hasn't been out that long, so I'm going to argue this look at Viz Media's 2022 Free Comic Book Day double shot is more or less timely. Besides, you might have stumbled onto this post after coming to the end of my emotionally charged CapWolf coverage, so who knows when you're actually reading? After all, once it's on the Internet, it's there forever – unless it's my 20-some-year-old message board answer to the question of what would happen if the Avengers and JLA faced off in a game of baseball. Still can't find that one.

There were a couple of challenges beyond finally writing this post after reading the featured excerpts from the manga series “Kaiju No. 8” and “Sakamoto Days.” One was constantly getting the Hootie & the Blowfish cover of R.E.M.'s “Driver 8” stuck in my head. That's not bad; I love Hootie. But really the only part I remember is the portion of the chorus that goes “And the train conductor says/take a break, Driver 8,” so it started to get old.

Reading the issue right to left wasn't daunting either, what with the front cover being obvious. But I did often forget you have to read the pages themselves right to left as well.

But enough whining. The question, as with most Free Comic Friday entries, is not just was this worth the (non-existent) price of admission, but how effective was it as a Free Comic Book Day promotion?

The 15-page excerpt from the initial volume of Kaiju No. 8 introduces us to point-of-view character Ichikawa, who has just passed the first stage of his examination for entry into the Japanese Defense Force's kaiju-fighting unit. So has his kaiju cleanup co-worker and mentor, Kafka. But Kafka has a secret implied by his name – he transforms into a kaiju himself.

It's always been Kafka's dream to join the Defense Force, and he's not going to let being their only “unneutralized target” stand in his way – even though he seems unable to control his partial transformations and is often oblivious to them starting.

The introduction of a female candidate who stresses the 32-year-old Kafka out more than his monstrous alter ego by referring to him as an old man felt a bit odd. But as someone who now works with people born around the time I graduated high school and even college, I kind of relate.

The cover art made me think this was going to be a little darker and more serious than it actually was. Nevertheless, the sci-fi sitcom setup had me curious, so as a no-cost enticement to read more, this first half was a success.

The other excerpt is from the second volume of a series called “Sakamoto Days,” about a former hit man who now runs a convenience store and is a doting dad to his young daughter. Despite his softer, pudgy appearance, Sakamoto still has the skills from his former life, as we see when he fights his way through a shopping mall to get his child a sugar backpack* for her first day of school.

Suzuki's rendering of Sakamoto as an unremarkable marshmallow of a man among more standard-looking characters is particularly interesting, especially as his face and body start to show the bloody rigors of his Black Friday-esque battle.

This excerpt was also fun, but I'm less inclined to seek out more simply because the premise is so familiar. I'm constantly being bombarded with streaming ads of Mark Wahlberg doing the same thing allegedly soon in an Apple TV movie.

* - I don't know what that is. I was hoping you did?