All that noted, the first full chapter of "Ultimo" remains an entertaining quick read. The series' living manikins -- pointy eared with the pre-requisite flyaway hair and giant metal claws for hands -- are visually enjoyable, even if their character delineation is pretty broad. ("You anger me," Vice tells the bandits just before he ices six of 'em. "For that, you die!") In battle, the two demonstrate the ability to transform into dragonish or leonine creatures, which Takei and his assistants illustrate with full-throated glee. I can see these fight scenes shoring up a suitably noisy anime adaptation.
More intriguing as characters are the amoral Dunstan and the heroic bandit, Yamato. The latter, in particular, has a decent amount of flair, but before we get to know him or any of his Merrye Men too well, the two manikins vanish mid-fight, and the story suddenly shifts to 21st Century West Tokyo. There, we meet a teenaged schoolboy named Yamato who pals with a young longhaired boy who's a dead ringer for one of the other bandits. Are they eternal champions or reincarnations of the 12th century figures? Lee & Takei aren't giving that particular plot point away in the first chapter.
I'm invested enough to want to check out the first Ultimo paperback collection when it comes out, though more for Takei's work at this point than Lee's. Still, the fanboy in me continues to hold out hope that Stan the Man will produce something surprising. Perhaps I need an intervention?
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