Apocrypha: The Legend Of BABYMETAL Paperback – October 30, 2018

I have not read a comic book since Archie was trying to buy Veronica a soda at the local Malt Shop. From what I understand, he's now in a love triangle with Veronica and Betty while Veronica and Betty are now biker chicks drinking booze and smoking weed. Times have certainly changed. That said, I bought this because Babymetal brought music back into my life after a lack of originality had made it stale. Musically, I was stuck in the 70s. Babymetal brought me back to current music and opened my eyes to a ton of new bands. What does any of this have to do with this Graphic Novel? This GN did the same thing for a different art format. It reintroduced the joys of imaginary worlds with imaginary characters, created by talented artists. The artwork is simply fantastic. the color palette in use is a genius within itself, with deepness to story line that is sometimes below the surface. I am plagiarizing the following from a reddit post from a user who calls himself /r/Plastic_Metal. It helped me better understand the story line. Perhaps some spoilers here, not dramatically so. But you've been warned.PROLOGUE“Mankind fears the other and in the process becomes the other.” Important bit for later on.CHAPTER 1Japan, 1640. During this period Japan developed a body of knowledge through its contacts with the Dutch enclave of Dejima, which allowed Japan to keep abreast of Western technology and medicine. Not sure how prominent pollution was, but this is how the Vulture God was freed.The girls are brought back together by a deer, a bear, and a monkey. Are there any significance to these animals in Japanese lore?CHAPTER 2I’m glad they didn’t dwell too much on the Seven Avatars or the Chosen Seven lore. There’s a lot already going on, so that’s a story that should be saved for another book.Love the explanation of the DEATH chants (a reference to the song, Babymetal Death).. Makes me want to chant it at a concert more in earnest.CHAPTER 31793, France. Reign of Terror, a period during the French Revolution.“Women and fire have a troublesome history in France.” Referring to Joan of Arc being burnt at the stake.The Father refers the Plague of Marseille and Justinian. Periods where plagues run rampant. The Vulture God is drawn to those events as seen in the following chapters.“He is not one of us. Or is he?” Putting a pin on that.A Voltron of dead bodies?? Bad ass. I wonder where Koba’s ideas begins and ends.CHAPTER 41862, Canada. In this period there was a smallpox epidemic among Northwest Coast tribes that was carried from San Francisco on the steamship. That’s why we see a ship and the girls are reincarnated as an eagle, crow, and owl. Though I don’t know enough about the cultural significance of the animals in Native mythology.I didn’t catch this on the first read, but when the owl stopped to comfort the crow when it got hit by a rock instead of going for the Agimat, it made me think of the IRL girls and had me a bit emotional.CHAPTER 51972, USA. This a unique angle to continue the motif of the Vulture God. Instead of a plague, he’s manifested as a computer virus. This year was the first use of the term virus to refer to unwanted code.Small nod to Women’s lib during this period.The computers have the number 4 on them.I don’t think the binary code the Vulture God speaks actually translate too anything. Can someone check? I’m too lazy.They broke the internet.CHAPTER 6I found these last two chapters beautiful. The girls finally understand the Vulture God as not an enemy, but a reflection of mankind’s fears, and can only be overcome with compassion.CHAPTER 7I feel like Koba is speaking directly to us in these last few pages. He, like us, is a creation of the universe. We can disagree on many things, but bound by compassion—We Are The One.

Overall, an interesting origin story/mythology for the Fox God and its antithesis in the form of the Vulture God, as well as The Destinies(the girls in their many incarnations). The artwork is just fantastic and the whole book is chock full of very cool, shall we say, "METAL" imagery. My only real critique would be that I find the first half of the book to be a bit stronger than the second. To clarify, the first half is set entirely in Japan during the early Edo period(great setting) and deals with this particular eras "chosen ones" battling the revived dark god before meeting with the Fox God itself and, in essence, being sent on a spiritual time-travelling journey in hopes of eventually defeating the great evil. This segment is wonderful as you spend enough time with these girls to get a reasonably firm sense of their individual personalities and much of the core myth-making for the band is presented very well and very clearly. Excellent stuff. The second half offers a fairly briskly-paced time hop from Revolutionary France to 1860's British Colombia(an esoteric choice, for sure) to 1970's America where our girls are workers on the ARPANET in a thematically inspired and relevant finale. Don't get me wrong, it's all well done but we move so fast through these time periods that it can be hard for the narrative and, thus, the reader to keep up. There's enough conceptual material here for a few more books, quite frankly. Still, what's here IS pretty freaking awesome and if you're Babymetal freak like me then you simply gots to own it! Kitsunes up and stay Metal everybody!

I did not really have a good idea of what to expect going in because I really don't know much about graphic novels. "But it's Babymetal, so I need it" as the saying goes [among fans of the band, and, incidentally: the band is very good, that's what got me here]. I in fact already have five of these (there are four store-exclusive special editions with different artwork on the cover), with two more (deluxe edition, and a signed one) on the way. I was invested in liking it. But I do. The artwork is fantastic. The story moves very fast. But I think it nails the mood. It is not a biography, it is not a goofy 80's style "adventures of..." kind of thing involving fictitious stylized exploits of the members of the band. It is a much grander story that develops the sort of "lore" the band has always had in the mystical fables they tell about their position in the universe, but in a much more coherent way than we ever had before in the mini-movies they played in concerts. It stands on its own. While I know that most people don't really need 7 slightly different copies of it, it's worth picking up one for sure. I'm sure that I will be re-reading/admiring it periodically in the future.

An intelligent story that avoids simplistic Hollywood-style tropes while entertaining and building the mythical BABYMETAL origin story through the centuries, Apocrypha is as thought-provoking as it is visually breathtaking. Artist GMB Chomichuk pulls no punches as he reimagines the heroines and their nemeses as they repeatedly clash through time. His diverse, stunning visuals and carefully designed color pallet are at once beautiful and terrifying, and amplify the story's emotional impact.This graphic novel is not for the timid and will surprise both the casual reader and the ardent BABYMETAL warrior-veteran of numerous Metal Resistance campaigns - and everyone in between. Note some images might be scary for young children.Highly recommended for graphic novel fans of all types, especially those new to and/or intrigued by BABYMETAL.

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My favourite comic book, and I love Babymetal... So only us Kitsunes know what the book is about and im not spoiling it, and its very different compared to others ive read.

Bello per i fan della band

While the storyline is solid, giving background on the mythology behind the current incarnation of Babymetal (we see different, earlier incarnations of the band throughout human history rather than focusing on the current girls), the real standout here is the artwork. GMB Chomichuk has an incredibly vivid and unique art style that combines collage, photography, illustration, and digital art in a bombastic, nearly surrealistic style. A truly outstanding artistic approach.

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