Spooky Halloween DragonBall post! (NSFW)

Just in time for Halloween! I wanted to do a ghoulish post before the Holiday passes us by completely, and a few options rooooose from the grave...or..my brain, when I was deciding. I was considering covering the recent Xombi series, or the Phantom of the Opera-esque arc in Jack Kirby's original The Demon series, or even the issue of Jimmy Olsen (also by Jack Kirby) where he runs into the universal monsters. One manga (Japanese comic for those who do not know) came to mind immediately though, and I decided to go with it...a particularly spooky arc from the classic manga by Akira Toriyama, DRAGONBALL!

Our heroes, ladies and gents.

The basic plot of Dragonball centers around Son Goku, a young boy who lives alone in the woods, who has a monkey tail, and is as strong as an ox. He goes on a quest around the world for 7 magic balls, the Dragon balls, which when gathered together summon the mighty dragon Shenlong who can grant any wish. While the most popular form of Dragonball (at least in the United States) is Dragonball Z, an animated fighting series adapted from the latter half of the Dragonball manga, it may come as a surprise for some the Dragonball started out as a really jokey, raunchy and silly martial arts comic.

The chillllling arc in question sees our heroes Son Goku, with his friends Kruririn (the monk) Yamucha (the tall young desert bandit) Upa (the little Native American boy) and Puar (the floating cat) entering a tournament held by a fortune telling witch who will tell them the location of the last Dragonball they need. Their opponents: SPOOKY MONSTERS!

First up is this Dracula with boxing gloves (I like calling vampires Draculas, sue me) who does battle with Kuririn. He keeps on turning into a bat and fluttering around, which is pretty cheap, and Kuririn can't catch him. He eventually re-dracs and chomps, or glomps, Kuririn's enormous bald head. 

The results of this are hilarious, but the action is still lively and satisfying. The brilliant thing about the early Dragonball comics is that Toriyama perfectly blends exciting and intense action with humor. It seems effortless, and perfectly illustrates why Toriyama is a master of comics. Oh and the hilarious results of Kuririn's wound:

Kuririn loses his match, and 'Count Dracula' is dispatched by Upa and Puar with some fast thinking...Yamucha takes up the next battle and his opponent:

The Invisible man! Yamucha can't see his opponent, obviously, and is getting the tar beaten out of him...that is, until Kuririn has a brilliant idea from the sidelines! A brief aside here, Dragonball is a very raunchy comic, which frequently features pretty low brow jokes and nudity that American audiences would be surprised by. Many of those instances of raunch are perpetrated by Master Muten Roshi, Son Goku's martial arts teacher.Very often when Master Roshi sees a pretty girl his nose bleeds, Kuririn knows this and fetches Roshi and their friend Bulma, for this eyebrow raising strategy for exposing the Invisible Man (possibly NSFW):

Yamcha attacks and makes short work of his opponent, thanks to Roshi's nosebleed, which brings the tournament to the next level. This is possibly the best setting I have ever seen in a comic:

Yep, there is a toilet paper dispenser.

Why yes, that IS an arena made from two giant statues of demons on toilets touching tongues. Here, Yamucha must do battle with his next spooky foe,

a Mu-Mu-Mu Mummy! The battles from here on out become a little more serious, Yamucha is dispensed with fairly brutally and quickly, leaving the challenge up to Son Goku. Son takes out the Mummy, to everyone's surprise, with ease, as well as his next opponent, the Devil!

What an awesome panel.

The panel above is the Devil using his evil beam, which brings the evil in his opponent's heart out and kills them...too bad for him that Son Goku has no evil in his heart! 

The tournament goes on for one more match but that section, but that section is not as SPOOKY as the ones I decided to share. Dragonball gets a bad rap in America, I think, because of the cartoon show Dragonball Z (which I personally still love). If you have an opportunity, check out the volumes out by Viz comics!

Oh and on a digital comics aside, for more spooky comics fun check out Dracula the Unconquered, by Chris Sims, Josh Krach and Steve Downer. The story is really fun, the art is spectacular, and it is ONE DOLLAR. Check it out:

http://www.draculatheunconquered.com/

-Eamon