Graphic Novel Review: World Piece Vol. 1

World Piece Volume 1

VIZ

Writer: Josh Tierney

Artist: Agroshka

World Piece is the latest work by Eisner-nominated writer Josh TIerney (Spera, Hunters, Warm Blood). This Japanese manga-inspired work follows Lucas Densen, a high-school basketball player, who after finding a mysterious artifact is whisked away to the planet of Affin. Not only has he been transported to an alien world, but he finds in his possession the planet Earth now shrunk down to the size of a basketball. After meeting the pampered-but-sheltered Lully and the pacifist soldier Mitton, the group searches for a way to return the planet Earth to its normal size.

There are a lot of good things going for this series. For one, Agroshka’s art really does wonders for the atmosphere of the story. Affin is presented as a futuristic world right out of a sci-fi movie, with robots and aliens roaming the streets. Each of these elements is captured quite beautifully on the page, and I can’t think of any instances where the art felt lacking or stiff. When there was action, it flowed through the panels, and when characters were still they still felt alive through Agroshka’s portrayal of them.

The premise is also intriguing and feels inspired by the isekai genre frequently seen in anime and manga. Having a character transplanted into an unfamiliar world and having them use skills and talents from their old world in order to navigate often makes for interesting scenarios.

Thirdly, I love seeing a dark-skinned protagonist in a series. Too often, especially in manga and anime, POCs are only represented as supporting or background characters. It’s always encouraging to see a character that POCs (like myself) can see themselves as or can put themselves into the shoes of. Seeing characters that look like you is always important, especially in media aimed at younger audiences.

I have several issues with the first volume of World Piece as well. While the premise is intriguing, this volume does very little to hook me outside of that. Earth’s shrinking is strange and mysterious, but the fact that so little is explained and planet shrinking seems to be a fairly common occurrence (there are planet thieves) detracts from my overall interest. While I enjoy a good mystery, when there are only questions piling up with very few answers it’s hard for me to remain entertained.

Another issue is the characters. Lully and Mitton are very stereotypical archetypes: Lully is the positive and determined character who always wants to help her friends and Mitton is the serious soldier who is sick of fighting. Sure, these archetypes are popular for a reason, but when that’s all there is to a character they come off fairly one-note. Lucas is the only character I really feel invested in.

However, here is where my third major issue comes in: Lucas is confusingly competent. Initially, he is portrayed as an optimistic teen who loves basketball. But after transporting to a new world and finding the Earth in its new basketball-sized form he quickly takes action to find a way to fix it. I like having a proactive main character, but Lucas is a bit too quick-thinking.

In this first volume, he develops his own fighting style that incorporates basketball moves and uses the Earth as a weapon. Considering how little he knows about his situation, it struck me as incredibly strange how quickly he was willing to use the Earth as a weapon and then proceeds to continue to fight with it in just about every altercation he finds himself in.

Overall, the first volume of World Piece introduces a lot of interesting concepts, but future installments will have to add more compelling elements to the characters and the plot to make this a series worth following.