Yu-Gi-Oh GX Volume 4

From a Little Free Library in Rindge NH USA.

Title: Yu-Gi-Oh! GX
Issue: Volume 4
Publisher: Viz Media / Shonen Jump
Date: 2010
Writer: Kazuki Takahashi, Naoyuki Kageyama
Artist: Naoyuki Kageyama
Editor: Mike Montesa, Jason Thompson

I picked this up from a Little Free Library, and might not have given it a try were it not for the fact that I just read the Yu-Gi-Oh Official Handbook (also from a Little Free Library, and reviewed here), which gave me some idea of the backstory.

Yu-Gi-Oh GX takes place years after the original series and features a next-generation scenario with a group of aspring duelists attending a Duel Academy, one of several such schools around the world dedicated to the Duel Monsters game.

This is the fourth volume, so we're in the middle of things, in this case, a tournament for the honor of dueling legendary champion Zane "Kaiser" Truesdale. The semifinals have come down to Jaden Yuki against Bastion, and Chazz versus David Rabb.

Jaden has to deal with an opponent who has constructed his deck specifically to beat Jaden's strategy, while Chazz finds himself up against dark magical forces as David engages him in a shadow duel where damage causes real pain.

A flashback to ancient Egypt gives a bit more background on the long-term storyline as the stage is set for the finals. Meanwhile, Duel Academy teacher Ms. Hibiki suspects something unusual is happening involving David, but David's sister, Reggie, is aware of her suspicions.

This exceeded my expectations by a lot. First of all, I was impressed with how interesting the book managed to make the card duel sequences that were at the heart of this issue. Even with my (extremely) limit knowledge of the Yu-Gi-Oh TCG, I was able to follow the action and ended up really enjoying these scenes. 

The flashback sequence did a nice job of building up some of the lore. This had, admittedly, a lot of characters to keep track of, but I found it surprisingly accessible considering I was jumping in at Volume 4. 

Rating: 7/10 

Yu-Gi-Oh Official Handbook

From a Little Free Library in Windsor CT USA.

Title: Yu-Gi-Oh Official Handbook
Publisher: Scholastic 
Date: 1996
Writer: Tracey West

Not a comic. This is a visual guide to the characters and lore of Yu-Gi-Oh, based primarily on the manga storyline. A fair amount of lore from the card game is included, but this book doesn't go into specifics of game mechanics and strategy. This book is about the story and characters, with a general summary of the overall plot, and features on a range of major and minor characters.The writeup of each character, usually including their key storyline moments, is followed by brief descriptions of that character's preferred duel monsters. The monsters, represented as the cards in the TCG come with the familiar clunky name translations into English, and usually only a line or two about how they go about attacking and defending. The art and colorful and straightforward.

As someone who doesn't play the game, but who is generally familiar with it from spending time in game stores where it is played, I was surprised at the complexity of the character development and the interrelationships between the characters. Although this book only summarizes, it does a good job of making the story sound interesting and appealing. I'll be keeping an eye out for the manga after reading this.

Rating: 7/10