So here we have a book that is for teens about a boxer and it’s a comic book. This is a little outside of anything I’ve read before, but as a very avid comic story enthusiast, I was excited to get a copy of that. I really enjoyed it and I think you will too if this is your thing.

I found this to be charming. I lived the art style and I feel like it really captured the essence of late 90s and early 00s manga art and I thought that the protag was funny and powerful but I didn’t really feel connected to any of the side characters or the villains so when something happens, it doesn’t hit me as hard as it should.

Soul Beat is a comic told in manga style. Is it technically a manga? Not really. It's like the difference between Champagne and Sparkling wine. They're similar, but it matters where it came from.

That being said, I can fully tell that Morganne Walker loves the medium of manga. She has a very good idea and is presenting in the style that best suits what she has to say. There's a very clear and important difference between appropriation and appreciation and it's clear that Walker is appreciating the art of manga.

Soul Beat is a really well done first volume that is enough to grab a reader and hook them into sticking around to finish the series. The art is engaging and the story kept me turning the pages. I was a fan.

This comic is everything you want in a manga, as long as you’re comfy with Christian content. By that, I mean a hot brooding devil - the necessities. Hundreds of years ago, evil won and sinners have overtaken the earth. Our hero, Dante, a righteous 70’s-styled local boxer, is told this by his aging friend, Ben, as he passes on an ancient Relic. Dante gains heavenly powers and decides to save his friend’s soul by taking out the devil - and any demon who gets in his way. I absolutely loved this book. It ticked every box at exactly the right time for the “formula” of this type of manga without feeling tired and overdone. Character design was fun and filled with variety, tethered to the real world in most ways but still filled with the over the top design often found in manga like giant weapons or unrealistic costumes. I can not wait for the next installment!

Sensitivity Reader Comment for Author/Publisher: I love religious content but hadn’t expected it in this book (I just read Soul like Black culture and completely missed the intended double entendre, which I loved as soon as it finally hit me lol) and with the way the media is right now towards queer people, my radar was on high alert. If something Christian doesn’t immediately recognize itself as queer friendly nowadays, I’m unfortunately a little wary. This book had two points that had the tiniest inkling of probably unintentional homophobia that I probably only even noticed because of that high alert and the premise of “sinners have overtaken the earth”. At one point our main character refers to the group of baddies as boyfriends, using it as an insult. By it being the main character who is quite literally the last bastion of good in this book, that implies it is morally good to use gay as an insult. At another point later on, a demon states that no one can resist her, woman or man. As this is the only queer representation (is it even that?) in the book, and it’s a demon, this implies that queerness is demonic (Yes, there’s also more than two genders, but let’s give writers a lil slack somewhere people). I genuinely don’t think the author was trying to put any anti-queer messaging in here, I imagine it’d have been a lot more present if so. I freaking loved this manga, seriously. Like this is me being as nitpicky about it as I could possibly be. But it’s dangerous out there for the community right now, so even the little things sting. If there’s not intent to include the queer community in the “sinners have overtaken the earth”, I’d love to see the boyfriends line changed and a clearly ‘good’ character who’s queer added, ideally early on. If Asa and Dante aren’t meant to be a will they/won’t they (because they aren’t siblings, right?) down the line, Asa would be an awesome queer character. As long as there’s morally good people who are queer, villains can also be queer without implying it’s evil.

tl;dr
Fun, fast-paced, and slightly irreverent, this series would be right at home on Toonami.

Thoughts
The publisher's name Saturday AM evokes images of early Saturday morning cartoons, but if I had to place this series, I'd air in on Toonami. It's got punchy (literally) action, a quick-paced storyline, and snappy humor. Dante is adult-aged, which lends a lot of weight to his confidence. So much so that when he says he's going to kill the devil, I genuinely believe he can, despite all the naysayers within the comic itself. He's also got a strong sense of justice that makes him very easy to cheer for. Supporting cast are also likable, with the mentor and/or sidekick character looking like he's also going to be a great foil for Dante. A strong start to the series, and I am looking forward to more!

"Evil triumphs when good men do nothing"... right?"

Hello, this graphic novel is so good?!

The graphic itself has caught my heart and the story plot just makes me want to get the second volume now. There are a few parts that were cringy, I have to admit but I really had a good time reading this.

I'm not a huge fan of action manga, but this is an exception for me.
You'll instantly like Dante. He and his personality shine here as a good person. And you know any story that starts out with the main character being given an artifact is going to be good.
I liked the art style, it isn't as harshly drawn as action manga tend to be drawn and the humor breaks up the tense moments well.
I love how Dantes confidence comes from experience and not just brute strength. His style is more realistic than a lot of action manga are out there. I haven't read a manga where boxing was the fight style before and even though I know nothing about it this was a truly enjoyable read.

I enjoyed this one start to finish, it has a good story and it gets you hooked quick. I suggest grabbing it when it releases, I plan to pick up this series once it comes out.

Thank you to Netgalley and Morganne Walker for letting me read the arc for this!

The Devil better watch out because Soul is on the prowl, and not even the Devil can survive that 80s funk. Humour, battles - personal and physical and lots of ‘Soul’ is to be found within the comic’s covers. Only slight disappointment the comic is black and white, I was looking forward to some 80s colours. Thank you to Quarto Publishing Group - Rockport Publishing and NetGalley for the comic ARC. The views expressed are all mine, freely given.