First Look at One-Punch Man Volume 01, Punch 5

As Saitama contemplates why he is fighting the monsters of the land he worries that he’s losing a part of himself as he gains in power.

Itch Explosion by ONE and Yasuke Murata. Published by Viz, 2014.

A New Hero Appears in the City

When we left off last time, One-Punch Man had just defeated the Subterranean King and was reveling in the excitement of a challenging fight. In this chapter, Saitama doesn’t get much punching in though and seems to be in a kind of funk. He worries that as he gains in strength, he loses emotion. No longer feeling the thrill of battle, things are becoming too easy for him…and taking on these monsters is like squashing a bug.

But even as he looks to gain more fear, anger, impatience, and excitement, a new foe appears in the city. And she actually is a bug.

The Mosquito Queen is reported as a “Disaster Level: Demonic” threat to Z-City as she controls swarms of mosquitoes and anyone who gets in her way has all the blood sucked outta them. She takes the blood into herself to use to enhance her abilities. We actually see some animals and a would-be burglar attacked and drained. This is a particularly gross set of panels that depict the thief swarmed by mosquitoes with every inch covered by them…and then they are shown engorged with blood – yuck! But then she encounters Genos.

Genos repulses her bugs with what looks like flame blasts and then he turns to exterminate the queen. She’s not worried though since she’s got plenty more where those came from.

But we won’t see the outcome until the next chapter.

I like the fact that not only do we have a new and interesting foe but we also see that there are other heroes in the city. The introduction of Genos and the fact that the battle with the Mosquito Queen continues into the next installment might not stir Saitama’s excitement but I sure am looking forward to the next chapter.

I’ll rate this Punch a A- and look to learn more about this new hero and how he’s gonna fit in with Saitama.

You can find Itch Explosion in the One-Punch Man Volume 01 manga on Comixology or at you local comic book store.

Daily Ramble 241.2 | One-Punch Man Volume 01, Punch 5