In One-Punch Man Volume 10, Garo stalks heroes, but when he has the mishap of jostling a blissfully shopping Saitama, the “Human Monster” gets slapped silly. Metal Bat confronts monsters that pose a threat to a Hero Association executive and his brat. And, in one of the largest “bonus manga” sections known to manga fans, Tornado simmers during her downtime, Saitama and Genos compete in a costume contest, Blizzard challenges Saitama’s clique to a high stakes showdown, and Child Emperor gets unusual data from Saitama on his new device that can analyze a hero’s capabilities.

Nothing else says that One-Punch Man has a long future than that Volume 10, after swinging the spotlight from Saitama, to Metal Bat, and then to Garo, puts it on the One-Punch Man setting itself in a “Bonus Manga” section that spreads to one quarter of the volume. When a writer’s fictional universe is so healthy that some of their characters throw their own party for fifty pages, that is pretty much the litmus test for ficto-reality, if there is one. No doubt some readers and critics will see this as gratuitous, as indulgent, as somehow disrespecting the reader’s payment, but they will be back for more, though they won’t know why they prefer it to more mainstream manga or comics that don’t ad lib the shonen or superhero recipes. It’s a comforting fiction that our beloved characters have some capacity for downtime, to let their hair down–sorry, Saitama–and sometimes do as we do. This makes their illusion more real, as in sharing our pasttimes, there is the sense that we could somehow do as they do as well.

I do wonder what ONE’s strategy is for making Metal Bat a spotlight character so late in the run; one gets the sense that Metal Bat is being groomed for death, that he is being given just enough TLC to merit a demise that will elicit sympathy. Garo is going to need to leave some bodies in his wake that make an impact in the narrative, and ONE is no doubt loath to kill any of his pet supporting characters, such as Genos, Mumen Rider, King, or Bang. (Please, please, don’t kill Mumen Rider!)

As much as ONE, artist Yusuke Murata is responsible for the strength of the One-Punch Man universe; adept at fluttering between photoreal and chibi; between the elongation of perspective in a punch and the flattening of it in the impact; between the expansion of the reader’s gaze on a two-page spread to the contraction of it into one tight panel; between the inspired realization of ONE’s imaginings to the faithful rendering of the banality of video games and junk food.

One-Punch Man Volume 10, like every volume in this series, is strongly recommended, and if you find it sold out, you can order it directly through Viz as a print or digital edition.

Viz Media sent the review copy.