Claymore, Vol. 24: Army of the Underworld: Volume 24 Paperback – Illustrated, 22 May 2014

Prompt dispatch. Luckily this edition was edited exactly as my Italian one so I was able to collect all the volumes and finish the series

Perfect

Volume twenty four in the Claymore series of manga comics. This is a story about a world where humans live in fear of horrible creatures called Yoma. The only people who can fight them are Claymores. A group of women with special powers and very large swords.This is not a good jumping on point. New readers should start with volume one. Those who have only seen the anime should start with volume eleven, which picks up from where that left off.This volume is presented in the usual manga format. An A5 sized book of black and white art. Which is divided into six chapters and runs for one hundred and ninety one pages.As with all manga, you read it from back to front and right to left, rather than the western left to right and front to back.Picking up from where the last volume ended, the first chapter of this one is nearly all conversation, as the new arrivals we met at the end of that part explain a few things. And an intriguing conversation that is.Then it's all ladies with big swords flying through the air fighting grotesque monsters once again. But as with some other volumes, this does manage to avoid getting stale. Just. Because there is the sense that the story is going somewhere. Albeit it a bit slowly. And the new arrivals and their involvement is new to the narrative and not something we've seen before.This all leaves Raki sidelined, which is a bit of a surprise after the first chapter. But there are two other things that do grab the attention. An interesting flashback to Priscilla's past that does fill in some unknown details about her. And an absolute bombshell of a revelation on the final couple of pages. At which point you might look as surprised as one character does.This will leave you desperate to know what will happen next.Claymore does seem to be moving a bit slowly towards an ending, but this is a volume that manages to avoid feeling too padded, and will leave you looking forward to volume twenty five.