JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Steel Ball Run #1-11

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Steel Ball Run #1-11

Originally released in 2004

Written by Hirohiko Araki

Art by Hirohiko Araki

Comics can be somewhat infamous for rebooting their continuity to make long-running series more accessible for newcomers, with DC being the prime example. Movies do this as well, though with manga, it seems rarer, as they tend to tell one continuous story. However, by the time of part 7, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure underwent a reboot, changing from a gradual progression from the 1800s to the modern day to going back to the 1890s.

In America, eccentric millionaire Stephen Steel sets up a months-long cross country race with $50 million dollars on the line. (Which would be $1.7 billion by today's standards) This gets attention from all over, including the two main protagonists Johnny Joestar (a talented but arrogant jockey who lost the use of his legs) and Gyro Zeppeli, who uses steel balls as a weapon.

The balls use the power of spinning to do seemingly supernatural things, such as give Johnny the ability to walk again. When he accidentally discovers this, he's more determined than ever to enter the race so he can get ahold of Gyro's... spheres and learn their secrets.

The series gets into the race rather quickly, and with so many characters being introduced at once, it can be unclear who (aside from Johnny and Gyro) is going to be prominent.  Will it be Sandman, a Native American who intends to complete the race on foot rather than horseback and who appears to already have a Stand? Will it be the familiar-looking Urmd Avdul? Or perhaps it will be Diego Brando, who is also known as Dio - there's no way of knowing for sure.

My sarcasm aside, I'd be shocked if it turned out that Diego wasn't important, given that he's an alternate universe version of series antagonist Dio Brando. Then again, Avdul doesn't seem to be important beyond being an early obstacle for Gyro.

Shortly into the race, the contrast between Johnny and Gyro becomes clear - Johnny has a lot of technical knowledge, though his physical impairments make him less effective as a racer despite his determination. Gyro has talent, but lacks knowledge, whereas Diego has both.  The writing and art makes a horse race extremely dramatic, though based on the scenarios encountered throughout JoJo's Bizarre Adventure (fights, poker games, rock paper scissors matches), that should almost be a given.

It's interesting to go into this story with it being a reboot, as characters lack the knowledge that would be second nature in parts 4-6 of the series. Usually, if anything even slightly unusual happens, characters could proclaim "this must be the work of an enemy Stand!" and 99 times out of 100, they'd be right. It usually helped that at least one member of the cast was aware of what Stands were and could explain them, whereas here, it's unclear what if anything is Stand-related. (Though Sandman's ability to control sand seems like an example)

One racer, Pocoloco, is convinced that he's a one-in-five-billion man with supernatural luck after hearing it from a fortune teller.  Maybe this is the work of a Stand, or maybe he is just that lucky, or maybe it's a coincidence and his luck is going to run out; this early on, it's unclear.

...at least until he runs through a grove and starts seeing a figure that encourages him. He thinks it's a hallucination, but anyone who's familiar with JoJo's Bizarre Adventure knows it's a Stand. In the previous parts, people usually got Stands by being stabbed by a rare arrow, but it's unclear how they're attained in this continuity.

While this story arc seems to be one long race, it's broken up into stages, which makes it easy to find a natural stopping point. (Which is good; I was concerned that there wouldn't be one) I think rebooting helped the series out in the long run, if this is any indication; once Stands were introduced and parts 3-6 went on, the series seemed to fall into a pattern of characters fighting the Stand user of the week.  The fights were engaging and unpredictable, but this allows for a very different format compared to the earlier parts, which seems like it would allow for more flexibility when it comes to the writing. Admittedly, I know nothing about parts seven or eight, or the ongoing part nine, but it seems like a fresh start allows for the series to branch off in different directions compared to earlier parts.