Zombie Powder

From IGN.com:

From the very first page of Zombie Powder, I knew it would be a book I was going to enjoy. As manga-ka Tite Kubo puts it in the introduction: "Mainly, it's all battles. It's completely OK to just read through it without thinking about anything." You have to love a book that starts out by telling you not to look for hidden meanings, deep philosophical introspection or the idea that you'll come away from it a better person. Mark Twain did that with one of his books, so anytime I can draw the parallel to a manga, I know I'm going to enjoy the read.

If you take Kubo-san's advice, you're still in for a great shonen tale, with all the trappings of the genre - battles galore, big weapons, a variety of villains, allies and damsels, and of course a protagonist who wields a lot of power and hides a dark secret. Gamma Akutabi, a criminal with a fairly high bounty on his head, scours the countryside for legendary rings that will provide him with zombie powder, a substance that will, as the name implies, raise the dead. A chance encounter with reluctant pickpocket Elwood gains him a sidekick. Unfortunately Gamma's notoriety makes him a prime target for bounty hunters, which causes Elwood's sister to be caught in the crossfire. Determined to bring her back from the afterworld, Elwood joins Gamma in the quest for the restorative powder.

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