King in Limbo, by Ai Tanaka (sci-fi combo, 2017)

[lb_lee]

"We sometimes forget that the memories that ESV latches onto are always traumatic. This meant that patients who die have had their traumatic memories repeatedly multiplied by ESV until their brains can no longer function. Thus, it is into a memory of endless trauma that divers and their companions descend."

Blurb: A disabled veteran and the burnt-out King of Limbo are recruited to wade into the memories of patients with a sleeping disease, hoping to find its cause and cure. But something isn't right...

Why is it worth your time?: This is a really solid manga with good art, an interesting story, and robust characters. Sci-fi thriller with flavors of Paprika and Inception.

Plural Tags: abuse low focus, memory work, otherworld, dreamfolk, teamwork, setting-specific, visions, nonhumans (AI/robot animals)

Content Warnings: contain spoilers; see comments

Access Notes: Available in paperback and ebook, in English and its native Japanese.

Misc Notes: Six tankoubon volumes in Japan, three big ominbuses in English!

Comments

Content Warnings

[lb_lee]

King in Limbo is a comic about trauma--in its protagonists (the manga opens with Adam in the hospital after getting blown up, and he's still in better condition than the King of Limbo) and in its plot (the whole plot is about a pandemic that makes trauma multiply till its victims expire from sheer agony). I didn't find it a hard read myself--this is an action thriller comic, not a horror comic--but it has some heavy themes!

OMNIBUS 1 (vol. 1-2): Hospitalization, major physical and mental injury (but not gory) resulting in disability, a pandemic, and untrustworthy government behavior. War crimes. Violence. Also allusions to an abusive Dad. Memory deletion.

OMNIBUS 2 (vol. 3-4): Violence, murder, more untrustworthy government behavior, emotional and physical child abuse, reality distortion, childhood bullying. Memory deletion.

OMNIBUS 3 (vol. 5-6): Violence, murder, emotional and physical child abuse, reality distortion, childhood bullying, comas. (This is a coma-heavy series.)