GUNSMITH CATS PART 3

“HAMMERLESS” | “BIG GAME” | “SIG-SG550” | “LOST” | “SLIDE TOP”
“MISTY BROWN” | “DECOY” | “HANDICAP” | “FAST BURNING”
Presented by Kenichi Sonoda
Translation: Dana Lewis & Toren Smith | Lettering and Retouch: Studio Cutie

The next eight chapters of GUNSMITH CATS are split between wrapping up the story of the major villain to date, and introducing the next major villain going forward. To start off, Rally gets wind that Gray is planning a prison break with Bean Bandit set to shuttle him out of the country. Rally appeals to Bean to ditch Gray, but the driver considers himself an honorable professional and refuses.

Rally’s plan to thwart the breakout is complicated when when the big night arrives and Gray grabs May, who’s spying on Bean’s car, on his way out. A chase across state lines ensues, ending with Bean, Gray, and the captive May escaping. Rally, having deduced that Gray plans to exfiltrate through New York via boat with a massive amount of cocaine he’s stolen from the mob, travels to the Big Apple. When Bean tries to take May with him as he departs Gray’s service — he won’t abide kidnapping young girls — Gray turns on him.

A firefight at the harbor ensues, with Bean working alongside Rally and May to defeat Gray, who Rally ultimately kills in self-defense. Bean gets away, and Rally’s and May’s lives return to normal at long last — for a brief time, at least.

These four chapters are more in line with what I remember of GUNSMITH CATS. As noted previously, my recollections tend to gloss over the more objectionable material in favor of the stuff I like, and Gray’s prison break is just about the high point of the early part of the series. Sonoda throws a lot of car chases into GUNSMITH CATS, but they pretty much never get old, even when he hits similar beats every time (usually the back of a truck or van opening up so someone can shoot at Rally with a really big gun, leading to her either A) shooting him and continuing the chase or B) running off the road, ending the chase).

This particular chase involves the police as well, with a fun scene where Bean runs a roadblock on his quest to get Gray to safety. Also complicating things are representatives of the mob whose drugs Gray stole, which prompts May to unexpectedly offer aid to her kidnappers in taking them out with some of her grenades.

Bean gets a major spotlight in this story, obviously, as we see more of his honorable side and respect for Rally than previous chapters, which usually featured minor appearances, allowed time for. It makes sense that Sonoda would want to flesh out the character, considering this entire little world began, in prototype form, in his short-lived RIDING BEAN manga. Thus Bean appears as a recurring character in GUNSMITH CATS, sometimes as an antagonist, often as an ally, and every appearance is a lot of fun. A full-length series featuring Bean as the main character would’ve been great, but he integrates so seamlessly into GUNSMITH CATS that his lack of headliner status is not a massive loss.

Immediately following the end of Gray, we dive into the next major story arc, as Misty Brown (introduced in a prior chapter when Rally caught her and sent her up the river for burglary) is released from prison. It’s unclear how long she was gone for, though at least a couple months have explicitly passed in dialogue over prior installments. But even less clear is why Rally is picking Misty up following her release. In their previous encounter, Rally helped Misty out of a jam before turning her over to the cops, but they never came across as friends; in fact Misty seemed to annoy Rally quite a bit.

But here, she answers Misty’s request for a ride, leading into her latest adventure: while on the inside, Misty befriended a girl who had some incriminating tapes on the mob. The girl was killed in a staged accident, and now Misty wants to avenge her death by turning the tapes over to the FBI. When the mob, aware of Misty’s knowledge about the tapes, attempts to kill her and wrecks Rally’s car (yet again) in the effort, Rally agrees to help Misty retrieve the tapes from a safety deposit box.

Unfortunately, Misty is dogged by men working for Goldie, a Sicilian mafia agent recently arrived in the United States to look after the organization's drug concerns. Goldie and her men kidnap Misty even as Rally and May retrieve the tapes, and soon after, a trade is arranged. Misty is rescued but Goldie acquires the tapes, revealing their true value: microfilm, containing information far more valuable than the incriminating videos, is hidden within the tapes themselves. Ultimately Misty is saved and the girls escape, but Goldie vows revenge.

Goldie’s arrival is momentous in a way; the tall, imposing woman will quickly become a massive presence in GUNSMITH CATS, remaining as the series’ main antagonist off and on for the remainder of its run. She also brings with her some of Sonoda’s quirkier tendencies, however: after pumping Misty full of drugs to interrogate her, she has the girl in a revealing leather outfit, complete with ball gag, when she presents her to Rally at their meeting. And this is only the tip of the iceberg as far as Goldie is concerned, as we’ll soon see.

But once again, Sonoda works some terrific action into the story as well. The biggest such sequence this time comes when Rally is hit by Goldie’s men with a taser, but still manages to prop her arm up on her knees to shoot one of them -- then, as momentum drops the arm to her side, she squeezes off more shots to strike the other guy. In fact, if I haven’t said it yet, I should note that GUNSMITH CATS is an incredibly cinematic comic. Some of the action bits and stunts that Sonoda works in, while beautifully drawn in static images, would look absolutely amazing translated into animation or live action. It’s actually kind of dumbfounding to me that there were never any GUNSMITH CATS screen adaptations beyond the three direct-to-video episodes produced in the nineties. This manga could easily have supported an ongoing TV show or series of films.