Fullmetal Alchemist (2009)

[鋼の錬金術師]

Volume 24

Author/Artist: Hiromu Arakawa
Publisher: Gangan Comics

Synopsis:
Izumi and her husband join the fight against Sloth.

Story/Characters:
We get a fine payoff for last volume's cliffhanger. Izumi impresses as you'd expect, but for me, the real highlight is the moment of maximum manliness where Sig and Major Armstrong team up against Sloth. We then have Hohenheim confront Father, where we find out the length's the former has gone in preparation for this moment. If the cover didn't spoil it, I'd have to anyway because much of the second half of the volume is devoted to King Bradley's return and his big fight with Greed, Buccaneer and Fu. The moment he returns reminds me of the scene in Valkyrie where Otto Remer is about to arrest Goebbels when he's put on the phone with a very much still alive Hitler. Even knowing Bradley wasn't going to be killed in that train explosion and seeing him on the cover of this volume, that moment of his return is still quite effective. We close on yet another big cliffhanger. The hits just keep on coming, don't they?

Art:
We get some high octane gar with Major Armstrong and Sig teaming up and it's glorious. The fight with King Bradley really pulls out all the stops and may well be the best overall action sequence in the series.

Other:
We get a prologue for the second FMA Wii game Daughter of the Dusk and a 4-koma.

Conclusion:
I'll admit to being somewhat reserved in my evaluation of this series, even after it started to pick up, but Arakawa certainly knows how to craft a climax. The pace of the escalation has been handled excellently, delivering some fine crowd-pleasing moments. This is one for the collection.

Rating:
Own It