Diesel
Diesel is an American comic by Jochen "Joe" Weltjens published by Antarctic Press in April 1997. No subsequent issues were ever published after the first issue. When the comic was unearthed in 2016, it was discovered to be highly influenced by JoJo's Bizarre Adventure.
History
Antarctic Press, an American comic book publisher, is recognised for its "American manga" style of comic books. When the comic garnered new popularity in 2016, a user on the Super Best Friends Play fan Reddit who was familiar with the publisher asked Antarctic Press's office manager Doug Dlin for further information. Dlin informed the poster that the author of Diesel, Joe Weltjens, had gotten a fan-subtitled copy of the "JoJo's Bizarre Adventure" OVA at some point.
Weltjens was impressed by the plot and wanted to introduce JoJo's Bizarre Adventure to American readers, but Antarctic Press was unable to get the rights to localize the manga in America. Instead, he focused his efforts on creating an Americanized version of the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure story to be released in the United States.
Weltjens went on to become the editor-in-chief of Antarctic Press and a colorist for Marvel Comics in the years since the book's release.[1]
Making-Of
- Story, pencils, inks, and colors by Joe Weltjens.
- Logo and dragon symbol designed by Pat Kelley.
- Cover colors by Pat Duke.
Summary
The only chapter released of Diesel is a loose adaptation of the Stardust Crusaders story arc "'The Fool' Iggy and 'God Geb' N'Doul", which was featured in Episode 8 of the OVA. Although Diesel was published before the episode released in America, it had already been released in Japan a couple of years prior.
The comic opens up at a mansion where the lead character Thomas "Tom" Diesel uses his Stand Meta Hammer to break into a room where Mr. Botha is waiting for him.
The story then goes back three months where a Mr. Evans is meeting with Botha to discuss matters, when Botha murders him with his own Stand powers. The story then moves to Great Britain, where Thomas is meeting May Evans after having not seen her for months when he is attacked by Joseph ("Joey"), an electric Stand user. May stops the fight, and Tom is greeted by the dog Chewbacca ("Chewie"). May brings the two to the house to introduce Tom to the other Stand users who have gathered: Alex Oliver, Jet Lee, and Thomas's old friend Azizi. May then informs Thomas that her father has been killed. That night, May tries to get Thomas to open up to her about Ryuo, the Dragon King, but Thomas simply wants to know who killed her father, but she refuses to tell him. She knows they will be stronger if they fight the man together, as he has killed both of their fathers and both want revenge.
The next morning, the group is unaware that a blind blood-themed Stand user is in the woods surrounding the house. Joseph is outside investigating when he is incapacitated by the blood Stand. The group realizes he is in trouble when Chewie starts barking, and they go to find him, still alive. May asks if he is okay because of the large blood puddle when he informs them that it is actually a Stand which soon decapitates him, killing him. The group hides, but Thomas is unable to locate the Stand user, believing he is too far away to detect. May steps on a twig, prompting the Stand to attack her, which reveals that the user locates its victims by sound. The group tries to escape, but the Stand slices Alex's legs off, prompting Jet Lee to save him with his own Stand. Azizi then taunts the Stand user, summoning his own fire-based Black Templar Stand, which causes the blood Stand user to back down.
Thomas and Jet Lee manage to get May and Alex to a car, and Tom asks Azizi to drive them all to the nearby hospital, as he and Chewie will handle the Stand user alone. Chewie tracks the user down, but Tom realizes that he is making too much sound, so he uses Meta Hammer to make him soar through the air while he locates the user. The user realizes he is in the air and uses the blood to attack Tom, who falls from the sky. He then uses Meta Hammer to destroy several trees, obscuring his location, as the user suddenly realizes someone is near, and attacks Chewie. The user does not know where Tom has gone, when he soon realizes that he is right behind him. As he prepares to attack, Tom uses Meta Hammer to knock the user out. He demands to know who sent the man who is and who sent him, but the man says he cannot tell Tom anything when he is suddenly killed by a long-haired samurai-styled Stand, whose user he identifies as Chibot. Chibot greets Thomas and tells him that he has passed the first test before suddenly disappearing.
List of Characters
Gallery
Thomas Diesel and his Stand Meta Hammer
Botha using his Stand to kill Mr. Evans
Thomas Diesel facing off against Joseph and his electric Stand
May using her Stand to break up Thomas and Joseph's fight
The blind blood Stand user
Jet Lee and his unnamed Stand
Thomas Diesel realizing his group has been attacked by an enemy Stand
Azizi and his Stand Black Templar
Thomas Diesel confronting the blind Stand user before he is killed by Chibot
Diesel's Credit Page at the back of Issue #1
References
- ↑ So I spoke to the publishers of Diesel yesterday..., June 5, 2016
