Zombie Powder

Zombie Powder is an earlier work of Tite Kubo (author of Bleach) set in a somewhat familiar but distinctive, Wild West-tinted world. Guns, gangs, swords, weird arts on border of magic - everything is used by various hunters to collect twelve Rings of Dead. Zombie Powder, a powerful substance produced by the rings, has a power to bring the dead back to life and make the living being immortal. No wonder that so many want to get it and among them are the hero of the story Akutabi Gamma, his mysterious partner C.T. Smith, paparazzi of justice Wolfgangina and sidekick John Elwood Shepherd, each for their own purpose.

Sadly, the manga was canceled after its fourth volume, leaving many mysteries unsolved.

Tropes used in Zombie Powder include:

• Alliterative Name: Baragne Binoix Bartoreuil Balmunk, a.k.a. Balmunk the Mystic.
• Anti-Hero: Both Gamma and Smith.
• Anyone Can Die: Elwood's sister in the first chapter, along with several other major characters and many, many minor characters.
• Badass Boast: Gamma does this a few times.
• Badass in a Nice Suit: C.T. Smith, who is described by the author to look like a London banker.
• Badass Longcoat: Akutabi Gamma is the embodiment of this trope.
• BFS: A BFS...that's a chainsaw.
  • Even better (or worse), the original design was going to be some phallic, vibrating thing.
• Body Horror: Gamma letting a ring of the dead "Get a taste of him..." Also some of the stuff Balmunk does.
• Chainsaw Good: Akutabi Gamma's sword.
• Circus of Fear
• Cold-Blooded Torture: Calder seems to enjoy this...
• Combat Tentacles: Made of black fire.
• Cut Short: It ends pretty abruptly without any resolution.
• Dead Little Sister: Dead big sister, girlfriend, and comatose little brother actually...
• Dude Looks Like a Lady: Ranewater Calder, one of the minor villains. The fact that he was a leader of the gang called "Ash Daughter Gang wasn't helpful either.
  • Or they way he's dressed.
• Everything's Better with Spinning: Ranewater Calder and his style of fighting.
  • Lampshaded when Gamma calls him out on it.
• Dissonant Serenity: Most of anytime C.T. Smith fights. Maybe Gamma, but he's a touch too Hot-Blooded.
• Fan Service: Kubo Tite indulges Calder's fangirls by drawing him with his hair down in one of the omake pages, just as requested.
  • Wolfina crushing people with her H-cups.
• Fat Bastard: Kinqro.
• Four Is Death: The series only lasted four volumes before being canceled.
• I Am Not Left-Handed: played straight with Gamma, who for a while was going easy on his enemy.
• I Take Offense to That Last One: Elwood when Gamma refers to him as a shrimp and his disciple.

Gamma: The one with the glasses is my partner, the shrimp is my disciple. Elwood: What, who ya calling a disciple!?

• Giant Mook: One briefly menaces Elwood while he doesn't have any of his throwing knives with him.
• Going for the Big Scoop: Prior to learning about Rings of Dead Wolfgangina was doing this for peace and justice.
• Guns Akimbo: Smith.
• Heel Face Turn: Judging from flashbacks Gamma made one in the past.
• Heroic Sociopath: Gamma and Smith probably have a higher body count than most of the villains.
• Hot Scoop: Wolfgangina Lala Getto is a walking example of that type.
• Ill Girl: Elwood's older sister has a heart condition. Because of this he is forced to join a gang to afford her medicine. This leads to her being killed by the gang's leader and motivating Elwood to join Gamma in his quest so he can revive her.
• Immortality Inducer: The Zombie Powder.
• Kick the Dog: A lot of the bad guys do this before they fight just to made sure the reader doesn't care when they die a horrible death at the hands of Gamma or Smith.
• Knife Nut: Elwood and Midge "The Multitude" Falzon.
• Names to Run Away From Really Fast: Gamma's nicknamed the "Black-armed shinigami." The black-armed god of death. Also C.T. Smith judging by Falzon's reaction to hearing it.
• Nice Hat: Smith.
• Nightmare Face: Oh, Gamma...
• Offhand Backhand: C.T. Smith, while in the middle of a gunfight, using Guns Akimbo. Flips one of his guns over his shoulder and headshots a mook threatening another main character, then switches back without missing a beat.
• Off with His Head: Happens to a couple of Mooks right in front of Elwood, which freaks him out... then the Giant Mook appears...
• Oh Crap: Happens to the bad guys a lot.
• Older Than They Look: Ranewater Calder from Zombie Powder, leader of the Ash Daughter Gang. Although he looks like a young boy, is actually an old man who manages to retain his youthful looks with Phoenix-Samin. His nickname is actually "Old Man Calder".
• Only Six Faces: Particularly the girls.
• Orphaned Series: *sigh*
  • Sadly.
    • Meanwhile Bleach has reached over 50 volumes... over 10 times what Zombie Powder got... *sniff*
• Playing with Fire: "Pyromaniac" Pownder. It comes back to bite him in the ass.
• Red Right Hand: Akutabi Gamma's right hand. Not truly knows if it is really red but it fits the general description.
• Rule of Cool: The main character has a chainsaw sword, can catch bullets with his bare hands, and shoots black flames to attack his foes.
• Schizo-Tech: Despite being a Wild West setting, there have been payphones, flash photography, cars, motorcycles, alarm systems and automatic guns.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Kinqro's entire gang when they realize that fighting Gamma is a death sentence. Calder tries to do this when he realizes he can't win, but Gamma manages to finish him off before he can get away.
• Spiritual Successor: Bleach has been called a successor to Zombie Powder.
• Super-Powered Evil Side: Homicidal The Black Armed Death which showed up a little in a fight with Mystic. Possibly subverted because Gamma claimed that "I don't need "that guy" anymore!" and beat up the incoming monster all by himself.
• The Un-Reveal: Just what the "C.T" stand for? We know the first letters are C and O, but we're not likely to get an answer.
• Unstoppable Rage: Seems to happen a lot.
• Wild West: Everything takes place in a western setting.
• Wouldn't Hurt a Child: Gamma Akutabi has a soft spot for women and children.
• You Have Failed Me...: You really don't want to fail Calder. "Do you want it in the face or the stomach?"