Despite its relatively common premise for a zombie story, Kengo Hanazawa's horror manga stands out when we get to know its characters better - both the living and the dead.

I Am a Hero uses his time well to present each person and situation of its story. As we started the manga, we spent a good deal of time getting to know Hideo's routine and mind. We understand, in the details, all the characteristics of the protagonist and also his problems: the lack of professional success; The few close friends and acquaintances in his life; his relationship with his (also tormented) girlfriend, who despises him and only accepts him to satisfy her needs; The way his fears, almost infantile, materialize as visions every night, causing Hideo to avoid sleeping while it is dark, and to "protect himself" by holding his loaded shotgun ... Elements are not lacking in order to understand who he is and how he thinks.

If in a conventional zombies story the personality of any infected person disapears the moment that character becomes a monster, in I Am a Hero the transformation only makes that personality to stand out, making each undead a -- de facto -- single character.

The author accomplishes this through a very interesting twist in the basic formula of the genre: instead of causing them to be brainless creatures in search of brains (no pun intended) and other human parts, the ZQNs (as the infected are called in history), those monsters not only seek to kill and consume other humans: they also reenact some thought or action of their final moments as living beings.

In the end, it is as if each confrontation against these creatures is a struggle against our mundane routines, and also against the characteristics that make us belong to the modern society.

This quality of I Am a Hero only strengthens itself with the work of art of Hanazawa, that manages to value every moment of the story. His realistic trait, the way he portrays the macabre positions and movements of creatures, and especially the scenes I call "horror frames" -- when the author seems to pause the time to focus on really disturbing things --, help to make each zombie an unique character.

In the end, unlike most stories in that genre, I Am a Hero does not try to put all the human characters on a common ground, resisting against a group of zombies that acts as a destructive force of nature. He makes each of his characters special and meaningful to the story, turning the fight against every undead into a struggle against what makes us human.

You can check my full review here (in brazilian portuguese):
http://bit.ly/I-am-a-Hero