The first major Jojo's Bizarre Adventure spinoff not to be penned by series creator Hirohiko Araki provides a glimpse at the fallout after Dio's death, reconnecting with a few characters that haven't been seen since.
The spinoff, Crazy Diamond's Demonic Heartbreak, debuted in the latest issue of Ultra Jump, gracing the cover with art of its stars Josuke Higashikata and reformed villain Hol Horse. Intended to be an ongoing series, Crazy Diamond's Demonic Heartbreak is being written by Kohei Kadono, whose previous work includes Jojo light novels, with art by No Gun Life's Tasuku Karasuma. It premiered this month alongside the Stone Ocean one-shot and will continue to run alongside Jojo's Bizarre Adventure part 9, whenever that begins serialization.
In its 60-page first chapter, Crazy Diamond's Demonic Heartbreak opens in Egypt, 1999, where many of the one-off villains from Stardust Crusaders apparently still live. Hol Horse carries on as a mercenary, but his latest job is to find a parrot that seems to be the offspring of Dio's bird Pet Shop. He pays a visit to a hidden bar in Cairo, where Mariah and Billie Jean live, and the Oingo Boingo brothers Zenyatta and Mondatta are currently crashing. Hol Horse talks with Mariah, remembering their days under Dio's control. While it doesn't seem like the kind of thing that they'd want to reminisce about, Mariah says that she has never felt more like herself than she did when executing Dio's will, and that part of her has just been missing since his death. She even makes a point to say that she didn't have a Flesh Bud inside her as Okuyasu's father or Kakyoin did; she can't even blame her behavior on magical brainwashing.
Hol Horse is surprisingly empathetic about this, and it's clear that every minion who survived Dio's demise has been dealing with some very intense trauma, even ten years later. The often-weaselly Hol Horse from Stardust Crusaders has matured, and he strongly regrets the fact that he wasn't able to follow through on betraying Dio back then. This seems to be a reference to the well-known idea in the Jojo fandom that Araki once considered having Hol Horse join the Joestars, and it's an effective use of continuity. For Hol Horse and Mariah, there's some guilt that they went along willingly, and shame that, to a certain extent, they actually miss those days. Dio's vampiric glamour was far more powerful than it had appeared, apparently, and it makes the idea of Golden Wind's Giorno's birth seem much more plausible. And despite how long it's been, neither can shake the feeling that Dio can never really be gone, and that the Dio of their dreams may be more than just a memory.
While Hol Horse and Josuke haven't had much of an opportunity to interact yet, as they only meet up at the end of the comic, the first chapter of Crazy Diamond's Demonic Heartbreak already has the feel of a great Jojo story. As is the case in all Jojo stories following part 3, it's evident that Dio's influence has been incredibly pervasive, and getting to explore some of that through the eyes of those affected most is a surprisingly compelling premise. Jojo's Bizarre Adventure fans have managed to land another excellent story, so hopefully, the spinoff manages to keep this quality as it moves forward, even in comparison to Araki's Part 9.