I-Doll, Vol.1

By Mi-Ae Choi
Tokyopop, 184 pp.
Rating: 13+

Ji-Yoo Lee is caught gambling illegally. Na-rae is busted for a concert brawl. Hyung-Goo Kang is put down for street fighting. One night, three police writeups and a few phone calls later, all three students find themselves caught up in a decidedly different reform program: starting a rock band. The brainchild of their beleaguered principal, the band is supposed to build friendship and civility amongst its participants, but brash attitudes, blood enmity and a few killer right hooks are hardly conducive to great music. Can an obstinate group of delinquents pull together a group? Or perhaps more importantly, can they afford not to?

Oh, the plot indulgence—because community service is clearly too old school for the new breed of delinquency. All willing suspension of disbelief aside, I-Doll proves a moderately enjoyable title that is much better than it looks. Granted, the main leads are hardly groundbreaking, with Na-rae as the obligatory obstinate girl and Ji-Yoo Lee and Nyung-Goo Kang filling out the roles of “troubled prodigy” and “prickly fighter” respectively, but there’s a touch of originality here that pumps some substance into them. The majority of volume one is dedicated to setting up the character dynamics for the next installment, primarily by introducing various side characters with conflicting designs on the leads and, of course, forming the band.

Most surprisingly, the title seems to have an almost shojo bent—something you’d never guess from its dark cover graphic and categorization as “comedy.” The primary speaker is Na-Rae, the resident girl, and a flashback to past trauma in her life coupled with sisterly troubles seems to indicate that her baggage is the first up to be unloaded. Having seen plenty of shojo, the makings of future love polygons seem at hand, which (when coupled with the disproportionate number of attractive males floating around) seem to have all the trappings of a title with a more girl-oriented lead. Conceivably it appeals to a male audience, but the closest parallel is undeniably seoung-jun manhwa.

The art seems to agree with this, as the polygonal sparkles and lighter screentones are out in full force. The art has much in common with other Korean titles, from sharper character angles to its generally unobtrusive vibe. There’s no reason to linger, but the art never detracts. The primary beef should be with Tokyopop’s handling of the title, as the cover design does it no favors. (It’s one of the chapter pages retouched with a rather glaring aqua blue digital brush.) Tokyopop: this title could sell with girls, but not if you hide its nature so thoroughly they’d have to read it to figure that out!

I-Doll may not be a masterpiece of creative wit, but it does engage and entertain on a basic enough level to be worth a read. Tokyopop’s catalogue can be a bit of a downer, making I-Doll stand apart if only because of its perfectly readable, perfectly likeable nature. There’s the promise of more tension and plenty of drama in future volumes as the band progresses on its path to success, and while the ending is predictable already, this doesn’t per se make the journey irredeemable. This may be one to watch—although it would help if they could make sure the right demographic is watching it…

Volume one of I-Doll is available now.

Croquis Pop, Vol. 1

Story by KwangHyun Seo, Art by JinHo Ko
Yen Press, 208 pp.
Rating: Teen

“The word croquis comes from French and means simply “sketch”.” - Wikipedia: Croquis.

Da-Il is the latest assistant to famous comic creator Ho Go, but, sadly, he’s not much of an artist. Still, that’s not the kind of thing that’ll keep him from attempting to fulfill a dream that he and his deceased mother shared: to draw the hopes and dreams of everyone! Of course, not being able to draw does get in the way, but as it turns out that’s the least of his worries. During his first night on the job he encounters Mu-Huk, a spirit who informs Da-Il that he’s a Croquis, a person with ability to give life to his drawings and ideas in the form of ghosts, and it’s Mu-Huk’s job to dispatch these other spirits. Thus begins one of the oddest books I’ve ever come across.

I’m really not sure where to begin. The mechanics behind the plot are just amazingly convoluted, yet incredibly interesting as well. Da-Il can bring to life the images he draws. These then become ghosts that inhabit their own lil’ sphere, a realm that sometimes crosses over with the real world trapping Da-Il inside of it… but Mu-Huk’s a spirit that battles these spirits and who was also given form by Da-Il’s power! To make things even more confusing, he apparently doesn’t need to actually draw anything to create these spirits. We quickly learn that simple stray thoughts and subconscious desires can create them as well. D’oh. Things get even more complicated when Mu-Huk reveals that he then takes these little adventures and feeds them into the minds of other artists (painters, etc) as inspiration, so… yeah. It’s a bit complex and confusing. There’s also a weird connection between the spirits and realms that Da-Il creates and the real world, as at least one or two things are altered in the real world following these otherworldly battles. It’s just mind-bendingly complicated at times, especially since Da-Il seems to create these things at random with little to no warning. He literally runs into a ghost in one part of the story, and actually encounters one that was created by another Croquis at another point. It’s… confusing.

Thankfully, once you get past all the confusing mechanics behind his powers Croquis Pop is kind of fun and there are some interesting directions that the story could go. The encounter with another spirit created by a different Croquis is a nice glimpse at the possibilities, as is the idea that everything he does could pop up elsewhere in some other artists creation. Of course it’s not all just supernatural weirdness, Da-Il is the newest and youngest of Ho Go’s assistants, and the other assistants make up the supporting cast and provide some relationship oriented drama as he gets on the bad side of one right off the bat. There’s also a mysterious museum curator who is some how connected to Mu-Huk and the whole Croquis phenomena as well. Plenty of different hooks and characters floating around and the story is just so wild and out there that you get the feeling that anything could happen.

JinHo Ko’s art isn’t too bad and he does a nice job at rendering some of the more bizarre occupancies. The first-time spirits Da-Il encounters are essentially stick figures he scribbled in the dust. JinHo switches his style to render them in a rough sketchy style which contrasts heavily with the cleaner and more detailed style he uses for Da-Il. Unfortunately ,after this one encounter just about every other spirit is drawn in the same style as everything else. Still it’s a nice effect and something that might turn up again. It would be kind of fun to see Da-Il and Mu-Huk doing battle with an spirit drawn in an impressionist style, or perhaps something done in a more classical bent. His renderings of the action sequences can be a bit confusing at times, but for the most part he does a great job depicting Mu-Huk’s various attacks and the odd abilities that some of the other Croquis creations wield.

Croquis Pop is definitely an interesting title, but I’m a little worried that the complexity of the powers mechanics might be a bit of a turn off. There’s really no clear rules by which these things are created and they seem to happen at random or when the plot requires it. Outside of that it’s an OK teen hero series.

Volume 1 of Croquis Pop is available now.

When I first posted a “Manga Minis” column in March 2007, I envisioned it as a kind of dead letter office where older titles and later volumes of previously reviewed manga would see the light in the form of brief reviews. As the column has evolved, however, it’s become something altogether different: a showcase for the talented and ever-growing Manga Recon crew. I confess that I like the newer incarnation of the column better than the older, as it allows our readers to enjoy a variety of writing styles and critical perspectives in a sitting—not unlike a Whitman’s sampler, or a Kellogg’s Variety Pak. To celebrate the column’s one-year anniversary, Chloe, Isaac, Ken, and I look at four very different titles: volume four of Vampire Knight (Viz ), volume one of Fever (Tokyopop), volume thirteen of Black Cat (Viz), and volume one of Crayon Shinchan (CMX).

Black Cat, Vol. 13

By Kentaro Yabuki
Viz, 200 pp.
Rating: Older Teen

I seem to be lucking out with Shonen Jump mangas lately. Volume twenty-eight of Naruto was a fairly good jumping on-point for that long-running series, and that seems to be the case with this volume of Black Cat as well. Most of the volume is a flashback explaining the events that led to the titular character’s decision to leave the criminal organization Chronos and become a bounty hunter. The rest of the volume is spent kicking off what seems to be a new arc with Train Heartnet and his allies preparing to track down Creed Diskenth, a man with whom Train has a long history. Their preparations range from information gathering to dodging cannonballs for practice. Despite the contemporary feel of the setting, the guns, and Heartnet’s former career as an assassin, Black Cat is still a Shonen Jump title, so these kind of over-the-top training sessions are to be expected. On the upside, there’s a fairly cool sequence towards the end where a new character punches a bullet out of the air.

The art didn’t really blow me away, but it got the job done. The character designs are a mixed bag, but none of them jumped out at me as being amazingly cool or eye-catching, though Train’s design left me wondering why he has four doughnuts attached to his shirt. The action scenes are slick and easy to follow, and full of characters demonstrating some crazy abilities or skills. Writing and characterization-wise, well, it’s more or less your standard shonen fare: the heroes are shocked at how cruel and heartless villains can be, people have dark pasts they must overcome, duels are fought in exchange for information simply because one person wants to test himself against the other. Nothing really new here. At any rate, I wasn’t really in love with the title, but at the same time I’d have a hard time saying anything particularly negative about it. The contemporary setting is a nice change of pace from the fantasy worlds that many shonen series take place in, so that earned it a few points and helped make it a bit more palatable. Overall, it’s a decent shonen title and is worth a look for, well, fans of shonen books.

–Reviewed by Ken Haley

Crayon Shinchan, Vol. 1

By Yoshito Usui
CMX, 122 pp.
Rating: Mature

Move over, Eric Cartman—there’s a ruder, cruder, more poorly drawn little boy vying for our attention: Shinnosuke Nohara, a.k.a. Crayon Shinchan. Like South Park’s flatulent, foul-mouthed connoisseur of Cheezy Poofs, Shinchan craves junk food (his preferred treat: Chocobees), obsesses over bodily functions, and treats his mother with complete disdain, making her life a living hell with his destructive antics, inappropriate comments, and penchant for dropping trou at the slightest provocation. His offenses run the gamut from the innocent—trying to pay for a hamburger with play money—to the obscene—peeking up his mother’s skirt in public.

Whether or not you find Crayon Shinchan funny depends on where your sympathy lies. My inner feminist pitied Shinchan’s long-suffering mom too much to find humor in most of these scenarios, which usually result in Mitzi’s abject humiliation. I also found the jokes too repetitive; almost every gag felt like a variation on the same basic gross-out theme. A few chapters, however, stood out for their sheer inventiveness. Early in the volume, for example, Shinchan visits the adult magazine section of a book store, prompting a hilarious “conversation” in hand signals between the manager and a clerk that wouldn’t be out of place at a major league baseball game. And there are a few inspired scenes towards the end of the volume, when Shinchan finally meets a sparring partner equal to the task: the principal of his kindergarten, a kindly man with a face so terrifying everyone assumes he’s a reformed yakuza. Adaptor Sheldon Drzka made the wise decision to substitute American cultural references for Japanese, resulting in a script that’s fluid and funny, and avoids sending readers scrambling to an appendix for a gloss on the jokes. All in all, a mixed bag—not unlike the very first season of South Park.

–Reviewed by Katherine Dacey

Fever, Vol. 1

By Hee Jung Park
Tokyopop, 192 pp.
Rating: Older Teen (16+)

After reading about Hee Jung Park’s Hotel Africa, and now actually reading her newly released in the US manhwa Fever, I totally understand why Tokyopop is trying to turn her into a name brand (though why they tout it as “from the creator of Hotel Africa, a not-yet published title, I don’t quite understand). Admittedly, that didn’t work to well with the Erica Sakurazawa manga, which I liked, but it looks like Tokyopop is ready to push the fold again with Hee Jung Park. With the vast quantity of “safe” and relatively tame shoujo manga coming out of every pore of the manga industry right now, it’s awesome to see a title like Fever that reminds me why the Tokyopop logo still gives me the warm fuzzies.

In its first volume we are introduced to two concurrent and ultimately intersecting storylines. In the first arc we meet Hyung-In, a high school girl torn apart by her friend’s recent suicide. Racked with guilt and seeking direction in her now lonely life, Hyung-In meets a stranger on the bus, Kang-Dae who comforts who and directs her to a mysterious place known only as “Fever”. At an another high school, orphan Ji-Jun never seems to have any luck with the ladies, though not due to lack of trying. His best friend Ah-In supports him through each foolhardy romantic enterprise, even though it hurts him more and more each time. Throughout this section we are supplied with hints that Ah-In’s feelings for Ji-Jun , and I’m pleased to say that this is the classiest and most believable homosexual tension I’ve seen in comics in a long time. When Ah-In’s sister, Ah-Rip gets involved, the potential for disaster is palpable, and begins to loom over the scene like a cloud. Eventually, the stories converge as Hyung-In seeks out Fever and reunites with Kang-Dae, who is connected to Ji-Jun through the still mysterious entity of Fever.

The art is enjoyable, and a clean break from stereotypical manhwa stylization. The landscapes are beautiful, and the character designs for Hyung-In and Ji-Jun are particularly attractive. The only thing that would make me drop this series like a rock is if Ah-Hin “sees the light” and just lets go of his attraction to Ji-Jun. Happens way too often in shoujo (ahem, Please Save My Earth). All in all, I’m stoked to get my greedy paws on more Hee Jung Park ASAP, and urge you to do the same! Highly recommended.

–Reviewed by Isaac Hale

Vampire Knight, Vol. 4

By Matsuri Hino
Viz, 200 pp.
Rating: Older Teen (16+)

The mysterious maneuverings of transfer student Maria Kurenai has set the scene abuzz as Vampire Knight plods onward into fourth volume territory. This volume is primarily Zero’s scene, as the complicated bit of angsty backstory leading up to his present day status is explained through flashbacks and healthy doses of monologuing-in-empty-rooms. Character development is measured at best; Yuki and Zero descend deeper into their strange little symbiotic relationship while Kaname remains an unlikable block of ice, albeit with Anton Chigurh-esque inclinations to show up, moralize a bit and then kill. It all feels a bit over the top, with everything from memory loss to long-lost brothers to body swapping, all coated with plenty of blood and angst. (Matsuri Hino, just a hint: chess metaphors automatically lend an air of cheese to supposedly serious scenes.) The art, however, remains as sharp as ever, and it’s hard to argue with Hino’s striking gothic-shoujo sensibilites. Her side characters could use a bit of differentiation though; with a crew as big as Vampire Knight’s, it’s hard to keep things straight if every member of the Night Dorm is the obligatory tall, attractive light haired bishounen. The teenage girl crowd will love it; others may find themselves looking for a little less melodrama and a little more grounding.

–Reviewed by Chloe Ferguson

Two Will Come, Vols. 1-2

By Kyungok Kang
Published by NETCOMICS
Rating: 13+

Jina, the heroine of Two Will Come, is a high school student with typical teen preoccupations: earning good grades, getting into college, finding a boyfriend, staying out past her curfew. Jina’s life is irrevocably altered when she discovers that her family has harbored a secret for hundreds of years: Jina’s ancestors were tricked into killing an Imugi, or sacred serpent. In its final moments, the snake placed a curse on the family, dooming one member of each generation to die at the hands of two close relatives. Though Jina has lived in ignorance of the curse for most of her life, she is forced to confront its gruesome implications after a shaman reveals that Jina will be her generation’s sacrificial lamb—unless, that is, her cousin Myunghyun and his clairvoyant friend Yunjin can protect her.

Not much actually happens in volume one. Author Kyungok Kang devotes her opening chapters to explaining the curse’s origin and introducing us to a large cast that includes Jina’s schoolmates and extended family, as well as a shaman with less-than-holy motives for helping Jina’s clan. The leisurely pace suits the story well, however, as Kang allows us to spend some time with her characters in everyday situations, strengthening our attachment to them. As events begin unfolding at a more rapid pace in volume two, we feel a palpable sense of dread whenever Jina interacts with her family: who poses the greatest danger to her? Is the shaman’s prediction accurate—as her estranged aunt Junghee insists—or is he a fraud? And is it possible for Jina to pacify the Imugi’s vengeful spirit, or is she doomed to die?

Readers familiar with In the Starlight may be surprised to see how much Kang’s style has evolved from the 1980s, when her character designs and layouts bore a strong resemblance to the pioneering work of the Magnificent 49ers. Though Kang’s art is now more refined, and more likely to appeal to American shojo fans, I miss her sparkly-eyed heroines and rock-god heroes. One technique that Kang still uses to good effect, however, is the two-page spread, with simple images superimposed on a black background. Kang uses this type of layout as Keiko Takemiya did, to emphasize her story’s darker themes and suggest her principle character’s sense of isolation and despair. It’s an economical, elegant gesture that yields some beautiful sequences in both volumes.

Kang may not be a household name among manga (or manhwa) lovers. But if NETCOMICS continues to license her work—which encompasses a variety of genres from sci-fi to romance—she may find a well-deserved following among readers eager for compelling stories about ordinary teens in extraordinary circumstances.

Volume one of Two Will Come is available now; volume two will be released on March 20th. To read the first chapter at no charge, visit the NETCOMICS site. Additional chapters can be read for a modest fee.

Do Whatever You Want, Vol. 1

By Yeri Na
NETCOMICS, 196 pp.
Rating: 13+

Do Whatever You Want explores the friendship between two high school students, Jinwon and Hosoo. Both aspire to pop music stardom, vowing “to ignore girls until they make their big singing debut.” Though neither boy thinks of himself as gay, the intensity of their friendship inspires gossip among their classmates and alarms Jinwon’s mother, who takes a dim view of their frequent sleepovers. (Yaoi fans take note: it’s quite clear from context that these overnight stays did not lead to steamy, four-alarm encounters.) Jinwon, too, questions his feelings for Hosoo, wondering if he’s developed a romantic attachment to his pal. Further complicating emotional matters are Hosoo and Jinwon’s entanglements with two girls: Soomin, a loner with a defiant attitude, and Dana, a shy newcomer who longs for a close friend of her own.

Don’t be fooled by the cover art: Do Whatever You Want remains firmly grounded in reality, focusing on familial relationships, school bullies, and clique dynamics rather than the perils of celebrity or the challenges facing hot guys in love. The simplicity and naturalism of Na’s artwork suits the story’s matter-of-fact tone, though some readers—especially those accustomed to the heavy stylization found in many licensed yaoi titles—may find it too plain for their tastes. Perhaps the most astonishing aspect of Na’s story is her depiction of Jinwon and Hosoo’s friendship. The tenor of the boys’ interactions and interior monologues reminded me of bishojo drama more than yaoi. We’re not sure if Jinwon’s feelings for Hosoo have shaded into the sexual, or if he’s just experiencing the excitement of making a friend who shares his dreams.

I had a few reservations about the first volume. The opening thirty pages are rather confusing, interrupted by periodic flashbacks to the beginning of Hosoo and Jinwon’s friendship. As a result, Soomin’s character isn’t so much as introduced as inserted into the story without much explanation of who she is or why she finds Hosoo intriguing. I also found the pace rather languid; not much of consequence happens until the final scenes in volume one.

That said, Do Whatever You Want is a welcome palate cleanser for readers tired of the forced hijinks, formulaic plots, and two-dimensional characters found in so many shojo and shonen-ai manga. Yeri Na’s low-key, conversation-driven approach to storytelling yields an honest, funny, and poignant look at high school friendships that dares to suggest that boys can form intense, emotional attachments to one another. Highly recommended for fans of Fumi Yoshinaga’s Flower of Life.

Volume one of Do Whatever You Want will be available on February 5th. To read the first chapter online, click here.

Toronto, ON – Dec 10, 2007 – This past weekend at the 2007 New York Anime Festival UDON Entertainment unveiled a swath of exciting announcements to a room full of thrilled anime and comic book fans. Just in time for Street Fighter’s 20th anniversary (highlighted by the all-new Street Fighter IV video game and the upcoming live action movie), UDON plans to release three pulse-pounding Street Fighter comic book series in 2008.

First up, Street Fighter II Turbo will be a 12 issue maxi-series continuing the core story of UDON’s Street Fighter universe. Featuring the dynamic and energetic artwork of Chamba (Sinbad: Rogue of Mars), this latest arc pits the World Warriors against each other in an epic tournament-style slugfest.

Secondly, artist Omar Dogan (Sakura, Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles) follows up his run on the popular Sakura mini-series with Street Fighter Legends: Chun-Li. This new 4 issue mini-series focuses on a young Chun-Li, revealing how she grew up to become the world’s most famous female fighter.

Finally, Joe Ng (Red Sonya: Sonya Goes East, Transformers, G.I. Joe VS Transformers) brings his skilled line work to the pages of Street Fighter III: New Generation. This 6-issue series will not only explore the new characters introduced in the Street Fighter III video games, it will also show fans for the first time what classic characters like Guile, Sakura and others are up to during the SF3 era!

Beyond Street Fighter, UDON is diving back into other publishing projects in 2008. The studio will be expanding their successful Capcom Manga line with several new titles including Onimusha: Twilight of Desire and Devil Kings Basara. Fans can also look forward to more Capcom art books including Onimusha Dawn of Dreams: Official Complete Works and the Darkstalkers Graphic File.

In addition, UDON is also kicking its Korean Manhwa line into high gear with new titles including Daring Students’ Association, Dear Waltz, Reading Club, Evyione and Chronicles of the Grim Peddler.

Release dates and more detailed information will be forthcoming in future press releases, so stay tuned to the blog section of www.udonentertainment.com for all the latest UDON news!

Bride of the Water God, Vol. 1

By Mi-Kyung Yun
Dark Horse, 184 pp.
Rating: 13+

Perhaps it’s a sign of arrested development, or just a measure of how attuned I am to my inner eight-year-old, but I still love a good folktale. The same things that fired my imagination as a kid—ghosts, dragons, resourceful heroines, talking animals, terrible curses, magical objects, lovers separated by fate—appeal to me as an adult fan of Snow Goddess Tales and The Legend of Chun Hyang. I hadn’t found a Korean title that scratched the same “once upon a time” itch as either of those manga—that is, until I read Bride of the Water God, an honest-to-goodness fairy tale as Grimm as anything Jacob or Wilhelm collected in the Bavarian countryside.

The story begins with a human sacrifice. In a rural village plagued by drought, town elders try to appease Habaek, the water god, with an offering of a “bride.” They place Soah, a stoic young beauty, in a leaky boat and set her adrift on a nearby lake. But instead of drowning, Soah washes ashore in the enchanted kingdom of Sugok, home of the water god. Habaek reveals himself to Soah not as the grotesque, man-eating creature she feared he would be, but as a ten-year-old boy who presides over a lively court of deities. As she begins to explore Habaek’s sprawling palace, her initial relief turns to fear: all of Habaek’s previous wives have died under mysterious, possibly violent, circumstances.

What makes Bride of the Water God such a pleasure to read are Mi-Kyung Yun’s opulent illustrations. The Sugok landscape is a delightful mixture of “once upon a time”—haunted forests, lavish palaces—and more contemporary influences—fish-shaped dirigibles, floating castles reminiscent of Miyazake’s Laputa. As one might expect, the gods wear sumtptous robes; Yun offers detailed renderings of the intricate patterns and decorative embroidery characteristic of traditional hanbok. Though these patterns sometimes spill into the backgrounds, taking the place of conventional sun-jeong (shojo) motifs like flower petals, Yun is a disciplined draftsman. She balances her more detailed images with ones of stark simplicity: a few blood spatters on a blank page hint at Habaek’s violent past, a burning candle suggests the passage of time.

Bride of the Water God is most successful when staying faithful to the spirit (if not the letter) of Korean legend. The few nods to manhwa convention—super-deformed reaction shots, winged chibis—clash with the story’s hallucinatory, dream-like atmosphere. Thankfully, these moments are few and far between, allowing readers to immerse themselves in Yun’s imagined world without too many distractions.

Like the other titles in Dark Horse’s manhwa line—Banya the Explosive Delivery Man, Chunchu: The Genocide Fiend, Hanami: International Love Story, Shaman Warrior, and XS Hybrid—Bride of the Water God is beautifully packaged and meticulously edited. The translation is, at times, a little colloquial, but never falls into the trap of sounding faux-archaic. I only wish the volume included an appendix identifying the various gods who appear in the story, explaining their role in Korean mythology. These details aren’t essential to enjoying Bride of the Water God, as its themes will resonate with anyone who’s read Beauty and the Beast, Bluebeard, or the Old Testament tale of Jephthah. (Soah fares a little better than Iphis, I’m happy to report.) But they would have enriched my understanding of the story, and saved me a little Wikipedia surfing.

The bottom line: Bride of the Water God is an dark, lovely fairy tale that should appeal to fans of CLAMP’s more folkloric work (Chun Hyang, RG Veda, Snow Goddess Tales) as well as fans of The Antique Gift Shop and Dokebi Bride.

Bride of the Water God will be available on October 17th. Click here for a brief preview of volume one.

UDON Entertainment has announced that they’ve partnered with Korean publisher Haksan to bring Korean Manhwa to North America and English readers starting in the Fall of 2007.

UDON’s new Korean Manhwa line launches this October with Star Project Chiro Vol.1, a romantic comedy that take a young girl through the often harsh world of pop stardom: “Eun-Yo Song has beauty, popularity – everything a girl could want! After a chance encounter with pop-singer Nan Lee, Eun-Yo finds herself getting caught up in the world of super stardom. But little does she know that Nan Lee has plans of his own for her…and she’s about to fall into his trap!”

Next, in November, a new take on a timeless classic will surprise and enchant you in the action/fantasy Dorothy of Oz Vol.1: “When Mara Shin’s dog Toto gets lost one fateful day, she follows his trail along some yellow brick road and ends up in the wonderful land of Oz! Everyone instantly starts calling her Dorothy, but these aren’t the cowardly lion, brainless scarecrow and heartless tin man adventures you remember. This fantastic fairy tale features familiar characters…but with a definite action/animated twist!”

Then in December, Magical JxR Vol.1 tells the story of two teenage wizards and the young girl they befriend: “Jay and Aru are two of the most popular students in wizardry school. However, before they can graduate, they must venture out into the REAL world and fulfill a one year magic contract with a human girl named Cho-Ah. Is Cho-Ah ready for a whole year with two enthusiastic wizards-to-be at her beck and call?”

With more titles planned for 2008, these three new ongoing series are just the beginning of UDON’s Korean Manhwa line. For all the latest news on these and future Korean Manhwa releases, head to the all-new www.KoreanManhwa.com .

Does anyone have information about Ice Kunion’s much-delayed publication schedule? As far as I can tell, very few of their 2007 releases have arrived in bookstores (or at amazon.com, for that matter). I checked their website and quickly discovered that it hasn’t been updated since December 2006. The forums are still active, but I found this discouraging message posted by the moderator on May 13th:

Currently there has been no announcement/news about when the February [and onwards] releases will be back on schedule. I’ve tried contacting IK, but of to no avail. However, please be assured that once I get any info I will post them here ASAP.

Thanks for reading, and for your patience.

That jives with my own experience attempting to reach Ice Kunion using the email address provided on their website. All of my messages were returned to me marked undeliverable. If you have any news about the company or its production schedule, please comment below. Thanks!

POSTSCRIPT (5/16/07): I learned late last night that Ice Kunion and UDON dissolved their partnership in December 2006. That certainly explains the publication delays, but it’s unclear whether Ice Kunion will continue operation or sell their catalogue to other American publishers. Stay tuned for more information about both companies.

POSTSCRIPT (5/18/07): As of today, the Ice Kunion website appears to be down. No further information about the company’s status is readily available. If I learn anything else, I’ll be sure to post it here at Manga Recon.

10, 20, and 30, Vol. 1

By Morim Kang
NETCOMICS, 200 pp.
Rating: Teen

The interlocking vignettes in 10, 20, and 30 focus on three women: sixteen-year-old Rok Na Lee, her 26-year-old cousin Belle Woo, and Rok’s 36-year-old mother Krumb. Krumb, widowed at 32, works full-time as a clothing designer for a large retailer. The stress of reporting to a shrill, mean-spirited superior has reduced Krumb to a permanent state of absent-mindedness, forcing Rok to become the de facto parent in the household. Temperamentally, too, the two women are utterly different. Rok is fierce and judgmental, quick to lash out at family members and hapless male admirers who, in her estimation, are weak. Krumb, on the other hand, is timid, avoiding confrontations with her ball-busting boss and frequently bursting into tears when criticized. (She’s also a spectacular klutz.) Belle, Rok’s cousin, falls somewhere in the middle: she’s feisty and assertive, but mindful of the fact that her more traditional parents are eager to find her a husband. While assuring her parents that she’s a respectable, marriage-minded girl, Belle has been dating a reporter on the down-low.

As one might guess from the set-up, the story lines in 10, 20, and 30 explore some oft-traveled terrain as Rok, Krumb, and Belle fumble their way toward self-knowledge and—naturally—Mr. Right. There’s a dash of Much Ado About Nothing in Rok’s uneasy friendship with her neighbor (and ardent admirer) Dawoon, a hint of Sex in the City in Belle’s sexcapades, and a bit of Stella Dallas in Krumb’s budding romance with her company’s president. What distinguishes 10, 20 and 30 from, say, Sex in the City, however, is that the series’ humor remains firmly rooted in the everyday. Mundane moments are never the jumping off point for outrageous plotlines, implausible mix-ups, or over-the-top slapstick. (Well, I should qualify that remark by noting that there is a rather crude running gag involving Belle. I won’t spoil the joke, but suffice to say that Belle could solve the problem by (a) locking her door (b) limiting the number of keys she distributes to family members or (c) moving to a doorman building.) Instead, these scenes liberally mix humor with darker emotions. That’s not to say that 10, 20, and 30 doesn’t have its share of goofy moments, just that there’s often an undercurrent of melancholy or loneliness in stories that, on the surface, have plenty of pratfalls and punchlines.

For many readers, the primary obstacle to enjoying 10, 20 and 30 will be the artwork: you’ll either find it charming—as I did—or crude. The layout and character designs reminded me more of a comic strip than the kind of manga/manwha that’s been licensed for the American market. Yet I found the boldness and simplicity of Kang’s style to be a perfect fit with the stories. Those deformations, oversized sweat drops, and flapping arms capture the way we really experience embarrassment, fear, betrayal, and attraction: in the moment, one’s own sense of self is grossly—even cartoonishly—exaggerated, even if that moment seems trivial in hindsight.

Much as I liked the artwork, what I liked best about 10, 20, and 30 is Kang’s knack for creating compelling characters that, at first glance, might not seem particularly remarkable or, at times, likeable. They make mistakes; they overreact; they misjudge the men in their lives; they sometimes hurt loved ones with selfish behavior. To be sure, these kind of flawed women populate the pages of chick-lit titles like Bridget Jones’ Diary and TV shows like Ally McBeal. But there’s a qualitative difference between Bridget and Ally and the ladies of 10, 20, and 30: Rok, Belle, and Krumb aren’t neurotic. Beneath their quirks and anxieties, all three women display genuine strength and self-determination, even if they don’t always make smart choices about the men in their lives. And that makes them the kind of sympathetic, appealing characters that readers like to root for.

Volume 1 of 10, 20, and 30 will be published in July. The first three chapters are currently available online through NETCOMICS’ pay-per-view system.

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