the stack

Marley, Dokebi Bride (2005-; 1-4 of 6 so far, ongoing—vol. 7 is due in English in Apr 2009)
Park Joong Ki, Shaman Warrior (2007-; 1, 4-5; ongoing, but I am finished)

Both are manhwa. One can view the first chapter of Dokebi Bride free at its publisher’s site (Netcomics), then be nickeled and dimed for additional chapters; the first volume or seven chapters of Shaman Warrior is up chez its publisher, Dark Horse. “Bride” and “Warrior” indicate the expected readership in rather typed ways: Marley’s sequence is friendlier to gentle souls, Park’s to those who want to see ass-kicking. Both lack the sweetness of the shōjo I’ve read so far, which is a good thing.

Dokebi Bride comes via indirect rec; most recently, meganbmoore and telophase suggested it in a comment to oyceter’s Asian sf request post. Shin Sunbi, like her grandmother, can see dokebi, the assorted spirits of traditional Korean shamanistic belief. After her grandmother dies, Sunbi leaves their declining village, where a staged festival with a guest actor has come to replace a true shaman’s invocation of protection and a good fishing season, to live with her father’s family in Seoul. It’s a bit implausible for Sunbi to happen to run into a Buddhist monk, a university professor of folklore, and her class president basically at once, but cross her path they do—and what’s this about her mother’s ghost?

(Hey! Is the “buckwheat jelly” muk (묵)?)

I find some of the faces poorly drawn, but I like the landscapes and, especially, the details of the occasional period costumes. Though I’ve no idea of relative accuracy, the effect impresses me. I keep having to remind myself re: mental awkwardness that most Koreans born during the twentieth century have no idea of the relative accuracy, either. The local indie comic shop had all six of the extant English-translation volumes, and I’ve rewarded it by purchasing them…. Interestingly, the local Barnes and Noble has a relatively large sequential-art area but zero of this; aside from two volumes of the series discussed below, the B&N carries basically no manhwa.

Yo, Netcomics, get your translator to use one of the several conventional romanization schemes instead of inventing one.

* ^ * ^ *

Vols 4 and 5 of Shaman Warrior, remaindered, caught my eye at the local Half-Price Books. More lush art mixed with awkwardness: Park offers hill and village scapes (great—one, two, three) as well as some very confusing battle scenes (too many lines within a given frame, too much shading—one, two). Another good thing: teeth. Don’t ask why I started observing his characters’ teeth.

Shortly before a shaman warrior named Yarong dies, he enjoins his assistant, Batu, to find and protect his infant daughter. Yarong has served a general in the fictional Kugai kingdom for many years; eventually, his daughter Yaki will do the same—if she lives. The end of vol. 1 leaves that open, but by vol. 4, Yaki v. the Death Lords is our ongoing focus. Both the Death Lords and the apparently ungrateful people of Kugai want to rid the land of the shaman bloodline. How the shamans differ from Death Lords re: being killing machines isn’t clear yet, though one’d think the question would bear some weight.

Park’s dialogue as translated by Kang Taesoon and Derek Kirk Kim (Kang’s son) inclines towards cliché, and though I liked well enough what I read, this is me shrugging. I wonder how westernized the translation is, too: do Park’s characters really ask for a “jug of ale”? Perhaps the preindustrial kingdom of Kugai has had its own Western influences—hops aren’t native, I’m pretty sure.