Comics / Manga

Phantom: Volume 1 - Hot Shonen

By Leroy Douresseaux
February 9, 2007 - 16:33

PHANTOM, VOL. 1

Sometime in the future, disaster befell man in the form of natural disaster (perhaps partly originating from space) and mankind fell into a dark age.  The ensuing chaos washed away national borders, and corporations filled the void, assuming executive power.  Their greed devoured the rights of the people; then a small band of rebels stepped forward…

K is an agile mech pilot in Neo Seoul Police's high-speed mobile suit unit.  His assignments always involve fighting terrorists, especially a group known as " Raven," which also uses mech or TC - tactical costumes.  When K battles it out with a beautiful Raven mech pilot, he learns, much to his disbelief, that things aren't the way they seem.  The good guys may not be good, and the bad guys may be good, but are also very dangerous.  When he encounters a group known as Athena and a MNC (multi-national corporation) known as " Iron," K's life ends… and begins again.

Phantom by writer Ki-Hoon Lee and illustrator Seung-Yup Cho is "manhwa" or comics from Korea.  In the hands of TOKYOPOP, Phantom is Global Manga - specifically shounen (Manga for boys).  This sci-fi action Manga starts off slow, but sometime in the middle of the second act, it explodes into a ballet of bullets, exploding munitions, and grand mobile suit battles that are as riveting as the best action flicks.  Lee delivers hardboiled soap opera with political intrigue on one side of his narrative.  On the other side, he writes slam-bang mech battles that don't hold anything back.

Cho is almost, but not quite the perfect artist for Lee's story.  The interpersonal drama obviously bores Cho, and his art shows it.  Characters are slight, somewhat deformed.  Displays of emotion are more expressionistic than realistic or even impressionistic.  But give him a mobile suit battle and gunfight, and Cho becomes a master draftsman.  The art is worried over in thick cross-hatching that gives it sumptuous detail.  Tech, clothing, anatomy are almost precisely drawn with an emphasis on power, energy, and detail.  You can't take your eyes off this.  Phantom is certainly among TOKYOPOP's top shounen titles.

9/10

Thanks to barnesandnoble.com for the images.

 

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12