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Review: Island

Manwha/Novel/Fandom

Reviewed by: NotHayama

Title rating: 18+ only due to some sexual scenes and demons ripping people's skin off. Definitely not for children.

-7 manwha volumes, originally ran in Young Champ magazine of Korea (1997-2001), translated into English by Tokyopop, all complete
-1 Novel (2001), complete (I guess?)

What happens when you take mythology, religion, politics, and conspiracy theory, add liberal amounts of blood and fanservice, mix well, and serve? The grossest smoothie ever. But if the word "comic" fit somewhere in that recipe, you'd have Island, a supernatural horror story from two very talented young men of Korea. Island is a strange conglomerate of fantasy and reality that uses history and urban legends from different cultures as a backdrop to monsters getting cut into nasty bits in impressive ways. The comic deserves plenty of credit for its unique story, and if you're over 18 you owe it to yourself and to your too-vague knowledge of Asia to give it a read.

Manwha

Island is a manwha (Korean manga) created by In-Wan Youn and Kyung-Il Yan. Very popular in the motherland, this series originally ran in Young Champ magazine from 1997 to 2001 and all seven volumes have been translated into English by Tokyopop, God bless them. If I'm not mistaken, Island was Tokyopop's first manwha title, launching a now-impressive list of Korean goodies. Also of note is Jamie S. Rich (Editor in Chief of Oni Press) penning the English Adaptation of Island from Volume 3 on; he does good work, and the man uses the f-word like a pro. You'd think he was a college student or something.

You see, by "splendid" he means "overrun by horrible flesh-eating monsters." This is one of many fun cultural differences Island introduces to the Western reader.

At first glance, Island looks like it's going to be a guilty pleasure title. The first few volumes in particular are crammed full of sex and violence in a few short filler stories that serve to introduce the main characters and set the tone of the comic. These volumes are a lot more about style than substance; although undeniably cool, the plot is straightforward and not particularly insightful.

Once volume four comes along, the story switches gears almost immediately. The last four books are one complete story arc that pits the three main characters against a(nother) serial killer who uses toxin-emitting skulls to commit his crimes and a team of four supernaturally-talented Japanese agents sent to stop him. From the moment the Japanese get involved, Island goes from being a fairly shallow thrill ride to a thoughtful social commentary. The authors deal with difficult moral issues involving racism, problems between Korea and Japan leftover from World War II, and the conflict between loyalty to a cause, a country, and oneself. It's particularly interesting to a Westerner like myself who isn't familiar with Korean history and attitudes. Don't get me wrong--there's still a ton of fighting and nasty creatures running around, but the plot becomes more complex and the lines between heroes and villains becomes even more blurred. This, plus the fact that (despite its supernatural elements) the premise of the second half is based on actual historical events and real life conspiracies make the last four volumes of Island substantially more interesting than the first three.

Island has a handful of supporting characters, but the action really follows leads Miho, Pan, and John. Miho is one of those people who can only be described using the word "bitch." She's also one of a very small number of bitches who isn't made completely unlikable by this character trait. She's strong-willed and stubborn, and intelligent enough that her insults are usually deserved or at the very least accurate.

Pan ... I really hate Pan. I know no one agrees with me on things like this, but the man is a complete asshole and no amount of style changes that. At the very least, I don't hate him completely because his relationship with Miho doesn't turn out to be the cliché one I expected (thank God). Anyway, Pan has a big knife and knows Buddhist incantations that blow crap up.

John, the last member of the main cast, is a Korean-American Christian shaman whose power includes yelling Bible verses and making them come to life. He's also the main source of Island's comic relief. His first introduction in volume 2 is rather strange as it's a complete change of tone from the first book (superdeformed faces and bad puns replacing the violence and bitchiness of before), but soon the story balances out as we're exposed to John's serious side and the lighter sides of the other characters. John's the most sympathetic of the series, probably the only one of the main three who could be called a genuinely good person, and he also manages to bring out Miho's good side--no small feat.

John's head is bandaged because his other super power is getting his ass kicked.

Island's art takes "creepy" to a whole new level. Artist Kyung-Il Yan loves black space and shadows and his art is ridiculously complex and occasionally awkward--not in a "this art is bad" kind of way, but in a "sometimes in real life you catch people making these odd faces" way. His action scenes are excellent, and his demons and monsters are appropriately nasty. The amount of effort put into fangs, claws, and nasty dripping body fluids is impressive. His occasional superdeforms are a bit strange, particularly in the earlier volumes, but they improve quite a bit as time goes on. Some of the later superdeforms are excellent.

Novel

There is no way in hell the Island novel will ever make it to American shores although I wish it would. Apparently it's a sequel to the manwha story line and goes into detail about the characters' backstories. If you can read Korean, you're much luckier than I and can give this novel a try. The rest of us will simply have to deal with not knowing what happens next. If Tokyopop ever translates it, I'll probably trade a kidney for it (very likely Bad Jew's kidney).

When I first started researching the Island fandom I assumed there wasn't much to find, but a few modifications of my Google search techniques proved me wrong. First of all, In-Wan Youn, Island's writer, has a flash-intensive page here. I also managed to find a few English language fan pages: this one was written before the English translation of Island came out, so the names are different from the Tokyopop translations. It has a lot of news and general information as well as pictures of the authors and scans of the original manwha covers. This is another English fanpage with some decent character profiles, and this page is run by someone who actually thinks that relationships like MihoXJohn and worse yet PanXJohn are possibilities. There's also a small forum here, and, amazingly, an Island (lemon) fanfic.

This page is dedicated to In-Wan Youn and Kyung-Il Yang's newer project Shin Angyo Onshi, but it includes a page of obscure facts about the authors that I found rather amusing. The webmaster read the Japanese translation of Island when it came out.

Also, if any of you are reading the Korean manwha Rebirth (also being translated by Tokyopop), check out volume 2 for a cameo of Island's main cast.

You can always judge a foreign comic's quality by noting how many words per speech bubble are completely untranslatable.

Overview

I'm a big fan of this series. I love all the references to different mythologies and the fact that the creators manage to make a world where all kinds of supernatural powers from different cultures work equally well. I also like the fact that any time you want to turn off your brain, Island is still entertaining. My main complaint about this series is that it's too short. The ending leaves a lot unfinished, and it has the most infuriating final author's note I've ever read--right out stating that there's a lot more to the story than the seven volumes we've read and listing examples of major plot points we'll never get to see in comic form (including the death of a major character). For making me care so much that I can't read that damn novel, Island gets 3.9 stars out of 5.

Lianne: This comic deserves extensive respect for teaching a thing or two about Korean/Japanese history and religious mythology, even if the story itself falls into silly or cliché or guilty pleasure every once in a while. Also of note is the surprisingly positive and fairly accurate representation of Catholicism (quite rare in an Asian comic). Overall, definitely worth reading. And I would like a John of my own, please. 4 stars.