Now that manga is well established, we start seeing comics from other Asian countries, which is great because there a are a lot of great artists out there.
So at the last Angouleme comics convention, I took a chance and bought a Corean one, CatZ by Ki-hyun Byun, on the sole basis that the drawings looked good and that it was a full story in 2 volumes, so I wouldn't be bound to yet another series if I liked it... (^_^;
So I read the 1st one and later bought the 2nd because it is a really good Manhwa.
The drawings are beautiful, full color, in a water paint style. They also have en identity of their own compared to manga. They have a sense of strong realism coupled with some expressions that are clearly "cartoonish", to great effect.
And then more importantly there's the story.
It follows a girl who gets a job of selling ice creams in a sort of Corean Disney land. She meets then befriends a strange guy who's disguised as a mascot, a forgotten super hero called CatZ. Or is he CatZ himself?
She wanders off in his world to fight P, his nemesis. In the mean time in the "real" world we follow 2 cops that investigate on a case where some children are being attacked and are subsequntly found to be mute, as if their voice had been stolen (which is what P does...).
As the investigation progresses and the characters develo, dreams and reality collide, to the point where you really don't know where to stand. Is the CatZ mascot the real CatZ? Is there a P really going around stealing voices? Is that all a messed up dream? Who would be dreaming by the way?
It's very cleverly written, very subtle, even with the final staying quite mysterious.
It's a dark journey in the mind of a youth trying to escape a reality that's too heavy to bear.
Definitely worth a read.
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