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YI SOON SHIN #2 |
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Comic Review by:
"Sweet" Dan Sweet |
Writer:
Onrie Kompan |
Artist:
Giovanni Timpano |
Publisher:
Onrie Kompan |
MSRP:
$2.99 |
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"(Kompan's) done years of research and even traveled to South Korea-it’s
that passion for the project that really shines through each page."
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“All that stood against an invading army of samurai
was one man who could not be defeated in battle.” That’s the tagline for “Yi
Soon Shin: Warrior and Defender” by the creative team of Onrie Kompan and
Giovanni Timpano. I reviewed the first issue all the way back in November of
2009, and I’ve been sitting on this issue and the responsibility of reviewing
it, for about a month or so; thus, I have no frame of reference to determine
when this issue was actually released. I can honestly say that I respect this
book and its creators a great deal, even if it isn’t the kind of gritty,
street-level, crime comics I primarily find myself taken by.
It’s The Little Engine That Could (if it was given a chance) of local
independent comics, somehow finding its way onto the shelves of comic retailers
from Chicago to New York, even Amazon.com, but due to the subject matter (which
I’ll get to in a second, hold on) it’s not on the fast-track to becoming the
next “Kick-Ass” or even “Scott Pilgrim”. There’s an admirable quality about
Kompan’s devotion to the title character and the responsibilities inherent with
semi-biographical comics. He’s done years of research and even traveled to South
Korea, enlisting the help of historians and military strategists to better
understand the Korea of yesteryear; it’s that passion for the project that
really shines through each page.
Kompan takes readers even deeper into the conflicts surrounding the Japanese
invasion of Korea during the Imjin War, a war I hadn’t even heard of until
reading this comic book, so already Kompan has managed to hammer home a bit of
history into Yours Truly, a feat in and of itself. There’s a bit of boy-on-boy
action in the beginning as a Samurai General berates a failed warlord, right
before the two start making out which is abruptly interrupted by Baron Seo, a
Korean traitor. This injects a good deal of realism into the story, as we’ve all
heard of the sexual ambiguity of early Greek and Roman cultures it came as no
surprise to find this same sort of issue arise half a world away.
There’s a bit of an artistic liberty taken with some of the language as certain
modern-day curse words, mostly the really prominent ones like **** or ****,
maybe even ****, are utilized to help get the writer’s point across without
worrying if someone doesn’t relate to slang dating back half a century. Some
nudity, of the female variety, is thrown in for good measure, well, not really
‘for good measure’ but rather to help illustrate the power, even in a repressive
society, that a woman can hold over her man. Sometimes even to his detriment.
As aggressors retain their dominant position, outnumbering the Korean military
ten-to-one, Yi Soon Shin goes on the offensive. He sets up an ambush in a
military hospital, feigning illness so he can get the drop on a group of
assassins looking to rub him out. From there he pow-wows with other Korean
Military big-wigs, looking to assemble a larger force by amalgamating their
crews, an idea that is painfully undercut when a rival officer attempts an
attack with only four naval vessels, ultimately causing the dissolution of any
alliance Yi Soon was hoping to achieve. As he fool-heartedly rushes headlong
into battle in hopes of rescuing a man whose actions have put dozens, maybe
hundreds, of lives on the line, Admiral Yi must deal with a threat he can
neither see nor hear until it’s too late.
Giovanni Timpano’s art is as solid in this issue as it was in the previous. I
think both the artist and colorist are becoming more comfortable, which is
relayed to the reader by way of the almost-cinematic style of story telling. The
colors help get the tone of each scene across, and in one particularly gruesome
swordfight Adriana De Los Santos helps exemplify just how deadly Admiral Yi can
be with a sword as well as his mind. It’s one of the only sequences in the book
without backgrounds, but it works in its favor highlighting the brutality that
this guy not only faced down but doled out as well.
I took a trip to the Yi Soon Shin website (www.yisoonshin.com) and dug up a
little background on the creators, the characters, and pretty much everything
that was there. I have to, again, express my respect and admiration for a guy
from my hometown doing what he loves, what I love and aspire to do, and having a
good time while doing it. This might not be FLYING off store shelves, rocking
the internet with controversy, or really catching anyone’s eye at all, but it
deserves too. As Onrie Kompan’s devotion to the art form will undoubtedly pay
off for him one day, this book, maybe once collected (I think part of the lack
of appeal is that the quarterly shipping schedule just puts too much space
between issues, i.e. the average fan’s lack of an attention span and all) will
be quite popular. |
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YI SOON SHIN
© 2010 Onrie Kompan
All Rights Reserved
Review © 2010 Alternate Reality, Inc.
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