Rebirth Vol. #01

By Jarred Pine     November 06, 2006
Release Date: March 11, 2003



Creative Talent
Writer/Artist:Kang-Woo Lee
Translated by:Lauren Na
Adapted by:Taliesen Jaffe

What They Say
Three hundred years ago the Dark Magician Deshwitat Lived Rudbich, a vampire, was sealed in limbo by the Light Magician Kalutika. Resurrected in the present day, Deshwitat has vowed to destroy Kalutika, and now, with the help of a team of spiritual warriors, seeks the means to use Light Magic to achieve his ends.

The Review
Fans of TOKYOPOP's release of Samurai Deeper Kyo will find a lot to enjoy here in this similar tale, just swap out the bishounen super-powered samurai with strong and sexy sorcerers.

Packaging:
Looking back on these older releases really makes one appreciate how far the quality in manga releases has come over the past few years. These first three volumes are very average looking manga based on today's standards. The print reproduction is very dark and muddy, with the second volume a victim of some horrible moiré blotching. The third volume shows some improvement, but the tones are still not very crisp. The covers, however, do feature some great looking colors that make for some nice character artwork.

Art:
Artwork is very tone-heavy, but unlike a few other manwha releases I've read from TOKYOPOP, there is a good balance with the line work. Character designs are full-features and have a good amount of variety and detail work. Backgrounds are nicely done as well. The one area that doesn't quite work unfortunately given the action nature of the title is the action artwork. It can vary from explosive sequences with sorcerers throwing around their magic, to scenes that are very undecipherable and feature awkward digital effects.

Text/SFX:
SFX are not translated, and there were plenty of times where a translation was warranted. The English script reads very well, giving the characters their own appropriate personality. There is even care given to Millenear's very polite dialogue.

Contents (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
With new publishers Netcomics and ICE Kunion, as well as establish publisher Dark Horse, bringing more and more Korean manwha to US shores, it seems manwha is going through a 2nd wave. A few years ago, the leaders of the manwha revolution were TOKYOPOP and ADV Manga. While the latter abandoned their glut of licenses, TOKYOPOP still stays pretty steady with their Korean releases. One title that gave birth to the manwha interest is Rebirth, an action fantasy title that is still being released today, three-and-a-half years after its debut. After winning AoD's Best Manwha award for 2005, I decided it's about time to take a look at one of the longer running manwha titles currently in circulation.

There is nothing special with the basic premise; a band of "good" guys must stop a band of "evil" guys in order to stop the Apocalypse, as well as settle a few personal grudges along the way. However, if you've read enough manga/manwha you'll understand that many times a derivative formula is not necessarily a setup for mediocrity. It's all about whether or not the creator can infuse the formula with its own personality, something that I think creator Woo does well enough in these first three volumes.

Woo takes the entire good-versus-evil formula and flips it on its head, reversing the stereotypical roles; the practitioners of the Light magic are the harbingers of death, while the Dark side are the ones in charge with saving the world. The leader of the Dark magicians is a 350 year old vampire named Deshwitat, playing the role of anti-hero with a crude exterior and self-serving mission--destroy Kalutika, the head Light Magician who was responsible for killing Deshwitat's fiancée and sending his body into a slumbering limbo over 300 years ago.

In order to stay alive until the fateful day, Deshwitat must also do what all vampires do in order to keep living--feed off the blood of the living; not exactly typical behavior of one who will possibly save the world from darkness. This is not something that sits well with two of his crew: the excommunicated exorcist Millenear, a user of Light Magic, and 17-year-old human girl Remi, whose father was killed at the hands of Deshwitat. Both refuse to believe that Deshwitat could be the one to save the world and wait for the day to kill him in order to resurrect all the souls he has taken. Like all good anti-heroes, however, Deshwitat wears his pain and suffering on his sleeve while encasing a more sympathetic interior.

In order to battle Kalutika, Deshwitat will have to learn how to harness the power of Light, a practice that is deemed impossible because of the volatility between Dark and Light magic existing in the same being. The source of the Light magic is none other than Rome, Italy, home of the Pope and Catholicism. But what side will the Catholic Church take? Mystery and religious conspiracy abound as Deshwitat and crew follow their inevitable path.

Comments
Fans of TOKYOPOP's release of Samurai Deeper Kyo will find a lot to enjoy here in this similar tale, just swap out the bishounen super-powered samurai with strong and sexy sorcerers. Deshwitat is even a familiar anti-hero, whose gloomy exterior and crude attitude could rival Demon Eyes Kyo. It is a common formula, but creator Woo seems to make the most out of it with these first three volumes. He puts together a band of unlikely heroes and sends them off on what I'm sure will be a long-winded path to some ultimate epic battle, with plenty of smaller explosive battles in between in order for the reader to pick out their favorite battler.

Rebirth is definitely not an earth-shattering manwha, and one that could easily get lost amongst its similar shelf-mates, but Woo makes good use of a familiar formula that works.