Yongbi the Invincible Vol.#03

By: Mike Dungan
Review Date: Sunday, February 27, 2005
Release Date: Wednesday, December 01, 2004



Creative Talent
Writer/Artist:Ki Woon Ryu/Jung Who Moon
Translated by:Chan Bak
Adapted by:

What They Say
Swords, Sorcery, and Silliness! Master swordsman YONGBI has an ancient amulet that is rumored to have mysterious powers. The only problem is that every thief, warrior, and assassin in the land of MURIM also want it, and will do anything... anything... to get it. Meanwhile, Yongbi's arch-rival, GOO-HWI, encounters a villain even nastier than he is, the dastardly ZANWUL DAE-MA, whose spirit channeling abilities make him a deadly threat to anyone who crosses his path. He wants Yongbi's amulet, too.

Fortunately, our hero is too dim to fully realize just how much trouble he's in...

The Review
The Review: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
The powerful bandit leader Goo-Hwi has returned to his mountain retreat with the boy Yul Mugi, only to find all his comrades gone and a group of black-robed assassins led by Zanwul Dae-Ma instead. After a brief but violent battle, the boy is taken and Goo Hwi left to die. Yongbi finds him in time and takes him to an old man he knows, Hwang Guem Choong. Choong is a beggar, but he has a magical stare that makes people give him everything they own. He has taken entire cities down to financial ruin in just a day. Naturally, Yongbi knows him. Choong takes him and the unconscious body back to his compound to try to save him. With the boy gone, the amulet that Yongbi holds and everyone is after will be useless. The last third of the book is mostly exposition about how the amulet is a clue to find the Golden Castle, which holds among it's many treasures, a great sword, which if a man is strong enough to master, will make him a god.

Comments
Volume 3, just like the previous volumes, continues to provide plenty of fights and fart jokes, but not much more. Flatulence, poop, puking, whatever will gross you out, that's what writer Ki Woon Ryu will throw in. It's a bit of a shame, since artist Jung Who Moon's art has a nice comedic touch with good timing. His fight scenes are fast and furious, but perhaps just a bit too much so. I find myself flipping through them, hoping it will all make sense by the time I get to the end.

Art is reproduced reasonably well, with little moiring in the screen tone and good detail in the linework. Sound effects are translated right next to the art. The cover features Yongbi in a dramatic pose, about to draw his sword. The back cover shows him in a more pensive mood, nursing a bandaged shoulder. There are four pages of character introductions and a page detailing the story so far to bring the reader back up to speed. I noticed a couple of poorly worded passages, as if someone was cutting and pasting the dialog and forgot to rewrite the line.

Yongbi is a title I'm having a hard time working up any enthusiasm for. The endless fights that go nowhere, and an uninteresting main character for whom I can find no sympathy whatsoever drag this title down. With CPM's recent downsizing of its staff and release schedule, one has to wonder if there will be more Yongbi after this volume. It wouldn't surprise me or disappoint me if this was it for Yongbi in the North American market.