Utopia's Avenger, Vol. \t\t 1

Story takes a backseat to action for much of Se-Kwon's frenetic, \t\t violent tale. Set in an unspecified time and place, where motorcycles share the \t\t scene with martial artists and winged creatures, the story opens with two \t\t bounty hunters, the young-and-handsome Gildong and his idiotic assistant, Danu. \t\t They save a beautiful, scantily clad damsel from kidnappers and plan to bring \t\t her back to her wealthy father for the ransom. In time, it is revealed that \t\t Gildong is actually 45 years old, and a master of an arcane style of martial \t\t arts that causes him to age in reverse. He is also the builder of the utopian \t\t city of Yuldo. After he abandoned the city, Yuldo fell to invaders, and Gildong \t\t now works as a bounty hunter to raise funds to rebuild it while planning his \t\t revenge on the raiders. The post-Yuldo world is filled with rival gangs and \t\t clans, and the occasional woodland monster. Action-scene artwork is intense, \t\t with lots of movement and implied violence; martial arts fans will relish the \t\t kinetic style on most of the pages. A fine, flawed leading man and a \t\t well-executed cliffhanger make this a strong action title. \t\t (Dec.)