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By Ya-Seong Ko (TokyoPop)
ISBN 1-59816-506-2
Part of the influx of Korean comic product into the Japanese market, this is a take on teen-slasher murder-mysteries, although the story-pacing might seem a little slow for western sensibilities.
Seven young college students, ostensibly mere acquaintances, dash off for a week-end getaway at a remote mountain chalet, only to find the place something of a disappointment. To pass the time they begin to tell each other ghost stories, and as the evening progresses they inadvertently let slip secrets about themselves and each other. Things become even more fraught when they find themselves cut off. And then the bodies start to turn up…
Slow and brooding, this is a work of style over content, although the device of stories within stories, so effective in such classic movies as Tales From the Crypt or Twilight Zone has lost none of its power. It is also used strategically here to escape the closed story environment without diluting the tension-building claustrophobia. The artwork is restrained and benefits from being in black and white.
The only bad news is that the book ends on a cliffhanger, so you might want to wait for the next volume before you give yourself the creeps.
© 2003 Ya-Seong Ko/DAIWON C.I. Inc. All Rights Reserved.
English text © 2006 TOKYOPOP Inc.