Eternity

    (Tokyopop, 2004-2005)
™ and © 2001 Park Jin-Ryong and Shin Yong-Gwan
Black and white

In 184 B.C., three heroes vowed to end the wars among China’s then-separate kingdoms: Yu-Bi, Gwan-Woo, and Jang-Bi. Their story, the Romance of Three Kingdoms, has been retold for 2,000 years. Aram Ko, a 17-year-old modern shaman, realizes that the three have finally been reincarnated in Seoul high-school students: Yubin, a nerd who drools over pornographic magazines; Gwanun, the class clown; and Jangbang, a tough-guy loner. Aram must convince them that they are heroes destined to combat tyranny and start training them before their old enemies appear. Gwanun is the first to encounter a former opponent, reborn as a sadistic schoolteacher with the authority to expel him.

I don’t know how reincarnation works, but it seems too coincidental that these three plus their old enemies—all Chinese warriors—would be reincarnated at the same time around the same Korean high school. Americans will also not be familiar with the classic villains: “He must be Dong-Tak!” “It’s none other than the reincarnation of Jojo!” The mixture of “heroic” dramatic art and “super-deformed” comedic art is no better than adequate.

— Fred Patten
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#3

January, 2005
Cover Price: $9.99
1 copy available for $7.99 		Park Jin-RyongShin Yong-Gwan
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April, 2005
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#5

September, 2005
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1 copy available for $7.99 		Park Jin-RyongShin Yong-Gwan