Rebirth

Publisher
Tokyopop
Writer
Kang-Woo
Artist
Kang-Woo
Country of origin
Korea
Year
1998

Rebirth GN 1

By David Rasmussen
20th Oct 04

Studio - TOKYOPOP
Age - T for Teen (13+)
By Woo
TOKYOPOP Staff
Translator - Lauren Na
English Adaptation - Taliesin Jaffe
Retouch - Paul Morrissey
Lettering - Anna Kernbaum
Senior Editor - Jake Forbes

If you heard this one before tell me to stop...
...no, not yet, at least let me start talking before you tell me to stop.

About 300 years ago the Sorcerer Kalutika Maybus sealed away his old (and former) friend the vampire Deshwitat into limbo, after killing said vampire's fiancée (who tried to mend things between these old friends before the whole sealing away thing).

Yeah. Those awkward friendships between vampires and non-vampires always seem to end with somebody getting killed, or sealed away into limbo, or relocation to LA and a spin-off series... something.

Flashforward 300 or so years and we find that Kalutika, who seems to have survived the past 300 years, is now the most powerful entity of the world. Few know of him, let alone of his power.
And it seems he would rather destroy the world than, say, go on TV on his own Reality TV program and tell people "You're fired"... before frying them with his dark magic. Yeah. Apparently death is preferable to Reality TV... go figure.

But it looks like the most unlikely "savior" in the now vengeance ridden Deshwitat (freed by a band of spiritual adventurers with whom, yes, a woman who may be the reincarnation of the deceased fiancée of Deshwitat is with) who may be the one to stop his old "friend"... that is if he isn't killed first.

Speaking of dead things it looks like in order to bring Deshwitat to full power said woman's father gives him his own blood which kind of... well... makes him all undead and all. Which sort of acts like abit of "encouragement" to make sure this duo of human woman/vampire male doesn't break up too soon.

Well, at least until they end up falling in love which is probably in the cards if I read this scenario right. Add to that an excommunicated exorcist who seems to look like she should have chose the "Fashion Model" career path and you have a weird "Three's Company" group out to save the world...
If the obviousness of it all doesn't chase you away first.

Rebirth Breakdown the 1st
What's Hot? - I don't know about you but the whole vampire thing is being run down into the ground.
The potential down the road (with future Graphic Novels) is a possible "Hot", but right now I wasn't too impressed with how it all began. The artwork is fine, and it has some action and humor but still I wish it was a little better and kind of didn't make me feel as if I've seen this before.

What's Not? - Eh? Did I see this before? Let's see -- vampire who loses his beloved only to come back years later and find someone who might be the reincarnation of his lost love? Think I saw that before.
Being forced to team up with an excommunicated exorcist? Sounds familiar.
Elements just seem to come off to me as things I've seen before, and hence lacking that spark of originality that would have made this a better read.

I wish it was more original and less "familiar". Sometimes familiarity is a good thing, but not when you are looking for a new experience in reading.

Moments to Remember?
Once we get to the present it's all about the female cast, including the heroine (our girl who may be a reincarnation case)... I'm sure our second female cast member (the exorcist) will be memorable sooner or later... just not too much right now.

What to Ignore?
Okay. If you are like me then you've seen some of this before. It's -- well, it's familiar.
You should probably ignore that or you just won't enjoy this as much as you might otherwise.

Overall?
It's a read that defies you not to think too hard about it -- lest you remember you've seen elements of this before in other things and literatures.

It's a "safe" vampire tale. It's straightforward, formulaic to a possible fault, and somewhat interesting.
Of course it would have been even more interesting if it was more original and less "safe" but maybe it'll make a better impression on me if I read more of it... maybe.

-- David Rasmussen 20th Oct 04