Comics
Blood Is Sexy: Review of The Cleaners: Absent Bodies TPB
CSI made the monotony of crime scene investigation sexy, Dexter made blood spatter analysis interesting, now comes The Cleaners which makes Trauma Scene Cleaners the new hotness. I got in a preview copy of the trade paperback that comes out next month, check after the break for my review.
The Cleaners is mainly about Robert Bellarmine, who is an ex-surgeon (it’s hinted how he lost his profession, but never clear) that cleans Trauma scenes that are so gruesome to see for most but for him it’s just another workday. The way the story goes in depth about scientific knowledge on blood and disease reminds me of the dedication Chuck Palahniuk would take.
The story in all has a Dexter like feeling to it as well, where Bellarmine works on the crime scenes during the day and trys to solve the brutal murders during the night. While all this is really fun, the story doesn’t really pop until it goes into the supernatural. Yet when you’re main character is a medical genius, something supernatural is just a rare medical deformity and can easily be remedied with some bleach or some other cleaning agent.
The writing done by Mark Wheaton(new Friday the 13th) and Joshua Hale Fialkov keeps the story tight and fast. Throughout the reading I did not think anything was filler, which is much harder to find a well paced comic. The Art by Rahsan Ekedal is top notch, but it’s his panels that really impressed me. Ekedal could easily be a cinematopgraher in another life.
If you’re a fan or crime stories with a twist of supernatural and fun medical trivia, The Cleaners is a must.
The supernatural world of Korean folk horror movie Exhuma grows larger with the arrival of prequel spinoff webtoon Maengjong this weekend, Variety reports today.
Naver Webtoon debuts Maengjong on May 30.
The series hails from Haemuri (Olgami) and will trace the high school origins of how shaman duo Hwarim and Bonggil, played by Kim Go-eun and Lee Do-hyun in the 2024 film, came together to face occultish threats.
The story is set to begin when “Hwarim, who has been concealing her identity following a childhood encounter with a snake spirit called Jin, crosses paths with Bonggil at their school.”
Variety notes that Exhuma director Jang Jae-hyun participated in the project’s early concept stage.
“We are presenting ‘Maengjong,’ a new series capturing the appeal of the horror-occult genre, ahead of the full summer season,” said Lee Jeong-geun, Naver Webtoon’s Korea webtoon content leader. “With the high school story of Hwarim and Bonggil, who left a strong impression in the film ‘Exhuma,’ enhanced by Haemuri’s characteristic tense direction, we expect it will be a welcome work for genre fans.”
“It is meaningful that the spin-off story of ‘Exhuma,’ loved by many audiences, expands by meeting the new grammar of webtoon,” said Lee Hyeon-jeong, managing director of the film business division at Showbox, which distributed the film. “We hope it will be a fresh experience for both film fans and webtoon readers.”
Exhuma was a breakout hit in 2024, becoming the first Korean occult film to surpass 10 million ticket buyers and the country’s highest-grossing film of the year. I wrote in my review that “the intricately woven Exhuma delivers one of the year’s biggest surprises in horror so far.”
The bond between Hwarim and Bonggil was one of the film’s highlights, making this prequel webtoon a must for fans.
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