Comics
Review: “Odyssey” Volume 1
“Odyssey” follows one soldier’s grand disillusionment with the American war machine. It’s a story we’ve seen countless times before, a regular man turned super solider against his will, but small sadistic twists stand out amongst the heavy handed political message to create something more, albeit a little undercooked.
WRITTEN BY: Dave Elliot
ART BY: Garrie Gastonny & Toby Cypress
PUBLISHER: Titan Comics
PRICE: $19.99
RELEASE: August 6, 2014
There is something about this book that I find oddly alluring. It has a similar framework to Captain America but distinctly pursues an alternative route by channeling something more horrific for the origin of the super solider.
And sure – you’ve got a sequence where Blazing Glory rips out Hiter’s heart and makes a mural of his blood, but it’s too much. Don’t get me wrong, typically I’d be all for something like that, but in this story it feels incredibly tonally jarring.
See, “Odyessey” can’t make up it’s mind. It’s unsure of itself and finds a wavering protagonist in Blazing Glory. It’s a story we’ve seen a thousand times before, a super solider turned government tool. It’s got fantastic set pieces including a fantastic reveal that a mission to post 9-11 Iraq was actually to retrieve Dracula, but still it feels incredibly tonally jarring.
Even more still is the stellar work of artists Garrie Gastonny and Toby Cypress. I’m a huge fan of Cypress after his work on “The White Suits” but man oh man are his talents underused in his particular section of the book. He’s got a more surreal and animalistic style that was screaming for a showdown with Dracula. Instead he’s saddled with the most dialogue heavy part of the script, leaving his wild style at the most reserved I’ve ever seen it.
Garrie Gastonny has a beautifully detailed and clean approach that causes the rest of the book to shine. The panels are easily digestible and the character work is vivid and detailed. The above-mentioned scene with Hitler will haunt my mind for some time to come.
The final pages of this first volume come to define Blazing Glory in a brand new way that I found completely captivating but couldn’t help but feel a little shortchanged when it came right down to it, only because I wanted to know more about this huge change of status quo. I craved to know more about it, and just when everything was coming together the book ends.
It’s the tonal shifts that cause this book to falter. Dave Elliot can’t seem to make up his mind between the world of the supernatural and the political, and because of this the book feels lost somewhere in the middle. The supernatural elements complete shine and come to define the book against the whole cavalcade of stories like it, where the political elements feel far too undercooked and under researched to really make an impact.
So the whole experience is rather polarizing. If you’re a fan of either type of story you’ll probably leave a little disappointed, but if you’re looking for something truly unique that swings for the fences with ambition then this is the book for you. Yet, I caution that ultimately both stories fail to deliver on their premise. Proceed with caution.
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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