Title: DVD
Author: Kye Young Chon
Publisher: DramaQueen
Copyright: 2006
ISBN: 1933809353
Pages: 186
Price: $11.99
Rating: 8
Synopsis:
Fate brought three misfits together through a chance encounter in a lingerie section at a department store. A double-D padded-bra tag with a cell number--sometimes you never know what can happen if you make that call...
When Ddam makes the call, it leads her to a nightclib dive where DD is the punk-rocker DJ and Venu the decoration. Together, they define teenage angst with a punker twist, but there's more to these rebels than Ddam first thought: like how DD waxes poetic about a girl's eyelashes and Venu downplays his good looks by focusing on the importance of... big breasts.
Since Ddam has her own idiosyncratic behavior to deal with (she talks to cows, among other things), being with these two unrepentent, semi-uncouth, not-bad-bad boys, could be what she needs to help her get out of her every day funk--and maybe figure out what life's about... Although DD and Venu aren't the sharpest wits around, there's something about them that makes Ddam want to live.
Review:
This story is definitely unique and not just because it's a comic book named after a video format. I would have to say the safest theory at this point is that DVD stands for DD, Venu, and Ddam, three protagonists that are impossible to theorize about. Slightly paradoxical, right? That's okay, because paradoxes are far easier to comprehend than the things that go on in this book. Ddam, our leading lady, is an intelligent, complex young woman who finds the will to live after a disastrous break-up with the love of her life by playing tag-along with DD and Venu. Those guys prove themselves to be dull-witted, tactless horndogs with a conscious goal to live the most pathetic lives possible for man to live. But you can't hate them; you simply hate to love them.
Plenty can be said about the artwork in DVD. Our main men are portrayed as meeting what one can only logically infer is the Korean standard of male beauty, which may explain why most males in manwha don the same physique: they are tall, lean, long-legged and broad-shouldered. Most of the people portrayed are slender to the point of near-emaciation, in fact, at least speaking from the viewpoint of a meaty American. In any case, Chon's style is nothing short of soft and engaging. The minimal usage of tones also adds to the bright, gentle atmosphere by which one is enshrouded, one which leaves plenty of room in which to feel the impact of the beautiful facial expressions. And the closing scene is quite poignant in a most appropriately ironic way.
I'd say that this book deserves at least a 9 for thrashing the reader's initial expectations with a skillfully orchestrated blow of unique story and art. Why'd I give it an 8, you ask? Because hell hath no fury like a minority's scorn, and I was not too pleased by a particular scene that was both expendable as part of the plot and racist in a most suggestive way. Maybe I'm overreacting, but hey: that's what critics do. :)
I still urge all who come across this book to read it and enjoy it. It is a fine example of comics work and an interesting tale to hear.
