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My
Sassy Girl #1
1/SEPT/2003
Publisher: ComicsOne
Writer: Ho Sik Kim
Translation: Jay Chung
Art: Dae Hong Min
Price: $13.95 US/R88.00 SA
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My Sassy Girl is a full color manga/manwha[Korean
form of Manga] book from Korea. Opening my eyes to new creators
and providing some great entertainment along the way it’s
time to check out this comic based on the popular Korean hit movie
of the same name.
Geon-woo is a run of the mill college student who
is naïve and clean-cut all the way. His normal life takes a
u-turn when one night he helps out a drunk girl on a train ride
home. She’s hot, he’s not, he’s boring, she’s
everything but and he’s just trying to live his ordinary life
but she’ll do everything in her power to make sure that’ll
never happen. Pack your bags for an extreme laugh-a-minute
comedy of opposites.
This is a great light-hearted romantic comedy that’ll bring
a smile to your face. It’s got a bit of a zany spin to the
humor and can go off on a tangent occasionally but is well rooted
in the over-the-top romantic comedy genre. Ho Sik Kim
writes a story based on two polar opposite characters, one the dorky
boy next door Geon-woo and the other his fiery trouble making new
‘girlfriend’.
It’s the dynamics of the ‘loser getting lucky’
that make this an amusing read. Geon-woo can’t believe his
luck when this hot girl shows interest in him. It all turns into
a huge mess however once she starts using him to get her way. She’s
a compulsive trouble-maker and you’ll soon start loving the
crazy stunts she pulls at Geon-woo’s expense. It’s
this style of story that keeps the book moving along nicely and
holds your interest. From one form of trickery to the next the smitten
Geon-woo is pulled along through all kinds of madcap comedic situations
by his new woman.
Apart from all the obvious comedy and the fun filled nature of this
book there does lie a slightly deeper storyline beneath it all.
Questions arise around the central characters such as: ‘What
happened to her to make her so bitter and twisted about men? Will
Geon-woo ever get enough of a backbone to fight back? And why does
a girl like her seem to really like a boy like Geo-woo? It’s
these little gems that kept me interested along with the fact that
I couldn’t wait to find out how Geon-woo would get burned
by his woman next.
This timeless style of slapstick humor is packaged together
in full color format with art chores covered by Dae Hong Min.
Min has a style reminiscent of a mixture of Manga and European style
art forms. His character design is both realistic in form and yet
when needed they can be molded into ‘over emotive’ characters
ala comedic Manga style stuff to keep the slapstick twists in the
story going. With streaming tears, red hot angry faces and many
a hyper embarrassed blood nose, the characters run the full ‘hilarious
Manga’ spectrum.
A highlight for me was Min’s ability to draw some
great scenery and backdrops which bring the book to life and give
it a realistic setting. Along with the fact that this was
great to see in color the art choice suits the topic at hand well
and keeps you laughing at every turn. My only disappointment was
that I felt the coloring looked ‘cheap’ in places. A
huge amount of gradient fills are used to create reflections and
tone which just end up looking slap-dash and not up to pace with
modern coloring techniques used in Western mainstream comics.
This is a fun book and is a perfect lighthearted read for
guys and girls alike. You’ll love the antics and
laugh-out loud situations that this story brings to the table. For
a genre I’m not a great fan of I was duly impressed with Kim’s
fast moving and funny situations and Hong Mins funky art.
Score 7/10
Reviewed By:Iain Duncan
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