Born in April 12, 1974, Lee Myung-Jin got his start in South Korean manhwa in mid-1992 with the series It's Going to Be a Wonderful Night (a.k.a. Lights Out), which would run for nine volumes until early 1995, when Lee had to serve his mandatory two years as part of the South Korean military. After returning to civilian life in late 1997, Lee founded his own studio, Dive to Dream Sea, & debuted a new series in Daiwon C.I.'s bi-weekly Comic Champ magazine, Ragnarök: Into the Abyss (it's also sometimes written as "In To The Abyss", so yay for no consistency!), at the start of 1998. This manhwa would go on to become a notable hit in South Korea, though Lee never actually finished it, stopping after just 10 volumes in 2001. As admitted in an interview included in Volume 3, Lee had grand plans for the series, hoping to go 40-50 volumes in total & comprised of seven story arcs, with Into the Abyss technically being the second of three main arcs, while the other four were to be shorter side stories. The reason for the cancellation, however, is because Ragnarök would achieve much greater success outside of manhwa, as a Korean game developer named Gravity wanted to adapt the manhwa into an online RPG, but that's a subject for another time...
Meanwhile, at San Diego Comic Con 2001, manga publisher TokyoPop announced that it had licensed Ragnarök for English release, with it being only the second manhwa ever licensed by the company. However, alongside later license Priest, Ragnarök would go on to become a bit of a tentpole manhwa release for TokyoPop, as it would continue to sell for a number of years while that form of comic was still being pushed heavily by publishers throughout the 00s, despite the fact that TP would quickly release all 10 volumes over the course of just two years, from mid-2002 to mid-2004; TP would then fully release Lights Out to maintain some sort of momentum. Not just that, but TokyoPop also hired fantasy novelist Richard A. Knaak (who also wrote novels for Blizzard's Diablo & Warcraft franchises) to adapt Lauren Na's English translation of Ragnarök (who isn't even credited in Volumes 2-4; nice work, TokyoPop...) into something more like his own style, with Knaak even getting credited alongside Lee Myung-Jin on the spine of each volume, as though he was co-creator of the series; I'm all for localization staff being credited, but this felt a bit much. So, after all this time & even despite the manhwa not actually having a proper ending to it, does Ragnarök still hold up as (seemingly) one of the greatest Korean manhwa to ever see English release?
The realm of Midgard has been under the watch of Valhalla's Urd, Verdandi, & Skuld, the Goddess of the Past, Present, & Future, a.k.a. the Norns. However, a great change is about to happen to Midgard, one that will leave the Norns unable to keep watch, and it all began two years ago when a woman named Fenris Fenrir suddenly started remembering bits & pieces of her past life from 1,000 years ago. Specifically, Fenris has been looking for a man named Balder, the son of Odin & Frigg, who has also apparently been reincarnated, and just now Fenris managed to get a hold of Sentinel Breeze, Balder's old sword, in order to help her find her old ally, even if doing so puts in in direct conflict with the 12 Valkyries, like Zenobia Sabi Freile, Freya, & Sara Irine. After managing to escape a fight with Sara, Fenris eventually encounters a swordsman named Chaos & his partner, a magic user named Iris Irine, & a "treasure hunter" named Lidia who wants to abscond with Iris' legendary sword (one of three from her family), all of whom are heading over Fayon, where Chaos & Iris are from. However, Chaos can't seem to remember anything of note regarding his life prior to two years ago...
Ragnarök is coming to Midgard, and Chaos, Fenris, Iris, Lidia, & even master assassin Loki might be the only ones who can prevent it from happening.
If it wasn't obvious from the title & synopsis, Ragnarök is very, VERY much influenced by Norse mythology, though it isn't trying to be a straight adaptation of the Norse equivalent of the end times, at least on a 1:1 level. There's definitely more of a straight-up fantasy vibe to the world of Ragnarök than what one would normally associate with Norse mythology (i.e. vikings & other stereotypes generally associated with Scandinavia & the Nordic countries), which results in what I feel is an interesting dichotomy, especially since it's not just Norse mythology that gets referenced at times. In the first volume alone there are references to things like "Oberon, Lord of Faerie", Baldr's home of Breidablik, the wand Lævateinn (though here it's Fenris' "Rod of Destruction"), the Æsir, Tyrfing, "Hræsvelgr, The Great Eagle", Gleipnir being a binding spell, Odin's "Beholders" Huginn & Muninn, & everyone saying "Hel" instead of "Hell". Also, this is still an adaptation of the Norse apocalypse in some ways, as characters do relate to their namesakes to varying extents, & creatures from that mythos do appear, like the frost giants of Jotunheim or Chaos literally summoning the dragon Nidhogg when hints of his old memories as Balder resurface in Volume 2. Considering how shaky TokyoPop could be with translation back in the day, especially around 2002, I wouldn't be surprised if this much accuracy to all these references were due to Richard A. Knaak's involvement (a fantasy novelist should know their mythologies), but it's a nice little thing to see be given proper care & attention to.
It's interesting reading Ragnarök right now, as just a few months prior I had covered the unfinished English releases of Park Sung-Woo's Chun Rhang Yhur & NOW, as Ragnarök also starts off with a bit of a focus on action spectacle, but unlike its fellow 1997 debut in a rival manhwa magazine, Lee Myung-Jin's series doesn't instantly suffer from it, as CRYJ did. Because of that, we get a good introduction to our main cast, along with some plot points being set up along the way. Despite his name, & TokyoPop stating that his alignment is "Chaotic Good", Chaos is actually rather reasonable in his actions, simply wanting to help protect those important to him & obviously caring for his friends; sure, he's hot-blooded in battle & very passionate, but nothing really "chaotic". Iris is very caring & loving, but also has no problem telling things like it is, and despite her father's own pleads swears revenge on Sara after she brings death & destruction to Iris' home; naturally, Iris & Sara are long lost sisters. Fenris actually doesn't really get too much development throughout what was made for this series, mostly coasting on her good intentions & earnest wish to help Chaos regain his memories as Balder; author's notes indicate that she & Chaos were lovers in their prior lives, but it's not played up much in the series. Lidia tends to act as a sort of comedic foil to everyone, but midway into Volume 4 she splits from the group to search for the treasure of Alfheim & to avoid dealing the obvious insanity that everyone else is heading towards, though she does eventually meet back up with everyone in Volume 8 when they all arrive in Geffen, City of Magic. Finally, introduced in Volume 3 is Loki, the strongest member of the mysterious Assassin's Guild (very obviously inspired by the actual historical Order of Assassins from Persia & Syria) who is described by Frigg herself as "both human and not", capable of powerful "cosmic" magic that most humans wouldn't be able to handle the training for; sadly, we never get too much as to who Loki truly is, or even if he's related to the trickster god himself.
In regards to the villains, while there is a primary force in the form of Zenobia Sabi Freile & her forces, & Freya is indicated to be the main villain in that interview, we initially focus more on singular forces. Sara Irine is a ruthless Valkyrie that takes no prisoners in battle, and after her memories resurface of how she was seemingly cast off by her father, she becomes even more bloodthirsty when it comes to Iris & Chaos. Meanwhile, there's a bit of a third party villain in the form of "The Dread" Skurai (possibly a reference to the act of scrying?), a wandering psychopath who wants nothing more than to kill so as to please Talatsu, the sentient sword that seemingly controls Skurai & craves the finest blood. While he isn't part of the main villains, Huginn & Muninn constantly guide & bring Skurai to various locations where he can cause the most harm, like Chaos & Iris' home while Sara is attacking, or the home of the Assassins' Guild so that he can massacre all of them before Loki comes back home, leaving the word "Chaos" written in blood so as to force Loki to hunt after Chaos. Over time, more villains come into play, like Volume 5 introducing Himmelmez the Necromancer & her scarecrow-esque witch, Bijou (who has an utterly gigantic claw of a right hand), who both work for Freya herself & aim to capture the "Heart of Ymir", which Odin had literally created Midgard from long ago & is located in the same city that Chaos & crew are in at the moment... and with each new villain it feels as though the stakes keep rising more & more, but in a bit of an accelerated way.
Really, in the end, that's kind of Ragnarök's general feel, when it comes to its pacing. Individual parts of the plot do admittedly take their time once they get going, but the transition period between each of these parts happen extremely fast. For example, when told by Frigg to head to the city of Prontera to search for who winds up being Loki, it doesn't take long at all for Chaos & the others to come across him, but the actual fight between Chaos & Loki takes up the majority of Volume 4, allowing it to take its time. After that, Chaos & Co. are arrested by Prontera's guard for the damage they caused, but almost instantly after the story shows Himmelmez's giant floating base rise up from the ground far away & head straight to Prontera, immediately setting up the attack on the city for the Heart of Ymir, which itself takes up the majority of Volume 5 & actually runs all the way through Volume 7, making it the longest single "arc" in the manhwa. Overall, what was made of this series can be split up intro three primary arcs: The Attack on Fayon by Sara & Skurai (Vols 1-3), the Defense of Prontera from Himmelmez's attack (Vols 4-7), & the events happening during the Tournament of Magic in Geffen (Vols 8-10). That's not to say that this is exactly a flaw in the storytelling, though, as Lee does manage to tell just enough story & character bits during those transitions to help establish little details, like setting up some new supporting cast for the next part of the story or giving small hints at Chaos' past (like how he was given a name that just screams "edgelord", despite him not being that kind of character at all), and you do kind of get used to this pattern after the first couple of transitions. Also, to be fair, with a title like "Ragnarök", you don't really expect a lot of downtime; the end of the world waits for no one, after all. Come the end of Volume 10, we have Chaos fighting Skurai one last time in order to save Iris in the Academy of Magic's old library, Fenris fighting in the Tournament of Magic in order for everyone to gain passage to the location of the next Heart of Ymir, & the trio of Loki, Lidia, & an Elven ranger named Reina having to survive being attacked in the ruins of Alfheim by a new villain & his female associate; the last page of the manhwa is Loki recognizing that said woman is an "Assassin of the Cross", just like him.
As for Lee Myung-Jin's artwork, it's honestly really good, and it's easy to see why Ragnarök found itself a strong following in South Korea, from a visual perspective. Lee has a good knack for giving everything a unique visual look that makes them easy to tell apart, even if a lot of characters tend to have the same "black" hair, and there's definitely no lack of the good-old spikey hair trope that was especially popular during the time the manhwa was being serialized. Also of note is that Volume 8 sees essentially everyone change into new outfits, which I'm honestly of a mixed opinion on. When it comes to Chaos, Iris, Fenris, & Loki I can understand it to some extent, since they all went through a wild series of battles in Prontera that resulted in their old clothes being ruined, so fair play; Lidia's change in clothes is fine in its own way too, I guess. However, I am definitely not a fan of Skurai, who pretty much just gets an entire redesign, going from his long, sleek hair & somewhat gallant outfit to spikey hair & a much more generic outfit that makes him look worse, all around. Even Talatsu changes from a long sword to something more akin to a broadsword, and all of this plays into Skurai's backstory told in Volume 10, as his past self looks more or less exactly like his redesign; I guess maybe Lee felt that Skurai's old design was a little too similar to Final Fantasy VII's Sephiroth? He also has a really good knack for monsters & the like, with a highlight being the attack on Prontera giving some cool Berserk vibes in terms of the creepy monsters that are unleashed. Lee also has a good knack for action sequences, as they're generally really easy to follow & flow nicely from one panel to another.
And, really, that's all that I can honestly say about the original Ragnarök manhwa. It's certainly not a bad series by any means, and what Lee Myung-Jin managed to make is overall well told & has some fun potential to be even better with time, but it just stops after Volume 10, right in the middle of a story arc; at the very least, it looks like Skurai's involvement did come to an end, so that's something finished. The art is well done (& definitely looks of the era it was made in), the characters are enjoyable enough with just enough development throughout (minus Fenris, sadly), and the plot was honestly just starting to really get going, so I can see why it became a hit in South Korea, and was even a notable success for TokyoPop during its initial manhwa boom. Richard A. Knaak's contribution to the translation does result in it reading rather well, especially for a TokyoPop translation at the time (which could be hit or miss), though there really wasn't any reason to list him alongside Lee on the spine of each volume. All that said, though, there is a neat little world to be seen with Midgard, so it's easy to see how Ragnarök could be turned into an MMORPG that allowed people to explore it all to themselves, in greater detail than what the manhwa could. However, it is tough to recommend the manhwa itself, mainly because of how little Lee actually managed to make of it; remember, this is only supposed to be 20%-25% of the original planned length of the series.
However, there is more to Lee Myung-Jin's Ragnarök than just a manhwa & a series of video games, & we'll get to that next time.
Manhwa © Lee Myung Jin 1998-2001
No comments:
Post a Comment