Phew! Welcome back to another normal week at Beat’s Bizarre Adventure. With more people reading manga and webtoons (aka vertical scroll comics) than ever before, this column gives three writers an opportunity each week to recommend some of their favorite books and series from Japan, Korea, and elsewhere. This week—wait a minute, what do you mean Halloween isn’t over?! We’re in for another write-up full of ghosts and ghouls? Maybe the real Halloventure was inside of us all along…
FOG LAND
Writer/Artist: POGO
Platform: WEBTOON
FOG LAND was heavily marketed by WEBTOON leading up to this year’s New York Comic Con. It is a huge hit overseas, so there is a reason why they are banking hard on this series. FOG LAND (which despite its name, has nothing to do with Silent Hill) is set in an alternate timeline where the United Nations have put all of the worst prisoners in the world into a mega prison complex in the middle of a desert where a meteor fell 50 years ago. The story follows Dante King, a desperate teacher who volunteers with others across the world to teach Fog Land’s inmates. But things go terribly wrong as the inmates slaughter the prison guards and kidnap Dante. His only chance for survival is through another inmate, Prisoner No. 182, who wants Dante to teach him how to grow sweet potatoes.
The series draws from EDM, science, philosophy, theology, and the video game Hotline Miami. You can see the influence of the latter in the violent, mutated inmates like The Tower, Drill Head and Fuzzy Black. They mutate through consuming Fog, an edible bright-blue glowing orb that is addicting and can even infect the user.
Fog Land is a world in of itself that stretches out for miles. Some inmates are born and raised within the complex, yet they all are bound by prison schedules and routines. There is also a clear hierarchy in place, with powerful inmates called “shoulders” controlling sectors of the prison.
Despite being first and foremost an action series, FOG LAND looks like a horror webtoon. The artist POGO uses a desaturated color palette, grime textures for the environments, plus detailed lines and shadows to give each panel a horror vibe. It’s clear they want to convey how Dante is trapped within an oppressive, dangerous part of the world.
Happy Halloween everybody! Don’t eat shady candy, or else you’ll end up like the mutated inmates! — Justin Guerrero
Love at First Fright
Original Story: Palace Kouzaki
Adaptation: Nangjun
Artist: Doojja
Platform: Lezhin
It may be November, but I’ve got one last Halloween recommendation up my sleeve. And because I am me, it’s a Boys’ Love title that will scare your pants off–in more ways than one.
Love at First Fright follows Yeo Eunseong, a young man who everybody wants because he’s so good looking. As a result he’s constantly on guard and pushes everyone away. Unfortunately for Eunseong, his home is a supernatural hot spot. Terrified, he goes to the only person who can help him: an office worker named Taejeong who can see and communicate with ghosts.
Eunseong and Taejeong have both struggled to maintain meaningful relationships.Eunseong keeps others at arm’s length because he’s been harassed for as long as he can remember., Taejeong has been ostracized for being able to see ghosts. So when Taejeong sees Eunseong showing compassion to ghosts despite his fear, trying his best to help them cross over, it’s no wonder Taejeong falls for him.
Love at First Fright is a cute and short read with art we don’t typically see in BL. It had an adorable dynamic in the beginning with Eunseong and Taejeong dancing around their feelings for each other, wondering, “does he like me like that or is he just being overly friendly?” That said, once the two get together, it feels to me like the series pushed aside the ghosts in favor of the central relationship (and spicy scenes.) The final ghost in the last two chapters felt like a last-minute addition instead of a fully fleshed-out character. I wish they were expanded on more as the original premise of the story. — Hilary Leung
LOVE MURDER BASKETBALL
Writer: Kurutta Hito
Artist: Tsunderuuu
Editor: Lena Atanassova
Retouching & Lettering: Vibrraant Publishing Studio
Publisher: INKR (digital), TOKYOPOP (print)
I was looking for one more horror comic to read at the end of October and found the first volume of this series on Hoopla. I thought, “it’s a Boys’ Love comic, it looks interesting, why not give it a shot?” I was not expecting the litany of content warnings at the beginning of the book. While the first volume collects the first seven chapters, I decided to read through to at least chapter 20 online before writing it up. I’m glad I did, because while the beginning of the series is intriguing, the later scenes are what hooked me.
LOVE MURDER BASKETBALL follows Goro and Shoto, two men with a contractual master/slave dynamic. Goro is a wealthy heir, star basketball player, and mysterious killer all rolled into one. Shoto on the other hand is the heir to one of the biggest Yakuza syndicates. Their relationship is harrowing and romantic by turns. Author Kurutta Hito doesn’t hold back when depicting situations that are hard to stomach. They also show the other side of the coin, smaller moments where people show their love for one another. It’s a delicate balancing act, but I think Hito pulls it off.
Tsunderuuu‘s art cuts corners with backgrounds when necessary to focus on the characters. It’s a tried and true method that continues to work here. The size difference between Shoto and Goro is a sight to behold, which plays into their personalities as well. The only part of the series I found off is that Shoto’s dad looks different every time we see him. The series hops around a lot in time so that we see how he looks at different ages. Even keeping that in mind, his appearance doesn’t always match with how he looked in a previous scene in the same time frame. It’s a small thing though.
If you do seek this out, either start with the webcomic from the jump or continue it after you finish the first print volume. Shoto in particular has developed into such a fascinating character that I’m curious to see what the author does with him next. Hito has confirmed they plan to finish the series next year so hopefully TOKYOPOP will continue publishing the print releases. — Derrick Crow
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