Nambul War Stories Vol-2: Conquest
Story by: Hyun Se Lee
Artwork: Hyun Se Lee
Pages: 312
Published Domestically by: CPM Press
By: Jeffrey Couto

Introduction

Politics, national intrigue, global conspiracy, war, racism, social class warfare, historical fiction…

Nambul War Stories is this and so much more. After reading volume one of the series I found myself thoroughly enjoying the characters and the carefully crafted plot by Hyun Se Lee. By the time the book was done I was already looking forward to continuing on to the second volume and seeing how the story further unfolded. Let’s go in for a closer look and see what actually happens.

Story

"Political tensions reach the boiling point as the first shots of the world conflict are fired. The streets are filled with panic as Korean citizens are herded into camps and slaughtered. Alliances between neighboring countries are forged as the world readies itself for a massive clash. In the midst of the chaos, Hae-Sung becomes a fugitive from the law and from the Yakuza after the high-profile political murder of a Japanese businessman. The only help he can get is from a friend on the police force…but will she do her job and turn him in? " -- CPM Nambul War Stories Volume-2 Page

Review

With his second book in the series Hyun Se Lee takes the characters he established in the first one and develops them further by throwing them into the midst of more chaotic situations brought about by the growing tension between Korean foreign nationals living in Japan and Japanese citizens. In addition he also brings in the global conflict to the forefront of the story and gives us a better glimpse at the people pulling the strings and their reasoning for taking covert action on behalf of their country.

On the character front one of the major changes we run into here is that Hae-Sung is now a fugitive from the authorities for the killing of a Yazuka Boss (which was captured on camera and highly publicized by a local newspaper reporter). The character was a rebellious street punk when we first met him in the previous volume and while he remains defiant, something in him seems different as he begins awkwardly sharing his emotions with his elder brother’s old girlfriend.

The other large and noticeable change in this area is the switch in the character focus to Mr.Daimon and Colonel Kaoru of the Japanese Self Defense Forces from Hae-Sung and his brother. We spend a lot of time in this book looking on and they talk about their plans for the military and their operations to control the Indonesian oil facilities. This gives the story an interesting balance between a military drama and the street war that is quickly brewing between Japanese citizens and those from a Korean or Indonesian background. We see how one affects the other and vice versa.

The story development is good and seems to unfold quickly with the different military units moving into place and beginning to take action against each other as a civil war starts taking roots inside Japan. When you read the book you can’t help but become involved as we take in a global view of the events that are occurring and hope our protagonists will be ok in the end.

In many ways the author successfully captures the brutality and sadness of what happens when we allow irrational fears and pride take over common sense, resulting in the events portrayed here, with people affixing labels to others based on nationality and set off a process of self-enforced segregation in the name of national security. The way he ties this into the government and its manipulation of the media and misinformation campaigns is brilliant, connecting the events to the real world and how they have an effect in it.

Overall the second book was an even better read than the first one was as the stakes are raised even higher and the world comes closer to a global-scale conflict. The political, military and social layers that run concurrently atop of each other make it a more richly layered experience and ultimately lead the story to a higher plane than we seen before. I can’t wait to see how it all comes together in the next chapter.

The artwork here continues to impress as Hyun Se Lee takes on more complex drawings such as military vehicles and installations, assembling them in a variety of dramatic panel arrangements for maximum effect. The characters were once more well rendered and fully realized with a mix of serious and more “cartoony” depictions. Background seemed more detailed this time out, but this may be due to there being a need for more visually-rich settings.

The book itself is nicely put together in typical CPM press fashion. The front cover is as powerful as the one in the previous cover, featuring a soldier wearing his military outfit atop a dark/dramatic background. The inside pages are well reproduced with no real issues that I could pick up on. In addition to the main story we also get some character introductions, a summary of what's happened so far, author notes, and the writers/artist’s biography.

Conclusion

I find myself really enjoying Nambul War Stories. It’s an interesting mix of elements that normally I would not associate together, but the way their used here make them work rather effectively.

As I said in my previous review, if you’re easily offended by the historical context that this book plays off of or are not in the market for a more serious read this one is not for you. Everyone else, this is a really good Manhwa title to check out!

Jeffrey Couto