Nambul War Stories Vol-3: Conflict
Story by: Hyun Se Lee
Artwork: Hyun Se Lee
Pages: 256
Published Domestically by: CPM Press
By: Jeffrey Couto

Introduction

It’s been several months now since I last reviewed any manga or manhwa for this site, but now that I got the reading bug back thanks to DC’s new Infinite Crisis series I think it’s the perfect time to get back into the domestic world of Asian comics and see what’s happening there as of late. To get us started I’ll take a look at the third volume in Central Park Media’s release of Nambul: War Stories a series that so far I have enjoyed quite a bit thanks to its mix of hard hitting politics, militarism and nationalism and how these elements can affect individuals and families caught up in the middle of them.

With this latest collection of stories the author continues to intensify the military and political side of the story and starts walking a rather controversial line when it comes to the exploration of the human element that accompanies these themes.

Story

"The tragedy of Auschwitz repeats itself as Japan sends domestic foreigners to war-camps. Meanwhile, Yusung and Uhmji both lose their jobs and return to the Oh Family residence, but with the fugitive Hae-Sung now in police custody, the Yukuza will be looking to his family for revenge. " -- Book Description

Review

This series has been one full of surprises and interesting takes on a variety of subjects, especially those dealing with Japanese-Korean relations, as played out by the “Oh” family, whose home along with several other Korean nationals is a small town in Japan referred to as little Korea. However, whereas in the previous two books these themes were allowed to play out through smaller, more tightly focused situations involving the Oh family members, with this volume we zoom out and star zeroing in on larger scale macro-view of them, as played out by the military tensions between Japan and Korea.

In fact this is the main focus of this book as we spend a great deal of time witnessing military meetings and strategy-setting sessions from both sides of the conflict. These scenes allow the author to play with several ideas that revolve around national pride, history, cultural clashes, world economics and diplomacy, as demonstrated by the players on both the Japanese and Korean sides. By the end of the book though these scenes give way to what is happening on the ground as a direct result, in the way of concentration camps for all foreign nationals of Korean and other Asian minorities living in Japan.

This opens the door to events and actions towards the prisoners that mirror those of World War II Germany prisoners. I won’t go into the details, but much of what happens to the Oh family and everyone else is quite brutal and difficult to digest. It’s evident that the author is letting out quite a bit of emotion with this side of the story (something he alluded to in one of the past entries in the series), but in creating this scenario he is setting up an interesting read in any case, regardless of what your political or historical views may be. That being said the power of his ideas and depictions are quite brutal and not for the easily perturbed, so those with direct emotional ties or investments into those events and clashes on which this story is built, beware.

That aside the political and military component of the plot is surprisingly interesting and thought provoking. I’m interested in seeing where Hyun Se Lee takes it and how the events will develop in terms of the military conflict. I do hope that he softens up the concentration camp story a little bit, but if anything it looks like it actually gets more intense next time out.

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

Taken as a whole this series is surprisingly addictive and well done. While I may not find parts of it to be that easy to read through this is largely a though-provoking military drama with a fantastic human element that continues to build up its dual-narrative quite well.

Definitely recommended for all manga/manhwa readers, especially those who like a good story with a military flavor to it. Beware of some strong cultural/political themes though.

Jeffrey Couto