Get Your GEN On!

GEN Manhwa issues 2 & 3 contain chapters 3-6 of writer Kevin Han & illustrator Zom-J’s sci-fi/horror/action/western comic story Stone Collector, finishing up the story’s action-packed first adventure. As established in the manhwa’s first two chapters, Nicolas, the wandering swordsman with a haunted, tragic past finds himself in a small, close-knit frontier town besieged by hideous monsters. Bringing a morality lesson closer to the forefront, the later chapters of the story reveal more of the townspeople’s true sentiments, evoking ambiguity about who the most ruthless monsters in town really are. Possibly as much to martyr himself and shame the inconsiderate villagers as achieve his conspicuous goal, Nicholas pushes himself virtually beyond his own human limitations to fight fire with fire, in a sense, and eradicate the monstrous threats.

As is typical of Korean manhwa, the art design in these chapters of Stone Collector is stylishly crisp and sharp, although particularly in issue 3, the art periodically becomes so frenetic that it becomes impressionistic because literally discerning what’s happening is practically impossible. Ultra-prominent speed lines and impressionistic rendering leave panels without enough clear detail to distinguish exactly what’s happening to whom. However, fans of action horror manga such as Hellsing, Trigun, and Vampire Hunter D will be familiar with this style of art design and enjoy this quite a bit. The dialogue and story forming the remainder of the first story arc are serviceable, if a bit predictable. Once again, fans of action/horror manga should have little to complain about. The English translation in issue 2 appears largely error free, although its tendency to avoid contractions makes the dialogue feel inappropriately formal and stilted. Although largely corrected in issue 3, the third issue does still include line translations like, “As you can see I am in no kind of state to drive,” that sound wordy and slightly unlike natural speech. The climax of issue 2 also concludes with Nicholas’ exclamation, “This novum host is going to be a force not to be reckoned with!!” followed by “This is really gonna suck…” which certainly suggests that Nicholas intended to say “a force to be reckoned with,” and not “a force not to be reckoned with.” The third issue’s translation feels a bit more natural but also includes more small but distracting errors. Overlooking the unclear antecedent for the pronoun “his,” the line, “And the king lamented and seeked out the immortal to offers all his wealth…” uses the made-up word “seeked” instead of “sought” and uses “offers” instead of the grammatically correct “offer.” The word “reign” is spelled incorrectly in “…continue her dark rein,” and a possessive apostrophe is missing in, “…but because of your stones size…” However, since the bloody, furious action is the manhwa’s raison d’être, most readers won’t notice or won’t be bothered by minor grammar errors in the dialogue translation. The dialogue in both issues includes occasional instances of harsh language, but considering the gruesome, grotesque context of the story, more gentile language would actually be more inappropriate. Original Korean sound effects are left intact in the panels.

Coming across nearly exactly like a hybrid of Hellsing and Trigun with a bit of Claymore mixed in, Stone Collector is a fast-paced, highly stylish enjoyable diversion for manga readers that appreciate gratuitous gruesome horror action.