Comics / Manga

Banya: The Explosive Delivery Man: Volume 2

By Leroy Douresseaux
June 1, 2007 - 09:19

Thanks to barnesandnoble.com for the image.

BANYA: THE EXPLOSIVE DELIVERY MAN, VOL. 2

DARK HORSE MANHWA
CARTOONIST: Kim Young-Oh
TRANSLATION: Taesoon Kang and Derek Kirk Kim
ENGLISH ADAPTATION: Philip Simon
ISBN: 978-1-59307-688-7; soft cover; Fantasy
184 pp., B&W, w/some color; $12.95

Banya: The Explosive Delivery Man is set in a savage world that mixes George Miller’s Mad Max and Robert E. Howard’s Conan.    The title character, Banya, lives in a war plagued land where a horrible conflict rages between humans and the monstrous Torren.  Banya is a young mailman whose success delivering mail under the most incredibly dangerous and adverse conditions and also his astounding martial skills can be best described as explosive.

In Vol. 1, Banya and his co-workers, the scrappy femme, Mei, and the amiable and lovable sidekick, Kong, agree to deliver a package to the capital of Gaya.  Volume 2 continues the story with Banya chasing a small group of vicious bandits who’ve kidnapped Mei.  They want the packaged destined for Gaya, and Mei is their bait to catch Banya.  He’s ready to take on these thugs, but each one turns out to be just as good a fighter as Banya.

Also, in a brief interlude: Banya infiltrates the lair of the Red Skull gang to deliver a family heirloom to an ungrateful son.  Soon, he finds himself betrayed and marked for execution in the short tale, “Motherhood.”  After this short story pause, Banya’s next epic adventure finds the mailman delivering a package to a remote palace.  Three belligerent knights accompany him, but will this quartet be able to fend off the Torren hordes on their trail?

That Kim Young-Oh can create such a stirring fight comic with such complex fight scenes using his painterly drawing style is hard to believe.  Actually, it’s insanity, because that much attention to detail has to be time-consuming.  Every panel is exquisitely drawn in a flowing style, then, gently kissed with toning.  Kick-butt action and gorgeous art – to ask for more would be a sin.

 

Last Updated: January 17, 2025 - 08:20