MJ Review: June Volume 1

[Jason]

Title: June (Volume 1)
Manhwaga: Youngran Lee
Publisher: Netcomics
Genre: Sci-fi, Drama
Price: $9.99 US/ $13.95 CAD/ $14.95 AUS

Dr. Gangjee Lee lives a successful and envious life. At the age of 30, he has already become the most celebrated neurosurgeon in Korea. He is praised to have the "hand of god" that can heal anyone. However, a successful career is not the only thing Gangjee Lee has. At home, he is blessed with a gorgeous and loving wife, Jaehee, whom he treasures dearly. Even after seven years of marriage, their love for each other only increases day after day. The two lead a very happy married life that many cannot even dream of having.

Dr. Lee's intelligence and fame gives him the opportunity to conduct underground human cloning research with huge funding. After countless attempts, he and his fellow researchers are able to create human clones successfully -- even though the clones age quickly and have a short lifespan of merely a few years. In exchange for their short lives though, they are gifted with an unusual psychic ability that is believed to have originated from a large amount of neurons and rapidly developing brain cells.

In his research lab, Gangjee has never treated the human clones as more than experimental objects and does not hesitate to kill and dispose of them as soon as they reach the age of puberty. That is why he has no oppositions to using Jaehee's DNA as test samples to produce a clone of her. However, things quickly fall down a cliff when Jaehee is bloodily murdered one evening. The homicide has been more than a shock to Gangjee and since Jaehee's death, he has fallen unconscious and been hospitalized. When he is finally discharged, he realizes that he is one of the prime suspects responsible for his wife's murder. To make his life more complicated, Woojin, Gangjee's fellow researcher and Jaehee's childhood friend, has taken Spare No. 3, Jaehee's clone, out of the lab to Gangjee's house. Disregarding Gangjee's opposition, Woojin insists on registering the clone as Jaehee's sister.

Youngran Lee's artwork is definitely among the best from Netcomics, along with the work of Marlex, Wann and others. Admittedly though, I do particularly favor the clean ink work with a heavier touch of digital toning and touch-up. Nonetheless, the mood and expressions of the characters are undoubtedly effective, especially when the light comedic scenes in the former half of the volume is contrasted with the dark, gloomy and gory ones in the latter half.

Overall, I have very mixed feelings for June since the plot so far is quite fragmented. It starts with cute romantic comedy in the beginning, which I enjoy very much, but then taking a huge and unexpected 180° turn. Also, the overwhelming number of characters introduced is a bit confusing and pulls the plot in many possible directions, including Jaehee and Gangjee's college lovers, whom they each abandoned before marrying each other, and whom seem to hold huge grudges against them. Without reading further volumes, I cannot honestly say whether I’ll like this series or not since the story seems to have only just begun after Jaehee's death. Nonetheless, the story is definitely unique and worth reading for those hunting for something fresh and different to read.

Reviewer: Floating_Sakura
Proofreader: Natarle
Editor: Jiji