Play Magazine: Something wicked this way comes
I’m going to go out on a limb and say that Utopia’s Avenger is one of the best shonen manga that I have ever read. The dichotomy between the sci-fi elements—Final Fantasy tinged bikes and digital cameras against a supernatural martial arts backdrop—defines the beauty of manga. It is, simply put, exquisite.

At moments the dialogue dances in your mid fusing with the pictures like you’re watching a film before segueing to action so deftly captured by the pen that the figures seem to move on the page. The character and world design, marked by some of the most painstaking shading I have ever seen in the manhwa tradition, pull you into the simple, fluid story—concentrating more on key moments and expressions than monologues to draw you into the world. Time flies by as you read before vigorously flipping back to soak in the imagery.

The tale is of Gil-Don; a Hyeongyeong master who built a utopia called the Yuldo Kingdom only to see it ravaged by invaders. Twenty years have passed and now he has returned to the region as a bounty hunter so omnipotent that he is aging backwards. At 45 he looks 20.  But he and his partner Danu are not gods…well, not quite. Their fight to vanquish the evil that has stolen their land and to rebuild the kingdom is fraught with peril and with demons that quite enjoy life around Death Castle. Manga has just become a spectator sport.

Read it if… Moments of subtle comedy interjected with unparalleled sci-fi and martial arts sound like a good way to dust off an afternoon.
~ Dave Halverson

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IGN
My friend enjoys flipping through the many tankoubon I get to review, and deep down I think there's a part of him that really wants to like manga, but he keeps it suppressed. Oh, he likes comics well enough, but when I try and throw a manga series his way, he's just not interested. He's told me it's the artistic style of manga that holds him at bay…he's not a fan of the goofy chibi one panel jokes, he really doesn't care for the big-eyed women, and most of the storylines just don't seem to appeal to him. Like any good otaku, I want to convert this guy, but to date I've had zero success.

Little did I know I was looking in the wrong place…heck, I was looking in the wrong country! With Oh Se-Kwon's Utopia's Avenger, I've found a manhwa (Korean) title that I think will finally break my friend down and serve as a gateway to all things manga. It effectively bridges the gap between what Western audiences have come to love about our home-grown comics and the strange but fascinating world that manga has to offer us.

Not that it's breaking any new ground in terms of story. You've read this title before, under many different names. Hong Gil-Dong was a legendary warrior in the land of Yuldo. After the land fell into chaos and turmoil, he has returned to reclaim his world and reshape it into the paradise it once was. With his faithful assistant, Danu, functioning as comic relief, and a beautiful merchant's daughter, Sanghui, serving as a potential romantic interest down the road, it's not difficult to see where this book is going to go. Still, in treading familiar ground, it doesn't bore the reader by completely sticking to formula. Danu is a funny, perverted sidekick designed to make Hong look even more like a hero, but that doesn't mean he has to play second fiddle. He's a competent warrior in his own right, and while you'll laugh at his antics, you'll also get the sense he's not someone to trifle with.

Sanghui, unfortunately, falls completely into the mold of manga damsel in distress. She spends most of this first volume unconscious and in various stages of undress. If you're looking for a hard-hitting heroine who can hold her own against the villains the group encounters, you'll want to keep looking. Still, she's very nice eye candy for male readers, and that's ultimately what's going to win people over to this series. Some of the best artwork I've seen since I picked up my first tankoubon.

With one book, Oh Se-Kwon has become my favorite manhwa artist, surpassing even Sun Woo Park. Flip through the pages of Utopia's Avenger in the store and I guarantee if you value quality artwork, you'll find yourself walking to the register with this book in hand. There's something for almost every type of otaku: beautifully rendered women (with no big eyes so my friend can't complain!), ultra-cool mecha, scary monsters, and plenty of Kung Fu and swordplay to keep any comic enthusiast satisfied. Oh Se-Kwon's style is a nice mixture of manga and Western comic styles, and could be the needed medicine to draw in audiences who hold a certain amount of prejudice towards manga in general, but still like comics as a whole.

I have other friends who consider themselves "manga purists". If it's not from Japan, it's not manga, and it doesn't count. I'm always careful to separate the manga (Japanese), manhwa (Korean) and manhua (Chinese) books I review, not for the benefit of people like my friends, but because each type of book brings something different to the table, and should be recognized or reviled for those different traits. Having said that, I'll add that if you consider yourself a purist, and wouldn't consider picking up Utopia's Avenger because it's Korean… you're missing out on something really great. Yes, it's a tale you've seen many times over, but in the hands of a talented storyteller and artist, great stories will never get old. In the end, the best endorsement I can give is that, after showing my manga-eschewing friend this book, he asked to borrow it. I think if you or someone you know has been sitting on the fence about this whole "Asian Invasion" that's been hitting your bookstore shelf, this could very well be the book that brings you into the fold.
~ AE Sparrow