Heaven Above Heaven, Volume 1

by Kang-Suk Hyun

Ancient prophecy foretold of a baby that would be the new catalyst for the apocalypse. 17 years later, a young boy with a knack for trouble, a lust for ladies, and a wicked fighting technique has crossed paths with the child of the apocalypse and he's in for more kung fu action than he can handle.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1595322884
• ISBN13: 9781595322883
• Release Date: May 2005
• Publisher: TokyoPop
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 0.36 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.1" x 7.6"
• Age Range: 16 to 17 years
• Grade Range: Grades 11 to 12

Customer Reviews

OUTSTANDING ART HIGHLIGHTS THE STORY

"Heaven Above Heaven" is a traditional martial arts style Manga with a lot of fighting sequences and minimum amount of dialogue. The story opens as a group of grand masters hope to stop an ancient prophecy about a baby being born who, upon its 17th birthday, will unleash a beast who has been imprisoned for 1,000 years. The beast will cover the world in blood and fear, raising a mountain of corpses and turning the seas red with blood. The attempt to kill the baby fails. Now forward ahead 17 years to a village where a young man named Bakhong just wants to check out the girls walking about in the village square.. When his voyeurism is interrupted, not to mention his lunch, he turns on the band of village bullies with a martial arts style they've never seen, and dispatches the ruffians in short order. The fight took him to the rooftops where the young man found something even better to look at...a beautiful girl showering. Once again he's interrupted in comical fashion by three masters of the Volcano School. They are flabbergasted that Bakhong is paying more attention to the girl, than to their attacks. The action plays out in a hysterical, Jackie Chan style way as the three masters prove themselves no match for his eclectic style. But soon Bakhong discovers he picked the wrong window to be a peeping Tom as it turns out the girl is Danshula, daughter of the Grandmaster of the Moo Young Sook dojo. What does all this have to do with the ancient prophecy of the prologue? Well, you won't find out in the first volume, so stick around for the next. "Heaven above Heaven" is filled with slapstick humor, grand martial arts fights and ominous ancient prophesies. We are given only hints of what these ancient prophesies entail before we quickly move onto being introduced to Bakhong and Danshula. The art by Joong-Won Jeon was the real highlight for me. With lush, detailed linework, shading, and use of zip-a-tone, Jeon's art was somewhat reminiscent of the 1970's and 80's work of Barry Windsor Smith and Tim Conrad, two of my all-time favorites. There was a magnificent use of perspective that made the fight scenes almost leap off the page as if they were in 3D. The Manga style seems to be one of not revealing too much too soon to keep the reader salivating for more. Heaven above heaven certainly succeeds in doing this. I also enjoyed the way the opening, very dark and foreboding segment was offset by the humor and action in the rest of the book. Very strong first chapter! Reviewed by Tim Janson