Presenting the fourth volume of NETCOMICS Manhwa Novella Collection—an anthology of the most prominent Korean authors and their works in which every page blazes with uniqueness and originality! Volume 4 of this ground-breaking series offers two supernatural takes on love and longing.
THE DEVIL'S TRILL: In 18th-century Germany, Count Eichner
Wittgenstein is tall, dark, dreamy... and undead. But being a vampire
doesn't stop him from recognizing his one and only love in the
beautiful young Elizabeth, who also happens to be married to another
man. Tragedy separates the two--or does it? Flash forward some 200
years, to Berlin in the late 1990s, when the Count--now a sleekly
modern patron of the arts--comes under the spell of a young woman with
something eerily familiar about her. But fate intervenes again,
delaying the final reckoning between the Count and his soul mate until
well into the 22nd century! A heady mix of supernatural scares and
heartfelt longing, THE DEVIL'S TRILL is swooning Gothic romance in
the best Anne Rice tradition.
THE MAGIC BOX: Diamonds may be a girl's best friend, but there are some
things in life are more precious still. And sometimes you need TWO
lifetimes to learn this valuable lesson!
[February 2010] The Devil's Trill is the fourth volume of the Manhwa Novella Collection from NETCOMICS and my favorite in the series. Each of these four books is a standalone collection of shorter manhwa works, and this volume gives us the angst-filled and baroque work of Sooyeon Won.
While past volumes in the Manhwa Novella Collection have been short stories, The Devil's Trill features one long story (in fact, long enough to be its own manhwa) and one short tale afterward.
The longer of the two, and the title's namesake, is a haunting story that references Tartini's infamous violin sonata. It begins in the 18th century with a beautiful but lonesome vampire who misses his humanity. Don't all vampires these days? A 13-year-old neighbor girl full of life catches his attention and he starts to warm up and become a better person. She goes away to school for a while and returns to him as a grown woman. Now he's ready to take their relationship to the next level. However, she's gotten married since then (and it's implied the marriage was forced on some level). Her love is still for the vampire, not her husband. When the husband learns where his wife's devotion really lies, he turns murderous.
Vampires live forever, but women do not. It may take her several reincarnations before the two of them can finally get it right. The Devil's Trill spans over centuries as the two lovers are united and torn apart, only to try again.
The short story following this, called "The Magic Box," is brief but also haunting. A man becomes so obsessed with working diamonds that he one day realizes he's an old man and has wasted his life. A fairy appears and offers him youth again. But deals like these are meant to end badly...
When it comes to the artwork, this is a manhwa that definitely has charm. It's beautiful. This is very stylized, aesthetic art that can really make everything look gorgeous. Sooyeon Won has a knack for drawing beauty. Having a graphic novel with appealing art as well as an appealing story is always a vital thing.
The Devil's Trill is aimed for teenagers, and I think it would be a great addition to libraries for their YA section. It feels especially timely, what with all the interest in vampire novels lately. Still, while fads fizzle in and out, The Devil's Trill has staying power. This is the type of book that ought to go off the shelves all the time.
- Danica Davidson for Graphic Novel Reporter
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[February 2010]
Presented as a collection of stories one of the fourth in the series. In this collection, readers have two stories to choose from, The Devil's Trill and the Magic Box. The first is a long gothic horror tale of a violinists brush with the supernatural.
Count Wittgentstien handsome, courageous, and a vampire meets one night the woman of his dreams, yet beneath his cloak of dangerous strength and immortality, he yearns to be like others, to live in peace and be able to die one day not live on generation after generation only to see the ones he loves the most die around him. This pains him so much during his early years that it taints his personality the more he grows older.
These stories are powerful and emotionally driven and will get the reader to forget their woes and immerse themselves in the plot and characters that can be considered extremely believable. In the first story it is obvious that the main character is in love and tries at times to deny it even to her when she is with the mysterious count.
The fine intricacy of the artwork makes it different from mainstream manwha as it is more up beat and has a fleeting effect on how it is looked at. Each panel is a moment in the life of either the Count or the young lady, Elizabeth.
IN SUMMARY:
Each story is splendidly decorated for the period - Sooyeon Won is a genius of this type of Manwha.
I can see a resemlance between the art work of Let Dai and this but it's also different. The story of a vampire falling in love with a girl is not original. But it's still a very good story no matter how it's written or drawn. This story also has a sad feeling to it just like Let Dai. Like the previous reviewer I also believe that it touches the heart. This story is really good and I hope that it has a happy ending.
Although the artwork is very different from Let Dai or Full House, you can really feel Sooyeon Won's golden touch in this beautiful but sad story. The lonely vampire falling in love with the innocent human girl is certainly a story we have all seen before, but as would be expected from its brilliant creator, this story goes much deeper and touches the heart just a little bit more. I am looking forward to more of this one.
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