Asian Addicts Anonymous

모델

English title: Model
Written by: Lee So Young
Original run: 1999-2002 (Korea)
U.S. publisher: Tokyopop
Volumes: 7
Synopsis: Jae is a Korean studying art in England. When she loses all focus and insipiration with her art, she comes across a beautiful young man who her friend got drunk and dropped off at her place. Seeing this sleeping beauty inspires Jae to paint once more. However, there is a price to pay for having the young man model for her…and the price is blood!

So, I decided to break up the Asian drama and music discussion with another popular art form exploding across the US – manga, manhwa, and manhua. And what better place to start than the less popular Korean comics, otherwise known as manhwa. A plus side to manhwa (for readers who are confused by manga’s format) is that it is read left to right like a normal English comic.

I have read manga, manhwa, and have finally sampled my first manhua, and of the three, I do like manga better. Just the plots and melodrama (although present depending on which manga you pick up) don’t seem to be quite as heavy as can be found in Korean manhwa. Plus, Japanese manga is more readily available and translated than the Korean and Chinese versions, although more of the manhwa and manhua are finally being picked up by American publishers.

My very first manhwa was Model by Lee So-young. I like vampire literature and the plot sounded intriguing, so I impulse-bought the first volume and was hooked all the way through volume seven. Nothing like putting $70+ into only 7 books, but it was a good investment as I have re-read this series over and over again…and STILL don’t get the ending, lol.

The basic premise of Model, is of a young Korean artist, Jae, studying art in Europe who happens to come across a vampire. Jae’s good friend brings home a drunk stranger, begging Jae to take care of him. Jae didn’t want to, but was left with no choice. In the middle of the night, the stranger comes and sucks her blood. After getting over the initial horror, Jae is suddenly inspired for the first time in a long time and begins sketching the attractive stranger. When he comes to, he is angered by Jae’s drawings – he thinks she lacks talent – and surprised to hear that he had drunk her blood.

Instead of killing Jae, the vampire, Michael, decides to make a contract with her. He would become Jae’s model if she would willingly donate blood. Jae, like a crazy person, agrees to this contract. She and Michael continue this way for awhile, until Jae angers him and he threatens to kill her. Instead, a new contract is forged, one that brought Jae to the doorstep of the vampire. Was it a deal with the devil? Will she make it out of Micheal’s home alive?

Once there, Jae meets Michael’s mysterious housekeeper Eva. She is prim, proper, and totally against Jae staying, knowing that her presence will effect the three inhabitants and change their lives beyond repair. Also there is a young man who claims to be Michael’s son, Ken. Wouldn’t you know, both Ken and Michael develop feelings for Jae, much to Eva’s dismay. Enter in a crazy fashion model, a ghost, and a mysterious priest and this manhwa gets crazy pretty fast.

Overall, I liked this series. The bantering between Ken and Jae was fun – they are a lot a like in certain ways. The secrets and the twists and turns in the plot definitely kept you guessing. Who was Adrian? What was his connection to Ken, Eva, and Michael? How did Michael really feel about Jae? Who exactly is Eva and why would a former high-end model end up a vampire’s housekeeper? Definitely no dull moments. The characters are multifaceted and you watched them grow and finally leave the scars of the past behind (after almost completely destroying their lives because of the past).

My main issue with this story comes from the ending. Volumes 1-6, I could understand, but volume 7 left me mystified. Michael and Jae finally understood each other’s feelings, Eva and Adrian were finally together again (in death?), Ken was alive – powers unsealed (whatever that might mean). Jae had decided to leave Michael and go with Ken away from that house and all the pain, suffering, and love that existed there, but then Michael comes (in broad daylight – a vampire no-no). And then we fast forward and Michael and Jae are a couple and what exactly happened goes unexplained, we can only guess. I don’t mind guesswork, but that ending was just too confusing. It was kind of a letdown after all the well-told storyline and suspense of before.

I still give this series a 4 out of 5 stars. Confusing it could be, and the ending leaves much to the imagination, but the characters and overall plot was excellent. I had never heard of the creation of vampires being caused by angels nor of a person being born with two souls. That alone is enough to keep me reading as  I like new little stories that break out of the normal vampire tropes.