Last Fantasy

The two young heroes on the cover of Tokyopop's latest manhwa offering look blandly conventional; this misconception isn't dispelled until our heroes are properly introduced several pages later. Tian is the dark-haired one, bookish and talented but undereducated. Drei, his hunky blonde sidekick, has the brain of a bug and an insatiable appetite. It turns out that all appearances to the contrary, neither Tian nor Drei qualifies as your standard manhwa hero. Drei eats everything in sight, including the magic potion Tian made to protect them; Tian can't help drooling at the sight of gold. Fortunately, it's precisely their predilection for greed and gluttony that keeps the laughs coming strong as the hapless duo encounter the requisite fantasy fare of ogres, monsters and other baddies while tracking down treasure and chasing adventure. Like Tian and Drei, Kwon's drawings morph easily between a typical manga look and expressive caricatures that make fun of the characters and their outsized flaws. The book is willing to do almost anything for a laugh, but Hon and Kwon are just as serious about keeping things surprising, including ending the book with a poem by Pushkin. (Apr.)