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Reviewed by Joy Kim Step is the story of Mr. Han, a professional monster hunter, and Dynasty Tang, the orphaned vampire girl that he has taken in. When Mr. Han is not busy fending off vampires and three-headed dogs, he focuses on lighter pursuits, such as getting Dynasty Tang off to school on time and reading her bedtime stories. But Mr. Han has some secrets of his own--secrets that he'd very much like to avoid sharing with his young ward. It's still unusual enough to see licensed manhua in the states that I greeted the arrival of Step in my mailbox with some pleasure. And at first glance, it looked promising enough with its attractive cover and color interior pages. Unfortunately, after reading the first few pages, I immediately had to lower my expectations for the rest. And nothing in the rest of the volume gave me a reason to bring those expectations back up. The first strike against Step is its rather hideous art. The character designs are unattractive and inconsistently executed; it's sometimes difficult to recognize the recurring characters from chapter to chapter until they start speaking because the drawing style is so different. Also, the paneling and layout are very unpolished. Though some pages are well-drawn, for the most part this volume feels like a rough draft rather than a final published work. The fairly generic premise and story do little to balance the weakness of the art. The case-of-the-chapter structure used here has been done better before by other series, largely because the episodes never succeed in being truly funny or truly scary. And though a couple of the episodes do open up possibilities for a more extended story arc down the line, it seems unlikely that the flat characterization could sustain that kind of storytelling. I'm glad to see licensed manhua hitting these shores, but I suggest giving this particular series a pass. Review copy provided by Yen Press. Comment on this review of Step v1 on the Manga Life Forums. |
6 October 2009
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