A best-selling series in its native Korea , Shaman Warrior is no ordinary action comic. Bringing a strong set of story telling skills to the training room, the first in the series is a road-trip tale with muscular art and characterisation. Essentially a modern remix of the Koike Lone Wolf series with history replaced by fantasy, Shaman Warrior is fast, charged and alive with the energy of solid premise and a capable teller. The main weight the reader has to press is the intricacy of the combat as any mythology is relegated to the imagination with creator Park Joong-Ki wisely letting the images do the talking. With the finest of lines and the sharpest of manoeuvres the action scenes can be, in the first read, as vigorous as confusing.

Once the teething is over, however, Shaman Warrior is a brash, bold shot of entertainment that manages to set itself apart from the infinite Manga that you'll no doubt have to trawl through to get at a copy. Recommended as a quick-fix travel read if nothing else though Joong-Ki is certainly an exciting new talent to keep a long-term tab on.

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