Archlord, Vol. 1
Published by: Tokyopop
Writer & Artist: Jin-Hwan Park

232 (184) pages.
Original Language: Korean
Orientation: Left to right
Vintage: 2005. US edition February 2007.
Translation: Jennifer Hahm
Adaptation: Nathan Johnson
Layout & Lettering: Star Print Brokers
Production Artist: Mike Estacio
Cover Layout: Jason Milligan
Editor: Luis Reyes
Publisher’s Rating: Teen, Ages 13+

Rating: 2 out of 5

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Premise: A human, a half-orc, and an elf have to overcome historic differences to save… heck, I could have stopped at the word “elf”.

Synopsis:

Five mystic gemstones, the Archons, can bestow fantastic power on those that possess them. Long ago, heroes quested for the stones, and they were set in weapons of power forged to make the most of their magics.

Fast forward a few centuries.

One of these mystic weapons–Brumhart, the sword that houses the Archon of Fire–has been tied to the line of Nathan of Manas for generations. Leon, last of that line save for his infant son, has been killed, and the Brumhart is taken — though it seems that it can only be properly weilded by someone of Nathan’s blood.

Didn’t I mention an infant son?

Fast forward 15 years… can we start the story yet? geesh.

Anyway, the rest of volume one has an introductory scene where we meet the trio who will presumably become our main characters, and a whole lot of side story. At least as much time is spent following the sword Brumhart, and the man who now holds it.

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Review:

I would call this sterotypical, formulaic fantasy, but we haven’t even started the going-by-the-formula-bit yet. The heroes are introduced (the two guys, human and half-orc–who just happen to be childhood friends, and a pretty elven archer) but most of the book follows Vile traitorous Evil (not his real name) as he quests to make the sword truly his own.

Actually, that’d be a good book. Evil wins, but has to use his usurped powers to fight Even Greater Evil. I should make a note and write that one, a sort of take on or homage to Moorcock’s Elric.

But as much as I’d like to see something new, alas, our friend Vile Evil is not the hunking mass in armor featured on both the front and back covers. Someone else gets to be the hero, and the mythic model suggests it is the lost babe, now grown into a irresponsible slacker of a teen. He’s been raised in the “haunted” forest by his “grandfather”, the sorcerer Kenneth.

I’ve read this story a thousand times before. I know more or less how it is going to end. I’ll likely read the rest of this particular iteration anyway, because the art is decent and I like epic fantasy even if I do find myself rolling my eyes a bit at aspects of this one.