NETCOMICS presents three exclusive brand-new titles. With simultaneous releases in both the U.S. and Korea beginning September 2006, these titles are making their debuts only at NETCOMICS.com and eComiX.co.kr (NETCOMICS' Korean affiliate) as an on-going online series.
June –Youngran Lee
From the artistic stables of one of today's fastest growing manhwa publishers comes "June", a riveting tale beset with intrigue, deception, murder, and a Frankenstein mythos. Dr. Gangjae Lee is a genius biologist with a conceited and blunt personality that has always pushed people away. But that doesn't bother him since he's a happy husband in his seventh year of blissful marriage to Jaehee, an astonishingly beautiful woman gifted with oodles of charm and incredible sex appeal. However, not even his beloved wife knows that he is living a double life. By day he is a brilliant college research professor, but outside class, Dr. Lee is a conspirator in a secret human cloning project run by Dr. Suh, a colleague of Jaehee's late father. Hidden from the eyes of the world with the support of underground financial powers, Dr. Lee devotes himself to this project together with Dr. Suh and Junwoo, Jaehee's childhood friend. Through numerous trials and errors and thousands of experiments, a few clones are born. But these miracles of science are always born with biological defects, with life spans that don't stretch much past 7 years. Their methods improve, but the results are always the same: sub-quality clones. Things take a turn when the two doctors give birth to a sub-quality clone with an extraordinary gift --astonishing beauty, oodles of charm, and incredible sex appeal. Clone S04 is none other than the clone of Dr. Lee's wife, and to have Jaehee's genetic twin interacting with other men is not such a welcome miracle. They call her by three different names: Jaehee, Clone S04, and a name her lover and popular novelist Jinhun gives her, June. But June is only the beginning of Dr. Lee's problems, for a bitter fate awaits his precious wife, one that will crumble his soul to the core....
June is yet another captivating example of the imagination of the talented Youngran Lee, whose works have already been optioned for a TV series and some feature films. Authored by the very artist of NETCOMICS Manhwa Novella Colletion Vol 1: Lie to Me, June is high art and contemporary storytelling at its finest. A great collection item for lovers of dramatic science fiction, which fans of 0/6 (Zero/Six) definitely need to check out. Coming to a bookstore near you in October 2006.
100% Perfect Girl – Wann
100% Perfect Girl is an absolute romantic delight straight from the desk of Wann, whose reputation for meticulously crafted work has received high praise from both male and female readers alike, and whose artistry has brought us such works as Can't Lose You and Manhwa Novella Collection Vol. 2: 9 Faces of Love. This new (and ongoing) story revolves around the romance that develops between Jay Jinn, a headstrong teenage rebel who's determined to prove she's serious about making art, and J. Max, a tall debonair foreigner with a multimillion business empire and a background rife with secrets. On the surface, it would seem as though Jay and J. have nothing in common. But fate intervenes and a chance encounter in a hotel lobby sparks a mysterious attraction. To complicate matters however, their almost instantaneous chemistry is threatened by the interventions of friends and family who think they know best, as well as a disastrous encounter with spicy chicken kebab! A giddy romantic fable for the modern age, 100% Perfect Girl demonstrates love's power to conquer all.
100% Perfect Girl is a vivid depiction of love's ability to transcend not just class, but also culture, age, language, and socio-economic status—one that will put a smile even on the most jaded cynic's face. Watch out for its simultaneous English and Korean premieres on the NETCOMICS site! Coming to a bookstore near you in January 2007.
Roureville – E.Hae
From the bestselling creator of Not So Bad comes Roureville, a mysterious fantasy drama with a shonen-ai undertone. Evan Price is a celebrated New York Times reporter, and true to his prominent journalistic lineage, he has just published an exclusive scoop that is brilliant enough to be considered for the Pulitzer Prize. Unfortunately, this also makes him easy prey to the many enemies he has made throughout his career. Instead of going in hiding, however, Evan decides to hole up at his press office—not the safest place for a man in Evan's situation. Unwilling to have his star reporter remain so vulnerable to attack, the Editor-in-Chief orders Evan to cover an out-of-state story: "real" ghost sightings in a secluded village in the countryside—an article too absurd to be handled by the New York Times. For lack of a better thing to do, Evan decides to follow his editor's orders and drives across the Midwestern desert searching for a town nobody seems to have heard of. After ten days of driving by sleepy rural villages with zero results, our lost and exhausted New Yorker is just about ready to give up. But then suddenly, a road sign pointing to "Roureville" catches his eye, and he heaves a sigh of relief. Little does he know that the end of his long road trip is just the beginning of an incredible tale.
Discerning shonen-ai and yaoi fans will love the subtle nuances of this incredibly textured story, which is laced with subtext and subplots. Smart, witty, and with hidden depth, this is definitely for the intelligent comic book reader whose tastes run the more intellectual route. With simultaneous releases in both the U.S. and Korea beginning September 2006, now English-speaking fans don't even have to wait! In bookstores in February 2007.