It’s somewhat surprising that North American comics have never really tried to adapt the action movie. Oh, superheroes are generally action-based, but the dramatic structure often feels more in line with a soap opera than a big Hollywood blockbuster; The Losers is the only book from DC or Marvel that manages to approximate that approach. And while I’m not much of a fan of most Hollywood blockbusters, even I must admit that there is a time and place for telling a story by way of blowing shit up.
Song Ji-Hyung’s XS Hybrid does most of the things you want in a good action movie: People hit each other, shoot each other, and drive motorcycles really fast. Exactly why all this is happening is not entirely clear, but it’s enough, for the time being, to know that it all happens very fast and very frequently.
The key concept, which is only really explained towards the end of this volume, is that foreign (alien?) entities sometimes inhabit and hide within a human body. They can take control when necessary, granting their human host special abilities; some of those abilities remain when the entity leaves. Which means that we get an opening sequence featuring a mysterious man beating the tar out of an elite team of armed and armoured guards.
With that brief introductory violence out of the way – it doesn’t exactly explain what a hybrid is, but it covers what they can do in a fairly stylish fashion – Ji-Hyung gets about to the meat of the book and the two main characters. Mina is a young woman who’s generally quite normal, aside from the fact that she once sent a boy into a coma just by looking at him. That boy is Chang, who now spends his days riding his motorcycle, getting into fights, and looking after Mina.
First a punk, who seems a little too strong and fast for his own good, comes looking for Mina. Then a hybrid shows up to help out when Chang’s not quite up to the task. And then an American special ops team shows up with an interest in both Mina and Chang.
And from there, there’s all sorts of punching, kicking, and car chases. Ji-Hyung hasn’t written a story with a lot of depth, but he has created one that lets him show off some impressive action sequences; while he’s an okay writer, his real strength is the art. XS Hybrid is a great looking book: While some of the early fisticuffs are impressive, a motorcycle chase towards the end of the book is nearly worth the price of admission all on its own. And if the hybrid looks just a bit too generically manga-ish (spikey blonde hair, tall, skinny, sunglasses), I’ll forgive it because Chang and Mina are drawn so well.
There’s still some plot dangling at the end of the first volume – the last few pages read like the intro to the next volume, as opposed to the finale of this one – and I’m not convinced the “hybrid” idea has a lot of depth. Thus far, it mostly a plot device, though a very good one: It’s an excuse to show off people doing lots of cool things. In many ways, XS Hybrid reminds me of the Matrix films: An interesting, if unoriginal, central concept that allows for some exciting action sequences. And thankfully, no one in this book has become a Christ figure or attempted to explain the nature of existence.
It’s not high art, but it’s a fun ride.
(You can check out a short preview at Dark Horse’s site.)