▪	RELEASED BY:		DARK HORSE
		▪	AUTHOR / ART:		SONG JI-HYUNG
		▪	FORMAT:		JAPANESE / BW
		▪	PAGES:		191
		▪	RATING:		OT
		▪	RELEASE DATE:		06/06/2007
		▪	REVIEW DATE:		08/07/2007
		▪	REVIEWED BY:		SCOTT CAMPBELL

XS Hybrid is set in a strange near future where gifted “hybrid” humans police the planet. One of the main characters, Mina, is a likeable tomboy with growing psychic powers that she isn’t all that aware of at the beginning of the book. She sees strange visions and flashes of light, but can’t comprehend what they will amount to. When a young boy falls into a coma after gazing into her eyes, it’s clear that there is either something seriously wrong, or very special about her. The boy she put in a coma is named Huin Chang, and he seems to have grown up as a bit of a dare devil and maybe even a slightly delinquent character. He has a somewhat awkward, secret love for Mina – a love that he has felt since the first time he saw her, even though she put him into a deep sleep. When strange things start to happen, and mysteriously powerful men start to randomly attack Mina, Huin wants to protect her, but isn’t sure if he has the strength to do so. The violence that these “hybrid” strangers bring into his otherwise quiet world, cause Huin to seemingly become more powerful, unleashing things within himself that he didn’t know he was capable of.

XS Hybrid is mainly an all out action manhwa, but it certainly hints at aspects of science fiction and cyberpunk themes. It is nowhere near to being as intelligent as the classic Akira, but there are a lot of elements here that will remind the reader of Akira and what made the action in that manga so exciting. XS Hybrid is full of frantic motorcycle chases, street fights, and angsty characters with a chip on their shoulder and the psychic powers to make their enemies sorry they got in the way. It manages to bind science fiction with the youthful grind that is so present within today’s emerging manga and manwha. The story is good so far, and all makes complete sense (that’s always nice), but the action is where this title really sticks out. The artist excels at making the action scenes appear frantic and full of life. It’s a page turner, to say the least!

The art is quite nice – detailed, but clean. Lots of straight hard lines, with a mature look to it. None of that curvy, sparkle sparkle happy chibi stuff is present here – it’s a mature action manwha with the appropriate look to boot. The text is all perfectly legible, and the sequence of the art flows in a way that will never slow you down. It doesn’t try to be complicated to take your attention away from something it may be hiding – it’s just straight up and to the point. It’s refreshing in its own way. We don’t always want to have to read through a mess of purposely complicated imagery and text to understand what’s going on - that gets old fast. XS Hybrid just presents itself as it is, so all the power to it.

All things considered, it’s an action manwha with a lot of potential to go places with the story, and couldn’t get much better in terms of sci-fi inspired action. It’s a blast to read, especially as it moves quickly while never leaving any of the essential elements for a good time out.

IN SUMMARY: 
The first volume of XS Hybrid is very promising with the clean, crisp art style, and dramatic motion expressed throughout the many action scenes. Manhwa continues to be very impressive which each new title released – the Koreans might just be giving the Japanese a run for their money when it comes to graphic novels!