SSS-Class Revival Hunter
Writer: Sinnoa
Artist: Bill K
Lettering: Ivo marques
Publisher: Kakao/Tapas (Webtoon), Ize Press (Print)
Genre: Action Fantasy
What would you do if you were given a powerful ability through a skill card? What would you do if you got one that allows you to copy any ability, but it has to be that of your killer?
This is the question presented to Gongja Kim, the main character of the popular Kakao webcomic SSS-Class Revival Hunter based on the original web novel by Sinnoa on Munpia. I previously read the first few chapters (available for free on tapas.io) for our top 10 Kakao webtoons list. Ize Press provided a copy of Volume 1 for this review.
What is SSS-Class Revival Hunter?
SSS-Class Revival Hunter is centered around Gungja Kim, an everyday citizen who idolizes Hunters—individuals with skills called Auras who enter a mysterious monster-filled tower searching for fame, riches and adventure. One day, Gungja receives a skill card from the tower allowing him to copy the aura of whoever kills him, in turn causing him to return 24 hours in the past whenever he dies.
Although the premise is similar to other Webtoons centered around a tower, like Tower of God, or monster-slaying like Solo Leveling, SSS-Class Revival Hunter makes those main draws a more secondary focus within the plot. I remember reading this for the first time and realizing despite the setup being familiar, the plot actually kicks off with a murder-revenge story as the main reason for Gungja to become stronger. The Webtoon presents these interesting and plausible obstacles that he must first overcome which will undoubtedly prepare him for the challenges he will face once he enters the tower seen at the very beginning of the story.
It also shows us, the readers, that Hunters aren’t all noble and kind-hearted people. The majority are driven by their egos and selfish desires, easily abusing their powers to have their way with those who don’t have powers. They even commit acts of murder against fellow Hunters and innocent people behind closed doors. This makes us wonder if Gungja, in his desire to become a Hunter and pursue his ambitions, will fall into the same moral traps that bring out the worst in the Hunters he once idolized.
The Presentation
The Art of SSS-Class Revival Hunter is pretty great for a webtoon with the usual anime-inspired art style, down to simple cell shading to add depth and dramatic lighting to the characters depending on the desired mood
As par for the course of webtoons, 3D assets are no doubt used to quickly create backgrounds for the various characters and easily allow readers to orient themselves in the world by getting a sense of the space. However, the 3D backgrounds blend surprisingly well with focal character line art and even the lower-detailed background characters who populate some scenes. Re-reading in print, it’s difficult to tell the difference between the establishing panels and backgrounds created with 3D and the 2D, hand-drawn backgrounds, which is impressive.
Another notable difference in the art is the lettering. In webtoons, it is normal to space out and sometimes place text and dialogue bubbles between panels to pad out the comic for a better reading experience when scrolling. But here it is interesting to see some dialogue that was originally left to float is now in bubbles, and to see how it’s placed within panels to help with the pacing and visual flow of the webtoon as it has been reformatted for print.
Sound effects are also lettered. In the original webtoon, sometimes the sound effects would appear much larger and pop out of some panels, most of the time leading into the next. Here, the sound effects are given various scales and sometimes re-adjusted due to the different panel sizes and layouts on paper. This allows some to be very subtle as a sigh or the flash of a camera, whereas other times they will have more of a presence and impact.
The Physical Volume
It is very interesting to read printed versions of webtoons and webcomics considering their vertical-scrolling format and how they must be adapted for print. Having read many webtoons and working on my own for a few years at this point, it is easy to pick up on these differences but also appreciate the work that goes into re-adapting the original art. In this case, SSS-Class Revival Hunter is impacted by the limits of physical page space in the print version, requiring the layout to be restructured. At times, this affects the visual flow of the story.
Each page contains at least two or three panels, with a maximum of five. Those that simulate the act of a camera tilting downward remain vertical, with enough room to appreciate the detail and artistry by Bill K. It is also interesting to see other panels be rescaled to fit on the page along, and to see which panels are made smaller or larger. To spice up the presentation, the gutters are often colorful rather than just white, which recreates the feeling of how the webtoon’s scrolling format.
The pacing and art aren’t hindered by these changes at all. The print version of SSS-Class Revival Hunter features the exact same art as the original and the overall presentation makes me forget I am reading a webtoon that was originally meant to be read on desktop and mobile devices. My only question is who made these layout decisions for print—artist Bill K or someone else at Ize Press? It’s hard to tell from reading the credits on SSS-Class Revival Hunter Volume 1.
The book includes episodes 1 through 10 of the webtoon, excluding the prologue. This is a worthy addition for readers both new and old to access the story differently while also being able to hold a physical copy of a comic. The panel sizes will allow you to enjoy and appreciate the art that makes this series so great, and the story, which after many re-reads still stands apart from many other seemingly similar webtoon stories.
SSS-Class Revival Hunter Volume 1 goes on sale everywhere books are sold on October 22. Read the original web novel (in Korean) on Munpia and the 118-episode webtoon on Tapas.io.
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