The Devil's Golden Boy: Chapter 1
Released By: Seishin Ink
Writer and Artist: Katsura and Yuramei
Cover Art: Yuramei
Release Date: Out Now!
Reviewed By: Sandra Scholes
"When in Hell, it's better to be favoured by the Devil than be left to rot with the rest of the damned."
It is an interesting quote, but never truer when the Devil ends up being a gang leader, and the golden boy is Jeong. Set in a bad area of Seoul, Korea unwanted children are the norm and there are plenty of them. If they don't want to be overlooked, they have to leave and fend for themselves in gangs who are a large part of the South Korean Mafia, the Khangpae.
Jeong is lucky as he has the Devil to look up to, he also has a relationship with him that transcends what he does for him and the gang - but when all he has built up could be brought down before his ears, he has to step up his game just to keep being his golden boy. Chapter 1 has the Devil first meeting Jeong when he is a very young boy outside the orphanage where he is one of the sorry little bastards who doesn't stand a chance of being able to have a decent life, being poor. Seeing his desperation, he wants to give him a helping hand, all the while knowing he will be a pawn in his gangland games among the slums of Seoul. Kim tells Jeong all about the inner workings of his gang, how the good can end up dead, going straight to Hell, and thinks that Hell is on earth - right where he is living. The Devil thinks that anyone who comes to work for him will survive on the streets drug-running, stealing for him, or won't last a year. Times are hard, and they see that they are providing a life for these orphans who probable wouldn't last long on their own anyway.
Lee reckons he runs the place, but it's Kim who makes all the decisions and has the place running the way it should, and Jeong helps him set things in motion for defying Lee only he knows how. There is a standard story running through it as well as flashbacks to when Kim was looking after Jeong when he was being bullied by other members of the gang. The interaction between them is cute in a very ende3aring way as he has grown up along with Kim and come to look up to him not only as a sort of father figure, but come to be his lover. This is where the problem comes in, as Kim believes he is seeing another guy and he doesn't like him having his flings.
The Devil's Golden Boy is a manga style graphic novel in the Yaoi genre by Yuramei and Katsura with cover art by Yuramei. The cover art is in colour, yet the interior art is in grey scale, giving it a dark, almost old style look. There are long gaps of just art without text in it that give the impression of a time lapse where the character is in a moment of thinking about something or they are pictured in bed after making love.
Verdict: Jeong and the Devil are a match mad in Hell - it's a cool Yaoi with an intriguing tale thrown in.
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