Raiders Volume 1

Like an amped-up blend of Raiders of the Lost Ark, The DaVinci Code and Night of the Living Dead, Raiders centers on a quest for a religious artifact, but adds zombies into the mix. Gorgeous, clever and fierce zombies, but undead and blood-thirsty zombies nonetheless.

In addition to lots of action, Raiders has some slick, nicely-drawn art that is reminiscent of Dogs: Bullets and Carnage. It has enough violence and gore to keep fans of Hellsing, Gantz, and Jack Frost entertained, but that also means it's not for the very young or the faint of heart.

As the assistant to archaeologist Dr. Wilter Langhem, Irel does more than just dig up and dust off artifacts. As Raiders opens, Irel is sent to break into a church in Glastonbury, to steal the Holy Grail. What he finds instead is something stranger and possibly more powerful: one of five chrism bottles said to contain the blood of Christ.

But like any rare artifact, this bottle and its contents are a hot commodity that other people are willing to do almost anything to get their hands on it -- even kill anyone that gets in their way. Much to his horror, Irel finds out that some of the people who are after the bottle in his possession are not only deadly, they're undead too.

Yep, there's zombies here, and unlike the ones that you'd see in George Romero flicks, the undead in Raiders are good looking, are pretty clever, have excellent reflexes and are downright sadistic. The one thing that gives them away is their stench, like rotted flesh. Ew.

After a car chase and blazing gun battle, Irel and the professor are thrilled to have the chrism in their possession -- but their triumph is short-lived, as they're attacked by Lamia, a gorgeous zombie assassin with a very big knife. Things only get worse, as two more undead assassins join the melee - one a hulking monster and the other a smart-alecky teen Goth. Irel holds his own in a fight, but his marksmanship can only hold off Lamia so long. He then makes a fateful choice that plunges him deeper into this unholy war.

Like a mix between Raiders of the Lost Ark, The DaVinci Code and Night of the Living Dead, Raiders turns a quest for a holy artifact into an adrenaline-pumping adventure, punctuated with over-the-top gore and violence. Mind you, that's not necessarily a bad thing. The action in the first volume of Raiders does a good job of grabbing the reader by the collar and plunging them into the story, while providing just enough exposition to explain who the characters are, and the rationale for all of the mayhem.

Raiders also offers some stunning artwork, reminiscent of the stylish character designs and action scenes in Dogs: Bullets and Carnage and switch. That said, Park occasionally overdoes it, art-wise. Fights happen at a fairly fast clip with a lot of speed lines and blood spatters, so if you're not paying attention, it can be tricky to sort out what's happening.

As usual in religious conspiracy stories, the bad guys are priests, or have ties to the clergy. There's also a police investigator, a street-savvy femme and a sweet innocent who's stuck in the middle of this mess. So in that respect, Raiders doesn't shake up this genre too much. It's not astonishingly original, but Raiders is worth a look if you're a fan of other supernatural seinen manga like Hellsing or amped-up action-fests like Gantz. With its satisfying balance of plot and action, Raiders does what it does pretty well, and that's worth at least $10.99.