The world has been at war since before I was born.

Sak is a student at an academy where special young people with ‘cores’ (enhanced psychic abilities that can be used as weapons) are trained. The only problem is Sak has been told that his core is ‘weak’; his special ability is his enhanced sense of smell. The other students bully him relentlessly and only his senior Ginger takes an interest in him and shows some sympathy. Now plague has broken out and Sak – who has become aware of a vile all-pervading odour like stale milk – is suddenly attacked by one of his fellow students. Ginger comes to Sak’s rescue and tells him that he must find someone outside the academy who is his Caller. This person will amplify his abilities – and Sak will feel a deep, unshakeable affection for them. But Sak must make sure that his Caller doesn’t become infected with this zombifying plague. (Sak, for some reason, seems to be immune.)

Sak goes searching for his Caller, aware only that he’s drawn to them by a refreshing, plant-like scent. But when he finds the Caller, they turn out to be a brutalized mercenary, once a child soldier, a young man with a rifle who rejects Sak and threatens to shoot him. The powers of this strange relationship have already been activated, however, and Sak can’t leave even if he wants to. And when it turns out that this Caller is also aware of the plant-like scent, in this case, emanating from Sak…

On a hunt for supplies, Sak finds a shelter – but his core ability then warns him that the people inside are already infected with the plague. Belatedly realising that he’s put his Caller at risk by going there, he retreats – only to find a little boy holding out his hands to him, begging for food. Kind-hearted Sak can’t abandon the child – but when his Caller discovers what he’s done, he’s furious and tells him that if the child is infected, Sak will have to kill him.

The first volume of the four-volume Radio Storm manhwa convincingly evokes a dark, dystopian future world and if we’ve come across variations on the story of a zombie plague many times before, this take by Team S&S is different enough to catch and hold the attention. This is not only because it’s well written but because the artwork is starkly striking and beautifully drawn (if beautiful is an apt description for a story set in a dystopia). Told mostly in panels of black and white, colour is used sparingly but very effectively to highlight significant moments: a gentle wash of natural green appears whenever the ‘plant-like scent’ is mentioned; gouts of red are splashed on the page when someone is killed. The artist occasionally uses chibis as well (maybe to soften the unremitting grimness?) and they are rather sweetly drawn although a little surprising to find, given the context. But it’s a pleasure to find a manhwa with such a consistently high standard of artwork (and it’s beautifully presented in the Ize Press edition on good quality paper). It’s also a relief to find a layout that isn’t just vertical-scrolling webtoon panels crammed four onto a page (like some other conversions to book-form) but much thought has gone into the adaptation from the original digital format.

The story draws the reader into Sak’s predicament and only gradually reveals other factors moving behind the scenes toward the end of this volume (although our suspicions have been raised that all is not quite as Sak has been told it is with some neatly placed foreshadowing). There’s always the danger in writing dystopian fiction that the general grimdark atmosphere will become so unremittingly bleak that the piling of one horror on top of another becomes self-defeating. The other danger – and this story is a Boys’ Love – is that setting a love story between two unlikely protagonists in such a dark (and usually lawless) life-or-death situation is kind-of cheating. Because when everything’s falling apart, any emotions either party might be feeling are hugely enhanced by the high stakes. The scene where Sak realizes he has already been sharing his Caller’s thoughts before they met – and tells him, then blurts out, “I’m sorry. If I’d known, I’d have come to find you sooner” is genuinely moving. But the sense that the two young men’s fates are being manipulated by others with more sinister objectives only grows stronger as the end of the volume approaches.

Rated Older Teen by Ize Press, there are trigger warnings in the Tapas digital version for bullying, gore and violence. Nevertheless, Radio Storm is recommended for delivering a page-turning, well-constructed story that holds the attention and is strikingly conveyed through the art. This volume ends on a significant cliffhanger – but we’ll have to wait for the second volume in September (October for the UK) to find out the significance of an unexpected appearance at the academy.

Our review copy was supplied by Ize Press.