We are reviewing up to Episode 11 with no spoilers. Quite a lot happens by then, so if you’re not intrigued by Episode 11, this might not be the webcomic for you.
(I was tempted to suggest reading only up to Episode 7 since the story progresses quickly, but is still easily digestible. Do with that information what you will.)
You can find Tomb Raider King for free on Tapas.
Premise: 4 out of 5
Skilled tomb raider Seo Jooheon willingly gets his hands dirty for his boss, Kwon Taejoon, who holds a monopoly over the world with his powerful relics. But when the potential of Jooheon’s skills begins to threaten Taejoon, he meets a swift death, in his last moments swearing revenge on his boss. The God who is watching hears his swears and finds him interesting enough to give him one more chance at life. And so, Jooheon finds himself fifteen years back in the past, right before the Great Apocalypse took place and before the world learned to build itself around the appearance of tombs and relics. With fifteen years of advance knowledge under his belt, Jooheon is ready to steal relics for himself before Taejoon can claim them.
Common themes in the action fantasy genre quickly make themselves known in the first few episodes: reincarnation, regression, LITRG, and dungeon-like missions.
World-building: 3.5 out of 5
The world is mostly unprepared when the Great Catastrophe hits in 2025. “Tombs”, aka this world’s equivalent of a dungeon, appears all over the planet, built by a relic in each tomb. The tomb excavations will be familiar to readers of the genre, where they are typically known as dungeon raids. You must extract the relic from the tombs to close them. However, the twist is that these relics are sentient—and sometimes even carrying the spirit of a God. The world starts to rebuild itself around who has the most relics—and thus the most power—and corrupt monopolizers begin to rule the world.
The power struggle is nothing new in the genre—almost all action webcomics encapsulate some form of a power struggle—but having to battle the relic itself for control is intriguing. Individuals who gain control over certain relics may acquire more desired and skillful powers, but the relics are difficult to win over. This creates a unique tension that goes beyond conquering a dungeon or a tomb because a curse may still be leftover over if Jooheon wins.
Still, people will go on missions to acquire these relics, since it all comes down to power and money. Seo Jooheon realizes a little too late that he chose the wrong path to go down.
Plot: 3.5 out of 5
Tomb Raider King does not shy away from the complications of the law and the nuances of geopolitics. One of Joonheon’s first battle is going against the American and Japanese Excavation teams, both of whom entered South Korea under false pretenses; their true mission was to take relics from South Korea before the Korean government adjusted to the appearance of tombs. His final enemy is Kwon Taejoon and TKBM for revenge, but he has a rival in every single tomb raider, all over the world.
Like almost all protagonists, Seo Jooheon’s first step is to get stronger. The God from the crow relic’s occasional guidance makes his tomb journeys a lot more navigable—this, paired with his knowledge of the future, makes him almost unstoppable. And thus, it limits some of the excitement. The few hurdles don’t really feel like solid obstacles or challenges, but instead, they just feel like incidents to make Jooheon feel more OP (overpowered).
The thrill in the story development is mostly in the unknown and the speed of it all: can Jooheon work fast enough to collect the most powerful relics before all the other unnamed tomb raiders get to them first?
Characters: 4 out of 5
Seo Jooheon feels like that one friend who’s a little too blunt and slightly harsh around the edges, but still, has good intentions and tells us what we need to hear. Seo Jooheon does not care for what is morally right, even if he does his best to make sure innocent civilians are unharmed. His goal is to prevent Taejoon from acquiring powerful relics and stopping his monopoly over relics, and he doesn’t really care about how many enemies need to die on this journey.
Jooheon is quick to meet the right people and get to the right places to obtain the relics. However, the question plaguing my mind is: once he accomplishes that, what’s next for him? Once Jooheon collects all the most powerful relics in the world under his belt, what does he plan to do with them? He is on the pathway to becoming one of the most powerful relic users in the world. It seems odd to me that he is traveling the world and putting himself at death’s doorsteps many times without thinking beyond quenching his thirst for revenge. (Or has he been thinking about it and we, as the audience, are just unaware of his overall mission… ? … hmm…) He seems to be independent and has yet to collect other friends to be on his side.
Jooheon is a man with goals and I respect that. But I would like to see him struggle in his battles a bit more.
Art: 3.5 out of 5
None of the character designs up to this point have been particularly impressive. Seo Jooheon’s face is another that will likely get lost in the reader’s mental bank of main characters with light skin and black hair in a tight windbreaker. I do think even the slightest addition to his outfit and style would have also made him stand out just a bit more. Sorry, but that pop of blue in his jacket was just not enough.
However, I am a fan of the effects used during the more impactful scenes. The shot above is a great example: it’s made incredibly lively by the slight motion blur and red tone. The shot below also powerfully delivers the artist’s message of how the relics—and in particular, the crow relic—are something mysterious and mystical.
Despite the plainness of the designs, I enjoyed the art.
Final Thoughts: 3.7 out of 5
Even though the tropes were familiar, the relics created a fascinating deviation enough from the typical dungeon hunts for me to follow along with reading Tomb Raider King.
Again, I would suggest reading up to Episode 11. By then, you should have a full grasp on the world-building and the kind of main protagonist that Seo Jooheon is.
Check it out on Tapas!
Further into it, the formula appears pretty apparent, as it does in many soft-magic system stories. But what it does well is the stakes, which keeps it interesting as a treasure hunt story (Indiana Jones)! As there aren't many stories in this genre, it is refreshing. But execution could have been significantly better. For better or worse, I'd agree with your ranking, and says it stays very consistent through out!
I still read it, and I have a lot to read.