Webtoon Spotlight

Spotlight#77: Caster

Have you ever wanted to give light to something unknown? If so, then maybe you'll get a treat on the webtoon Caster by both Common/Noble Transmission. So let's end the February spotlights by finally sharing a little bit of Black History.

Author/Artist

I'm pretty sure I don't need to introduce who the musical artist Common is, but Noble Transmission deserves a little bit of praise. Caster was created by Austin Harrison, Zach Howard, and Mike Raicht. Their titles include "Wild Blue Yonder," listed as one of the Top 100 Great Graphic Novels for Teens by the American Library Association, and "Tree Mail," which won the Most Epic Adventure Award (voted on by kids).

The music of the webtoon features an All Original Score produced by Robert Glasper and co-produced by Jahi Sundance & Jay Cooper, with Common and Derek Dudley executive producing.

Summary

In a world filled with sexy espionage, no one can do it quite like Caster. Give him enough money, and the man is willing to travel just about anywhere to "relieve" the ownership of any unique artifact he can get his hands on. But, despite this philosophy, Caster is a man with morals, and that may be the thing that makes his line of work finally catch up with him because he has just stumbled upon the ultimate prize that will cost more than just a pretty penny for everyone involved.

Characters

Caster: Our main "hero" Caster is a true professional. He can almost always get the job done and has the patience and dedication to see a mission through to the end. However, it doesn't mean Caster is devoid of humor or a good joke every once in a while. Later chapters reveal that his rather snarky nature is a mask to hide a problematic past.

Mr. Nishimura: A close associate of Caster, Nishimura hopes to honor his daughter by collecting a series of artifacts that contain a possibility of bringing her back. To that end, he is more than ready to sacrifice just about anyone that gets in his way.

Nora/Mathias: A brother/sister duo of people tasked with protecting the artifacts, these two couldn't be more different. Nora is a radical extremist with a bad temper. On the flip side, Mathias is a calm, rational and honorable soul who doesn't believe in the superstitions of what they protect.

Lewis: Caster's closest sidekick, Lewis, is a complete socially awkward nerd who holds no punches with his words. However, this has led him to become one of Caster's closest allies, as he always puts them first before anyone else for the sake of caution.

Overview

I've been on webtoon for four years, and, amazingly, Caster has the most comic book style out of the bunch. The many locations of this worldwide romp are honestly wallpaper-worthy stuff and make the action scenes spicy. In addition, Caster isn't afraid to portray various cultures of said locations through the characters, leading to some pretty cool designs and images.

 However, I do think that the art sometimes lends itself to characters with somewhat awkward poses. Either way, though, the action scenes in Caster more than sell themselves. For example, one chapter can involve him. Half-naked sledding across icy hills or high-risk falls in an underground cave, giving the chase scenes a lot of flair compared to most webtoons.

Caster also features a relatively unique soundtrack, which is something that I wished more Webtoons used honestly. For this, in particular, I have to say that the music represents each scene pretty perfectly while changing when needed, giving the panels a significantly larger than life feel towards them.

Overall though, I have to admit that rereading Caster was more entertaining than I expected. This series replicates that Indiana Jones feel as this series fills itself with those tropes. Characters all have motivations in this treasure quest, making them allies and enemies at the drop of a hat. The treasure itself also implies a far more mystical side to the story that might be played out later. Either way, this story is an easy binge with only 30 chapters.

Epilogue

Honestly, Caster is a bit of a sad case. I remember seeing this open up with BackChannel and Outrage and excited that more traditional western comics could go to webtoon. I love webtoon for its international opportunities for people anywhere to make a following. Still, I do think that more significant projects like Caster should be more supported to help balance out the massive manhwa library. 

However both Caster and Backchannel have been on hiatus for almost two years now. And that dream seems to be coming to an end with Outrage and possibly Urban Animal as the winners. But who knows? Dr. Frost and Athena Complex have come back, so why can't these two?

Either way, I hope more comic books like projects like this see the spotlight shine on them again. But with this spotlight out of the way, let's move on to March with more spotlights, expect a lot more analysis, and previous webtoons making an appearance soon.