Today’s featured review is Lori Henderson’s recent Comics Village write-up of the latest issue of Yen Plus which features many of Yen Press’ strong manhwa offerings each month and is a great starting point for those who’d like to sample a variety of manhwa, manga, and OEL titles. The manhwa titles in November’s issue include Pig Bride, Time and Again (which begins full volume releases in December), Jack Frost and One Fine Day. “These are all strong titles, making this side of the magazine most enjoyable,” Lori says about the OEL/manhwa side of the magazine. I’m personally a fan of both sides, but I’ll definitely agree that the manhwa in this magazine is strong.
I’ll start the linkage today by looking outside the online comics world where people are talking about manhwa in a couple of contexts. First off, Karl Urban talks about his role in the upcoming film adaptation of Priest (published in English by TOKYOPOP) with Jenna Busch at the Huffington Post. Secondly, I’ll whine about the fact that an article enticingly named Will The Internet Kill The Manhwa Star?–which appears to be about Korean cartoonist Park Jae-dong–is part of the subscription-only content at the Wall Street Journal online. It’s almost (almost, but not quite) enough to inspire a manhwa fan with no interest in international finance to plunk down over a hundred bucks on a subscription to The Wall Street Journal.
More reviews! In today’s Manga Minis column at Manga Recon, Connie C. and I review the fifth volumes of You’re So Cool (Yen Press) and I.N.V.U. (TOKYOPOP) respectively. Check out this quote from Connie’s review: “This is everything I love about Korean girls’ comics (or sunjeong): it’s funny, romantic, stays interesting, and has really strong, oddball characters that play well off each other. I can’t wait for the final volume.” What a fantastic recommendation!
Connie also reviews volume six of Goong (Yen Press) at her own blog, Slightly Biased Manga. At Manga Bookshelf, guest reviewer Megan M. writes about volume ten of Angel Diary and at Confessions of a Closet Otaku, Nightfox checks out the final volume of 100% Perfect Girl (NETCOMICS).
In other news, David Welsh includes a new favorite of mine, Full House (recently rescued by NETCOMICS) as part of letter “F” in the Shojo-Sunjeong Alphabet (check out the comments to find a recommendation for TOKYOPOP’s Fever). Robin Brenner’s enlightening article on circulation statistics for graphic novels at her library includes a few manhwa titles and is a fantastic read besides. Also, at All About Comics, Daniella Orihuela-Gruber muses on the question, Why is Manhwa not as popular as Manga? Though her conclusions are a bit controversial (I admit to personally having some pretty big issues with the suggestion that manga is inherently deeper than manhwa) she certainly provides plenty of food for thought and conversation.
That’s it for this week!
Is there something I’ve missed? Leave your manhwa-related links in comments!
danielle leigh says
November 23, 2009 at 10:36 amWell, I tried to get an electronic copy of the WSJ article through my university databases but it didn’t show up…can’t tell when it was actually published in print (11/6 or 11/20?) but either way it wasn’t showing up. Grrrrr. I hate it when that happens.
I’ll keep trying for you!
Melinda Beasi says
November 23, 2009 at 11:12 amAw, thanks Danielle, you’re so kind!!
janet Klump says
November 23, 2009 at 11:04 amLibraries will have paper copies of the Wall Street Journal, surely. Do you need me to check with people I know who subscribe? Love the title of your column today.
Melinda Beasi says
November 23, 2009 at 11:13 amHeh, thanks. :D I don’t know for sure if the article is actually in the printed journal or not, but sure, if you wanted to check that would be great!
Travis says
November 23, 2009 at 6:24 pmWow, that article about manhwa is pretty offensive. :-/
I think manhwa is doing really well in the English-language market considering it’s really only been around in these parts for a few years, whereas while it’s only in recent years that there’s been such a huge boom in English-language manga, it has been around for a good twenty years or more.
I think also, though I’m not 100% sure, that manga is a bigger business in Japan than manhwa is in Korea, so there is more selection to choose from. (I know this is true with manhua.)
Travis says
November 23, 2009 at 6:24 pmEr, that article about manhwa popularity, I meant.
Melinda Beasi says
November 23, 2009 at 8:02 pmI figured. :)
You know, I thought a lot about whether or not to link to it in my column, but in the end I thought, well, waaaay too many manga fans have this perception of manhwa being a “cheap imitation” of manga (this is not the first time I’ve come across that characterization) and the best way to combat that kind of attitude is to thrust it into the conversation and hope that there are some knowledgeable fans up to the task of educating less knowledgeable fans. Politely, one hopes, but you never know on the internet. I guess we’ll see what happens.
I have a lot of opinions about what’s missing when it comes to selling manhwa in this market, but you may be right that I’m expecting too much too soon.
I’m not knowledgeable enough about the manhwa scene in Korea to speak to your last point, but perhaps someone else is! I do know there is a lot more variety than what we see here.
Travis says
November 23, 2009 at 8:20 pmIt definitely doesn’t seem to be marketed as aggressively as manga is today (more like manga was when I first got into it in the early ’90s).
I think in terms of just what’s on the shelves, a lot (maybe even most) people buying stuff are not going to be able to tell that something is manhwa vs manga. Most Americans don’t know what is a Korean name and what is a Japanese name, or whether those squiggly lines in the background are hangul sound effects or kana, you know?
So I definitely think if there’s an imbalance, it’s due to marketing rather than to buyers preferring one over the other. (Of course manga has the big names, too, in terms of artists and series, and it’s got the anime tie-ins, which helps immensely.)
Melinda Beasi says
November 23, 2009 at 8:28 pmI think that part of the problem is that it is basically being marketed as manga, even though it isn’t. I get why they do it that way. It’s mostly being published by manga publishers, and maybe they feel like manga fans are more likely to pick it up if it’s marketed the same way. But I think that just plays into the existing problem more than anything else. I think what manhwa really needs is for readers to have a greater understanding of Korean culture, they way they do of Japanese culture, to put it into context.
Probably the folks in charge of marketing at Tokyopop and Yen Press are rolling their eyes at me right now, and maybe they’re right. I’d just really like to see manhwa establish a real identity for itself with English-speaking readers.
Travis says
November 23, 2009 at 8:29 pmI…really don’t think that most readers have an understanding of Japanese culture. At all. If they did, they would not view manga and anime as white people dressed up funny.
Melinda Beasi says
November 23, 2009 at 8:33 pmMaybe the word I really should have used is “interest.” Most people who are in to manga and anime are also really interested in Japanese culture. All the cultural details in manga and anime—they want to know what they are, they discuss them, and even copy them. There are blogs upon blogs dedicated not just to anime and manga but Japanese pop culture in general. You don’t see that happening with manhwa.
Sara K. says
November 25, 2009 at 4:36 pmI don’t know any more about manhwa/manga marketing than you, so I too may get the executives’ eye-rolls, but I think you have an excellent point about establishing manhwa as Korean stuff instead of as an extension of manga. I know people for whom that approach would be much more effective than treating manhwa as a complement to manga.
Melinda Beasi says
November 25, 2009 at 5:09 pmI admit part of my attitude on this is based less on marketing strategy and more just… I think manhwa deserves it. :) Not to exacerbate old wounds, but when you think about Korea’s history with Japan (especially in the last century), presenting manhwa in a way that almost encourages people to regard it as a subset of manga is the wrong thing to do.
Sara K. says
November 25, 2009 at 6:42 pmWell, it makes a lot of sense from the marketing angle too. Treating manhwa as a subset of manga makes it seem second-rate, and making anything seem second rate is not good marketing. Treating manhwa as a fine aspect of Korean culture does not stigmatize it in the eyes of potential customers.
It is also, of course, the respectful thing to do.
That said, there is a closer affinity between manga and manhwa than either has to Western comics, and it makes more sense to market it to the manga crowd than the superhero crowd.
NBM does treat their manhwa as noteworthy comics from Korea, not as a Korean version of American-style comics or BD (I don’t think NBM publishes manga). However, NBM is not going to put out something like Goong without a major change in their business strategy.