Today’s Off the Shelf column featuring the Korean webcomic, or “webtoon,” Aron’s Absurd Armada has put webtoons in general on my mind. With only a handful licensed for North American release (mainly from online publisher NETCOMICS and iOS publisher iSeeToon), Korean webtoons represent a huge untapped source of East Asian comics. So, this week’s Saturday [...]
Search Results for: iseetoon
Manhwa Monday: Resurrection?
Welcome to another Manhwa Monday! It’s been a long time since there was enough going on in the world of English-translated manhwa for me to actually type that phrase, and nobody could be happier about it than I am. The biggest manhwa news this week comes from digital publisher iSeeToon, who, after a break with [...]
Saturday Spotlight
Though maintaining a blog is all about producing new content, day after day, sometimes it’s nice to reach into the archives and revisit something a bit older. An article’s shelf life can be tragically brief in the fast-paced comics blogosphere, despite its ongoing relevance. With that in mind, welcome to Saturday Spotlight, a new weekly [...]
PR: iSeeToon Trailers/Interview
I received a PR piece recently from digital manhwa publisher iSeeToon, announcing three trailers for their upcoming iOS release, Ill-Fated Relationship, a dark romance featuring two serial killers. Two of these are available already, one from the male character’s POV and one from the female character. (See these YouTube links if Storyberry fails in your [...]
Ill-Fated Relationship
Originally hosted at Manhwa Bookshelf. Ill-Fated Relationship | By Hwang Joon-Ho | Published by iSeeToon | Platform: iOS (iPhone only) – A man and woman meet in the big city, brought together by chance and undefinable desire. While this is not an uncommon premise in any kind of fiction, what distinguishes their story from others [...]
Manhwa Monday: April Showers
Welcome to another Manhwa Monday, now in our new monthly format! Here’s a sprinkling of news and reviews from around the blogosphere last month. First, a look at this month’s upcoming releases. With nothing on the docket from Dark Horse or Tokyopop, and NETCOMICS still dormant since its last online updates in February, we look [...]
Manhwa Monday: February Preview
Welcome to another Manhwa Monday!
With February finally underway, it’s time to take a brief look at this month’s upcoming manhwa releases! In keeping with the recent trend, there are few of these to report for February, though more than we had last month.
First, a belated listing for volume seven of Bride of the Water God from Dark Horse. Though Amazon (my source for these preview posts) lists a release date of February 8th, the volume actually appeared on shelves two weeks ago, bringing January’s release total up to… two. Yay?
This month, we’ve only got two print releases to look forward to, both from Yen Press. The first is volume five of JinJun Park’s zombie manhwa Raiders. Secondly, we’ll see volume six of one of my personal favorites, SangEun Lee’s supernatural romance, 13th Boy, Vol. 6, still consistently winning my heart with its understated whimsy, including talking cactus Beatrice.
On the digital front, NETCOMICS may finally be coming back to life, having recently released new chapters of both Sungmo Kim’s Emperor’s Castle and (another personal favorite) Sooyeon Won’s Full House. Though they’ve stopped short of scheduling any future chapter updates, new content after a few empty months does suggest hope. And following up on last week’s post, iOS publisher iSeeToon offers up a second trailer for their upcoming webtoon release, Ill-Fated Relationship.
Manhwa Monday: Just a tease
Welcome to another Manhwa Monday!
It’s a slow week again in the English-language manhwa blogosphere, though we do have one fun tidbit to share.
Over at the iSeeToon blog, company representative Kim Jin Sung teases us with a webtoon trailer for one of their upcoming iOS releases, Ill-Fated Relationship, due to be available in English sometime this year. I’ve actually had a little peek at this series, and it looks to be quite interesting, so let’s hope we won’t have too long to wait!
On a personal note, with the understanding that many of South Korea’s most innovative comics are happening online rather than traditional print, I very much wish that more companies were finding ways to bring those comics to us.
Manhwa Monday: holiday quick links
Welcome to another Manhwa Monday! It’s been a quiet week on the manhwa front, so there are just a few quick links to share on this American holiday.
It’s Martin Luther King Jr. day here in the US, and The Korean has a message for his Asian-American readers today.
Our friends at iSeeToon have unveiled a new front page design for their blog, with easy access to their currently available (and in-progress) iOS manhwa apps, as well as their series on types of manhwa. They are actively looking for feedback on pretty much all these things, so please let them know how you think they’re doing!
This week’s manhwa news is nearly all live-action news, with HANCINEMA posting the newest Priest trailer, and Dramabeans sharing casting info for the new drama adaptation of Kang Pool’s Pain. Kang Pool is also the author of Sunjeong Manhwa, reviewed by Hana Lee in her introduction to Korean webcomics, and pictured here in this entry.
At Manga-Market.com, tomnomnom joins the legions who attempt to explain “What is manhwa?”
This week in reviews, Todd Douglass at Anime Maki takes a look at volume 11 of Korean-created Black God (Yen Press). And at Panel Patter, Rob McMonigal talks about Korea as Viewed by 12 Creators (Fanfare/Ponent-Mon).
Manhwa Monday: 12 Creators & the Milky Way
Welcome to another Manhwa Monday!
After last week’s whining about the lack of new manhwa licenses, we’ve discovered at least one, though we don’t know for sure whether there are plans to release it in print.
The December issue of Yen Plus advertises an upcoming manhwa series from Sirial (One Fine Day), called Milkyway Hitchhiking, about a cat with a pattern that looks like the Milky Way on his back. The series will be in full color, and is also Yen Press’ first simultaneous serialization. Let’s hope it sees print publication as well! Lori Henderson has some thoughts on the series in her write-up of December’s issue of Yen Plus. (Thanks to Michelle Smith for the tip!)
Robot 6 has an exclusive look at cover art for TOKYOPOP’s new Priest Purgatory series. And on the subject of Priest, 411 mania lists the upcoming film adaptation as one of its Biggest Comic Book Movies of 2011 .
Manhwa Monday: Doom & Gloom?
Welcome to the first Manhwa Monday column in 2011! Though I’m sorry to say, readers, that I’ve come here mainly to whine. This morning, I did my regular beginning-of-the-month search for new manhwa releases for January, and these were the results:
Yep, that’s it. The sole upcoming manhwa release for the month is volume four of Laon from Yen Press. Now, surely one slow month is nothing to whine about, but with no new manhwa license announcements (so far) for the upcoming year, things are starting to look a little bit grim.
Udon Entertainment and TOKYOPOP have seemingly abandoned their manhwa lines. Dark Horse has two series still running, with nothing new on the horizon. NETCOMICS hasn’t updated any of their online series since October (and has nearly given up print). Even Yen Press, the industry’s trustiest source for English-language manhwa, has more series winding down than anything else.
Despite KOCCA’s strong presence at 2010′s New York Comic Con, manhwa seems to have lost momentum in the North American comics market, with very little obvious push coming even from KOCCA itself, if the current state of NETCOMICS’ release schedule is anything to go by. So imagine my surprise when an article entitled Will Manhwa Catch Manga? turned up in my Google Alerts this week.
My surprise faded quickly as I actually read the piece. The article’s author, Ulara Nakagawa, quotes Jung-sun Park, a professor at California State University, thusly, ” Though they’ve been consistently popular domestically up to now, she said, Korean comics, or manhwa, have yet to really take off outside of the country.” This obviously jives with what we’ve been seeing here in the US.
Joseon Female Detective Damo, Vol. 2
Joseon Yeohyeongsa Damo (조선여형사 다모) was originally published as a newspaper or shinmun manhwa in Sports Seoul in 1994. It followed on a previous series that the manhwa-ga, Bang Hak-gi (방학기), had published in 1979, called Damo Namsun (다모 남순이), which was serialized in Sports Seoul. In 2003, MBC turned Damo into a popular television miniseries, starring Ha Ji-won in the title role. Although the manhwa has not been translated into English, the drama is available for legal viewing in U.S. and Canada by streaming online at Dramafever.
Manhwa Monday: Quick roundup
Welcome to another Manhwa Monday! Here’s a quick round-up of manhwa-related news and reviews from the past two weeks.
The folks at Dramabeans report that popular drama Secret Garden is going to be made into both a novel and a girls’ manhwa series.
At Funky Doodle Donkey, Mireille shares her love for Korean icon Pucca.
The iSeeToon blog has been a busy place, as Jeong-Woo Seon continues their series on types of Korean manhwa, with an entry on Jab-Ji Manhwa (Manhwa for magazine). Check out the entire series here. In other iSeeToon news, they’ve uploaded a YouTube video to demonstrate their Magician iOS app. They’ve also started a Facebook page.
Manhwa Monday: Enter the Dae-Bon-So
Welcome to another Manhwa Monday! Our featured article this week comes from the iSeeToon blog, where Jeong-Woo Seon (aka “mirugi”) continues to explain the Korean manhwa industry to its English-speaking audience, this time delving into manhwa created for the Dae-Bon-So, an old school manhwa rental system.
The article goes on to name some series that were specifically created for the Dae-Bon-So, including one of my personal favorites, Kyungok Kang’s sci-fi girls’ manhwa, In the Starlight, available in English from NETCOMICS.
From the article: “History of ‘Dae-Bon-So Manhwa’ was not clear exactly, however it begun after Korean War in 1950′s. ‘Dae-Bon-Son Manhwa’ was welcomed in 1960′s, while Korean culture is improving. There were very few TVs at then, ‘Dae-Bon-So’ was only 1 place to enjoy culture content with cheap price. “
Manhwa Monday: December Preview
Welcome to another Manhwa Monday! First off, we’ll take a look at some upcoming manhwa releases.
Only Yen Press has new manhwa slated for this month, and just three volumes at that. Fortunately, this includes the latest omnibus release of Park SoHee’s Goong, a beautifully drawn cinderella story with a modern-day sensibility. Though this double-sized volume is number ten for Yen Press, thanks to the series’ new omnibus format, it actually contains Korean volumes 11-12.
Other releases this month include the 13th (and final) volume of Angel Diary and volume four of horror manhwa Jack Frost.
In other news this month, The Korean of Ask a Korean is asking for manhwa recommendations for one of his readers. Kate Dacey makes some suggestions in comments. Why not follow her lead?
Metanorn’s Manga Digest column takes a break from the usual to focus on some manhwa.
