MELINDA: Back in June of 2007, not long after having loudly proclaimed in my blog at the time that I would never get into comics, my friend Aja finally convinced me to take a look at a shounen manga series called Hikaru no Go. It was a revelation for me. The series was [...]
About Hana Lee
Hana Lee is a biology graduate student living in California. By day, she experiments with yeast; by night, she spends her time knitting and eating good food. She is also a longtime fan of anime and manga, as well as an avid reader of books. Hana is proud to call herself Korean-American and maintains her fluency in Korean by watching K-dramas, reading manhwa and browsing the Korean-language blogosphere. Her favorite comics include Hikaru no Go, Nabi and Ravages of Time.
2010 Reader Awards for Manhwa
January 5, 2011 by Leave a Comment
The winners list of the Reader Awards for best manhwa of 2010 has been posted online, and Hana’s provided an English translation of the winners.
Grand Prize:
First place: Moss (이끼) by Yun Tae-ho
A horror/psychological thriller manhwa originally published as a webtoon and adapted into a live-action movie that was released last year. It was briefly reviewed in An introduction to Korean webcomics. (Aladin)
Second place: 2010 Sound of My Heart (2010 마음의 소리) by Jo Seok
A comedy featuring a protagonist with a bizarre personality and originally published on Naver as a very popular webtoon. (Aladin)
Third place: Let’s Fight, Monster! (싸우자 귀신아!) by Im In-seu
A supernatural manhwa about a girl who can see monsters. Like the above two series, it was also originally published as a webtoon. (Aladin)
Joseon Female Detective Damo, Vol. 2
January 2, 2011 by 1 Comment
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.
An introduction to Korean webcomics
July 26, 2010 by 11 Comments
What are webtoons?
South Korea is widely known as being the most wired nation in the world. The majority of Koreans have near-constant access to high-speed Internet. Consequently, the Internet has become a vehicle for new artists to make themselves known to a wide audience. Bestselling novels often originate in online serials, top actors can be discovered through personal blogs—and many of the latest hit manhwa make their start as webcomics.
In Korean, webcomics are called “webtoons” (a portmanteau of “web” and “cartoons”) and are available for free viewing on major portal sites, who pay the manhwa-ga to update once or twice a week until the storyline reaches completion. Some are professional manhwa-ga who have already made their name in the industry, such as Huh Young-man, who published his latest series
