• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Home
  • About Us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Comment Policy
    • Disclosures & Disclaimers
  • Resources
    • Links, Essays & Articles
    • Fandomology!
    • CLAMP Directory
    • BlogRoll
  • Features & Columns
    • 3 Things Thursday
    • Adventures in the Key of Shoujo
    • Bit & Blips (game reviews)
    • BL BOOKRACK
    • Bookshelf Briefs
    • Bringing the Drama
    • Comic Conversion
    • Fanservice Friday
    • Going Digital
    • It Came From the Sinosphere
    • License This!
    • Magazine no Mori
    • My Week in Manga
    • OFF THE SHELF
    • Not By Manga Alone
    • PICK OF THE WEEK
    • Subtitles & Sensibility
    • Weekly Shonen Jump Recaps
  • Manga Moveable Feast
    • MMF Full Archive
    • Yun Kouga
    • CLAMP
    • Shojo Beat
    • Osamu Tezuka
    • Sailor Moon
    • Fruits Basket
    • Takehiko Inoue
    • Wild Adapter
    • One Piece
    • After School Nightmare
    • Karakuri Odette
    • Paradise Kiss
    • The Color Trilogy
    • To Terra…
    • Sexy Voice & Robo
  • Browse by Author
    • Sean Gaffney
    • Anna Neatrour
    • Michelle Smith
    • Katherine Dacey
    • MJ
    • Brigid Alverson
    • Travis Anderson
    • Phillip Anthony
    • Derek Bown
    • Jaci Dahlvang
    • Angela Eastman
    • Erica Friedman
    • Sara K.
    • Megan Purdy
    • Emily Snodgrass
    • Nancy Thistlethwaite
    • Eva Volin
    • David Welsh
  • MB Blogs
    • A Case Suitable For Treatment
    • Experiments in Manga
    • MangaBlog
    • The Manga Critic
    • Manga Report
    • Soliloquy in Blue
    • Manga Curmudgeon (archive)

Manga Bookshelf

Discussion, Resources, Roundtables, & Reviews

Manhwa Bookshelf

Manhwa Monday: Quick Roundup

February 8, 2010 by MJ 1 Comment

I am still out of the office so this’ll be a quick one!

Today’s featured review comes from Rob at Panel Patter, where he discusses the first volume of Mi-Kyung Yun’s Bride of the Water God (Dark Horse).

Having just begun to delve into manhwa, Rob says, “Bride is by far the best manhwa I’ve read so far, combining the detailed and intricate line work that I like so much in Tarot Cafe with a storyline that is both compelling and well-plotted.” Even as a “story-first, art second style of reader” he is especially taken by the series’ artwork, and talks about going back to linger over it after his first read.

“It’s going to be really hard to wait for the library to bring me volume two,” Rob says at the end of his review,” In fact, I wonder if the library gods would accept a sacrifice…” Click here for more! …

Read More

Filed Under: Manhwa Bookshelf Tagged With: manhwa, Manhwa Bookshelf

Manhwa Monday: Welcome, February!

February 1, 2010 by MJ 6 Comments

Today’s featured review comes from Kate Dacey over at The Manga Critic, for Sirial’s trippy all-ages tale One Fine Day (Yen Press). Kate begins her review with the definition of “whimsical,” a word that I expect even the series’ detractors must agree best fits the bill. As Kate says, “One Fine Day is whimsical in the fullest sense of the word, at once ‘lightly fanciful’ and ‘subject to erratic behavior or unpredictable change.'”

As a fan of the series myself, I especially appreciate Kate’s description of its most fanciful scenes, such as one in which “No-Ah and friends throw a lavish party for his grandparents’ antique furniture, here represented as beautiful fairies and enormous woodland creatures.” If you’ve been wondering if One Fine Day is for you, I highly recommend checking out Kate’s review.

Meanwhile, out in the cold of cyberspace, ReversedMiso laments the demise …

Read More

Filed Under: Manhwa Bookshelf Tagged With: manhwa, Manhwa Bookshelf

Manhwa Monday: 1/24/10

January 25, 2010 by MJ 2 Comments

Hello Manhwa Monday readers! This week’s featured review comes from Kate O’Neil at Mania.com, where she takes a look at volume one of Gyojeong Kwon’s The Adventures of Young Det, published in English by NETCOMICS.

The unusual thing about this series, as the reviewer notes, is that the first volume is very clearly a prologue which does not yet feature the series’ main characters. “Hopefully, this isn’t wasted time and some of this information will prove important later in the story.” For the most part her comments are positive. “It sketches a well thought out fantasy world…” she writes. “It’s a refreshing change of pace for fantasy readers, and it’ll be interesting to see where the story leads.”

I first became aware of this series via Michelle Smith, who listed it as one of her favorite manhwa of 2009. Check it out in print, or online at NETCOMICS.com. …

Read More

Filed Under: Manhwa Bookshelf Tagged With: manhwa, Manhwa Bookshelf

Manhwa Monday: January Thaw

January 18, 2010 by MJ 3 Comments

One of my favorite reviews this week came from David Welsh over at the newly-renamed Manga Curmudgeon, for JiUn Yun’s Time and Again (Yen Press). Though this book has been featured here before, his review is so delightful, I simply can’t help myself.

David begins his review by likening the book to a character played by a young Barbara Stanwyck, “… sexy, funny, moving and often ruthless. It’s about an exorcist-for-hire who seems more inclined to give his clients what they deserve than what they request.” This description of the title’s lead character, Baek-On, is so apt, I wish I’d written it myself. Also this, “… his skills with the unquiet dead are virtually moot in balance with his indifference towards the unquiet living.”

Check out David’s review for further insight and wit. …

Read More

Filed Under: Manhwa Bookshelf Tagged With: manhwa, Manhwa Bookshelf

Manhwa Monday: January 11th, 2010

January 11, 2010 by MJ 16 Comments

First things first! The winner of last week’s giveaway is commenter Eva D., who will receive volume one of Yen Press’ Goong: The Royal Palace! Eva, drop me an e-mail with your address and I’ll send it right out!

This week’s featured review is Noah Berlatsky’s thoughtful look at the first six volumes of Dokebi Bride (NETCOMICS) over at Comixology. Though he spends a surprising amount of time trying to reconcile the series within Japanese demographic categories which seems, at best, a pointless exercise, it is a beautiful review of a gorgeous series that remains, to this date, sadly unfinished. “The book, like many ghost stories, is about grief and dislocation and how the two circle around each other like black, exhausted smudges,” he says early on in the review–an observation indicative of the its eloquence as a whole. The review is honestly a great read and I’d recommend it whether you’ve read the series or not. …

Read More

Filed Under: Manhwa Bookshelf Tagged With: manhwa, Manhwa Bookshelf

Manhwa Monday: A New Year!

January 4, 2010 by MJ 28 Comments

goong1Happy New Year, Manhwa Monday readers!

Last week at Manga Bookshelf, I invited some friends to help me build a list of our Favorite Manhwa of 2009. Now, to start the year off right, I’m giving away one copy of the first volume of the most popular manhwa on that list, Goong: The Royal Palace. If you’ve not yet been bitten by the manhwa bug, or if you just haven’t gotten around to this addictive girls’ manhwa from Yen Press, here’s your chance!

Just leave a comment to this entry and you’ll automatically be entered in the drawing! You may also enter by sending an e-mail to mj@mangabookshelf.com with the subject line: “Goong.” The winner will be announced in next week’s column. Note: You must be age 13 or older to enter.…

Read More

Filed Under: Manhwa Bookshelf Tagged With: manhwa, Manhwa Bookshelf

Special Edition: Favorite Manhwa of 2009!

December 28, 2009 by MJ 20 Comments

goong7Welcome to a special year-end edition of Manhwa Monday! With “best of” lists popping up all over the manga blogosphere, I thought it might be fun to put together a manhwa-specific list of favorites for the year. Then when Michelle Smith expressed dismay over the lack of a manhwa category in this year’s Manga Recon round-up, it seemed like a perfect opportunity to invite some other bloggers along! So I asked a few of my favorite manga bloggers, Michelle Smith (Soliloquy in Blue, Manga Recon), Danielle Leigh (Comics Should Be Good), and Connie C. (Slightly Biased Manga) to talk about up to five of their favorite series for the year, with one special mention, one special discussion topic, and a few words about what they’d like to see in 2010. To see what they came up with (and how we broke the rules), read on!…

Read More

Filed Under: Manhwa Bookshelf Tagged With: manhwa, Manhwa Bookshelf

Manhwa Monday: Ghostly Holidays

December 21, 2009 by MJ 3 Comments

TimeAgainv1Last week could be considered a slow one in the realm of manhwa reviews, but what was there was well worth reading, making my choice for today’s feature quite difficult! In the end, I went with Joy Kim’s review of ghost story series Time and Again from Yen Press.

Though Joy admits that the first volume stumbles a bit, she still finds it to be, “… one of the most promising series openers that I’ve seen in a long while.” The series’ strength, in her view, is the two leads. “Though Baek-On and Ho-Yeon are very peripheral in some of the chapters … they are easily one of the best things about the book … The odd couple humor works, and there’s just enough mystery about their pasts to pique readers’ interest.” …

Read More

Filed Under: Manhwa Bookshelf Tagged With: manhwa, Manhwa Bookshelf

Manhwa Monday: A Moment of Self-indulgence

December 14, 2009 by MJ 2 Comments

1001nights9Welcome! Today I’m featuring one of my own reviews, mainly as an excuse to talk more about one of the most enjoyable manhwa series I’m reading right now, One Thousand and One Nights from Yen Press. Last week, I reviewed volume nine, which features fourteenth-century Chinese novel The Romance of the Three Kingdoms as its story-within-a-story. “Though what appears here is obviously just a tiny fragment of the original Chinese epic (which stands at 800,000 words and 120 chapters) it is more than enough to entice readers to seek out the source material for more. This was, apparently, a strong motivation for its inclusion in the story, as the volume’s endnotes reveal writer Jeon JinSeok’s desire to introduce the testosterone-heavy novel to a new generation of female readers who may not have been otherwise encouraged to check it out.” …

Read More

Filed Under: Manhwa Bookshelf Tagged With: manhwa, Manhwa Bookshelf

Manhwa Monday: December’s Here!

December 7, 2009 by MJ 6 Comments

shamanwarrior08Happy December, manhwa readers! Today’s featured review comes from Clive Owen at Animanga Nation, for volume eight of Park Joong-Ki’s Shaman Warrior from Dark Horse. After coming in late to the series, Mr. Owen has become a big fan, though now he laments the fact that the series’ final volume is nearly upon us. I have to admit that his review has gotten me excited about reading the series myself. Check out this quote: “It’s good to see that after eight volumes the series manages to keep up the same action-packed momentum … Park Joong-Ki not only knows how to tell a story but also develop the characters enough that you’ll actually care about them. On top of that there’s the gorgeous art that makes the fights look absolutely stunning.” Sounds like a winner to me! Read the full review for more!

Before I get to the rest of this week’s reviews, let me draw your attention to …

Read More

Filed Under: Manhwa Bookshelf Tagged With: manhwa, Manhwa Bookshelf

Manhwa Monday: 11/30/09

November 30, 2009 by MJ 2 Comments

sugarholic_1Welcome to another installment of Manhwa Monday! First off, our featured review this week comes from Snow Wildsmith at the School Library Journal’s Good Comics for Kids, discussing volumes one and two of Sugarholic. Here’s a bit of what Snow says about this fish-out-of-water tale: “Readers … will be intrigued … as they are caught up in the whirlwind storyline. Even two volumes is not enough to get all of the characters completely introduced and the major plot points outlined. There’s a sort of controlled chaos going on in the story, where the plot is always on the edge of falling apart, but somehow still manages to hold together. There aren’t many answers in these two volumes, but the questions are interesting enough to make readers head for volume three and beyond.” Check out her review for more!

As a follow-up to last week’s post, Troisroyaumes posted a rebuttal to Daniella Orihuela-…

Read More

Filed Under: Manhwa Bookshelf Tagged With: manhwa, Manhwa Bookshelf

Manhwa Monday: My Kingdom for a Copy of the Wall Street Journal

November 23, 2009 by MJ 15 Comments

yenplusnovToday’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. …

Read More

Filed Under: Manhwa Bookshelf Tagged With: manhwa, Manhwa Bookshelf

Manhwa Monday, Mid-November Mix

November 16, 2009 by MJ 4 Comments

small-minded2Welcome to this week’s Manhwa Monday! Today I’m featuring Michelle Smith’s review of the first two volumes of Small-Minded Schoolgirls by Toma (published by NETCOMICS), the answer to Michelle’s question, “What do you get when you combine some admittedly funky art with excellent characterization and a slice-of-life story about the romantic woes of a pair of professional women?”

Though Michelle does express initial reservations about the art style, her review is very enthusiastic about the series overall. Here’s another quote: “Small-Minded Schoolgirls is definitely a character-centric tale that hinges more on the subtleties of interaction and personal foibles than big dramatic moments … The series is full of keen observations on human nature and achieves poignancy and humor in equal measure.” Sounds like a winner to me. …

Read More

Filed Under: Manhwa Bookshelf Tagged With: manhwa, Manhwa Bookshelf

Manhwa Monday: The Color of Heaven & Other Stories

November 9, 2009 by MJ 1 Comment

colorofheavenWelcome to the second installment of Manhwa Monday! If you missed it, you can pick up the first here.

Featured today is Chris Mautner’s recent review of The Color of Water/The Color of Heaven by Kim Dong Hwa (published by First Second), which follow up on the series’ first volume, The Color of Earth. As this trilogy ends, the reviewer worries that it may miss finding a real audience, despite its strengths. “But for those willing to walk that line between the two extremes, Hwa’s story remains compelling right up to its happy but slightly bittersweet ending.” I have not read this short series, but Mautner’s review makes me want to. Read the rest of the review here!

In other reviews, Erica Friedman discusses volume four of Click (NETCOMICS) over at Ozaku, Julie checks out volume 2 of Jack Frost (Yen Press) at Manga Maniac Cafe…

Read More

Filed Under: Manhwa Bookshelf Tagged With: manhwa, Manhwa Bookshelf

Welcome to Manhwa Monday!

November 2, 2009 by MJ 7 Comments

Today I begin a new weekly feature here at Manga Bookshelf: Manhwa Monday! Each week, I’ll feature a particular review or other manhwa-related post discovered online (sometimes mine, sometimes not) as well as rounding up links to all things manhwa from the previous week. I’m doing this partly to put a regular spotlight on manhwa in hopes of drawing in new readers, and partly to try to help create a sense of community around manhwa specifically–something I think is currently lacking, at least in the circles I frequent.

So, welcome to the first installment of Manhwa Monday here at Manga Bookshelf! Today I’m going to feature two reviews from the previous week–one of them mine, one not. Both are collections of short manhwa by a single artist, though they are completely different from each other. The first is Byun Byung-Jun’s Mijeong, published by NBM/Comics Lit and reviewed by me last week at Manga Recon. The second is Hee Jung Park’s Too Long, published by TOKYOPOP and reviewed by Connie at Slightly Biased Manga.

mijeongMijeong is a decidedly melancholy collection of stories featuring mainly broken or lost characters, mired in the sorrow of their pasts. “For me, only my past has any meaning,” one character says early on, setting the tone for much of the volume. This tone, however, is not exactly sad, or at least not exclusively so. From my review: “Byun Byung-Jun’s characters are both burdened and enriched by their histories, an insight that rings inescapably true. Even when longing for the past leaves characters bleeding to death in the grass … there is an unmistakable sense of hope lingering around the edges of most of these stories—a haunting paradox that helps maintain the volume’s momentum.”

Though the collection is definitely flawed, maybe even greatly so in some places, it is filled with tangible emotion and a sense of restlessness that keeps the reader on edge throughout–characteristics I find extremely compelling in any work of fiction. Ultimately, this is a book I can enthusiastically recommend. Full review here.

toolongOn an equally enthusiastic note, Connie, who admits she is often wary of short story collections, says this about Hee Jung Park’s anthology, Too Long: “Most of the volume is quite excellent, and this is probably among the best female-oriented comic short story collection that I’ve seen … Hee Jung Park comes through once again, and once again, I’m going to lament the fact that none of her stories are coming out in English anymore. She really does seem to be one of the greats, and I would love to read more than a volume or two of her best work.”

Please read the rest of Connie’s thoughtful review over at Slightly Biased Manga. Connie reviews more manhwa than many manga-focused blogs I’ve seen, and she frequently has very good things to say about the manhwa she reads.

Weekly Roundup:

Last week saw two reviews of Yen Press’ series, Sugarholic, from Jennifer Dunbar at Manga Recon (vols. 1 & 2) and from me here (vol. 1). I also reviewed volume 1 of Full House from NETCOMICS’ online catalogue.

Manga Recon’s Mini column last week offered up three manhwa reviews, Ken Haley on volume 2 of Jack Frost, Connie C. on volume 2 of 13th Boy (a personal favorite of mine), and Jennifer Dunbar on volume 4 of Bride of the Water God.

Danica Davidson at The Comics Reporter took a look at Bride of the Water God as well, this time volumes 1-4; Tiamat’s Disciple checked out the final volume of Croquis Pop; and Lissa Patillo looked at volume 9 of The Antique Gift Shop over at Kuriousity.

Is there something I’ve missed? Leave your manhwa-related links in comments!

Filed Under: Manhwa Bookshelf Tagged With: manhwa, Manhwa Bookshelf

  • « Previous Page
  • Page 1
  • Page 2
 | Log in
Copyright © 2010 Manga Bookshelf | Powered by WordPress & the Genesis Framework