Manga Bookshelf

Discussion, Resources, Roundtables, & Reviews

Manhwa Monday

Manhwa Monday: Welcome, Hana!

by 1 Comment

Welcome to another Manhwa Monday! Today, I’m very pleased to introduce a new contributor to Manhwa Bookshelf, Hana Lee. Hana will be providing reviews of untranslated Korean manhwa as well as manhwa news from Korea. She’s begun today with An introduction to Korean webcomics, where she discusses Korean webcomics as a whole–their scope and origins–and provides short reviews for two popular comics as well. It’s a wonderful post that you all must take a look at.

Speaking of origins, here’s a short bio for Hana that will soon appear on our “About” page:

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 …

Read More

Manhwa Monday: Poll, Part II

by 5 Comments

Welcome to another Manhwa Monday!

It’s another slow week in the manhwa blogosphere, so following up on last week’s poll, we’ll take a moment to ponder this year’s continuing manhwa series. But first, a look at the week in reviews.

Raiders (Yen Press) gets the most attention this week, with reviews of volume one from Liz Reed at Manga Life and volume three from Kate Dacey at The Manga Critic. At Comics Village, Lori Henderson takes a look at volume eight of Goong (Yen Press). And at the Tompkins County Public Library’s In My Opinion (IMO) Teen Book Blog, reviewer Emme talks about volume one of The Tarot Cafe (Tokyopop).

Far in the lead in last week’s poll for best new manhwa series of the year (so far) is Sirial’s One Fine Day (Yen Press). This week, let’s take a vote on continuing series. …

Read More

Manhwa Monday: Mid-Season Poll

by 13 Comments

Welcome to another Manhwa Monday!

It’s a slow week in the manhwa blogosphere, with only three reviews for me to pass along. First, at Good Comics for Kids, Lori Henderson reviews volume one of One Fine Day (Yen Press). At Manga Life, Charles Webb gives us a first-timer’s look at volume nine of Black God (Yen Press). Lastly, at TangognaT, Anna talks about the first four volumes of Goong (Yen Press).

With such a small bounty to share this week, it seems like a good time to check out the (nearly) equally short list of this year’s new manhwa series. Though we’ve seen quite a few new volumes of continuing series this year, new series have been scarce–just four by my count as of the end of June.

Yen Press is this year’s overachiever so far, with two (count ’em, two) new series since January began, One Fine Day and Laon. …

Read More

Manhwa Monday: July Preview

by 3 Comments

Welcome to another Manhwa Monday!

It’s a fairly quiet month for manhwa releases, with the only new print volumes coming from Yen Press, including the final volume of Pig Bride. Other releases include volume twelve of Angel Diary, volume five of Sugarholic, volume three of Jack Frost, and my personal pick of the bunch, volume three of Yun JiUn’s collection of ghost stories, Time and Again.

Time and Again has gotten quite a bit of attention this past week, beginning with the recent Off the Shelf column, in which Michelle Smith and I discuss the series’ first volume. Michelle later makes good on her promise to review volumes 1-3 at Soliloquy in Blue.

Then, at Manga Maniac Cafe, Julie takes a look at volume three, “Wow, this series really hits its stride with this volume. Each of the chapters held me enthralled…

Read More

Manhwa Monday: MMF & More!

by Leave a Comment

Welcome to another Manhwa Monday! As the Manhwa Moveable Feast continues, here is a quick roundup of the latest contributions from participants.

First, at the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, Jason Yadao reviews the series with a humorous nod to its (literally) flowery, metaphorical language.

“From the opening pages, where two beetles are shown entwined in their tight rope of love, this story flows in one direction, carrying one theme: Life is all about the buds that blossom between a man and a woman; all other matters are mere leaves that fall and litter the ground. And under this canopy, the flowers of women can only bloom to their fullest potential with the gentle rain provided by men.”

Though Jason makes his point regarding the manhwa-ga’s …

Read More

Manhwa Monday: MMF Begins!

by 1 Comment

Today marks the beginning of June’s Manga Moveable Feast, which is actually a Manhwa Moveable Feast, hosted right here! I start things off with an introduction to the series, Kim Dong Hwa’s “Color” Trilogy. Though this story of a young girl’s coming-of-age is Eisner-nominated (the first manhwa series to become so) it’s been a controversial one among reviewers, so this Feast is sure to be full of interesting (and perhaps heated) discussion.

Daniella Orihuela-Gruber chimes in first, with a review of the full series at her blog, All About Manga. Daniella takes issue with both the series’ (literally) flowery language and its portrayal of the lead character’s easy relationship with her single mother. The review is heavily personalized, mainly due to what Daniella sees as similarities between her own family and Ehwa’s.

“While I realize that Ehwa and I live in much different times…

Read More

Manhwa Monday: Quick Links

by Leave a Comment

Welcome to another Manhwa Monday! It’s a busy, busy week here at Manga Bookshelf, with most of my manhwa-centric energy going into preparation for next week’s Manhwa Moveable Feast.

Meanwhile, here are a few quick links to satisfy your manhwa cravings! First, from S. L. Gallant, Manhwa- Korea gets biz-ay, a thoughtful look at two series from Dark Horse (and the artists who drew them), Kim Young-Oh‘s Banya the Explosive Delivery Man and Park Joong-Ki‘s Shaman Warrior.

“What impresses me most about them is the sense of motion they bring to the art. There’s an energy in the action, that I think comes from the combination of more realistic figures and motion blurs added directly into the art by hand, and not thru some trick of Photoshop …In these books, despite the insane action, there’s a level of realism maintained where we can still feel it’s actors performing, and not some computer animated figures …

Read More

Manhwa Monday: June Preview

by Leave a Comment

Welcome to another Manhwa Monday! With June now upon us, it’s time to take a look at what’s coming out in print this month. It’s a fairly lean month for manhwa, but there are some real goodies in the bunch.

First of all, from NETCOMICS, comes the debut print volume of There’s Something About Sunyool, the latest from Youngran Lee, author of Click and a host of other NETCOMICS titles. Like 100% Perfect Girl, Sunyool is being released simultaneously in the US and Korea. This kind of arrangement is something Japanese manga fans have been begging for, yet NETCOMICS seems to have received very little attention for their trouble.

And speaking of 100% Perfect Girl, its final volume (11) comes out in print this month as well. Though this title is not a favorite of mine, it (like Sunyool) is yet another manhwa series for grownup women in NETCOMICS’ catalogue, something else they’ve been very generous about with not much fanfare. For those who still haven’t noticed, check out these titles, plus 10, 20, and 30, Full House, Please, Please Me, and Small-Minded Schoolgirls.

Yen Press also offers up two titles this month, both personal favorites. First, volume seven of Very! Very! Sweet, a quirky, adorable sunjeong series that easily lives up to its name. Who doesn’t love a girls’ comics heroine whose most defining traits are extreme frugality and a love of cats? Also quirky and adorable is volume four of 13th Boy, the only comic I know of featuring a talking cactus who occasionally transforms into a love-struck teen boy.

This week in reviews, Julie Opipari looks at volume one of Raiders (Yen Press) at Newsarama. Susan S. checks out volume six of Very! Very! Sweet at Manga Jouhou. And at Comic Attack, Kristin Bomba reviews volume four of Sarasah.

Also, some very sad news. Last week, Francis Metcalfe, known online as Tiamat’s Disciple, passed away after a long battle with cancer. TD was one of just a handful of manga reviewers who regularly reviewed manhwa, and he was linked to often from this column. He will be greatly missed. Brigid Alverson has more information at MangaBlog. You can also find my short, obituary-like writeup at Examiner.com.

That’s all for this week. Don’t forget to read up for this month’s Manhwa Moveable Feast!

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

Manhwa Monday: Manhwa Moveable Feast!

by Leave a Comment

Welcome to another Manhwa Monday! Today’s big news involves the Manga Moveable Feast, a monthly round-robin blogger’s discussion of a selected title that has been going strong since February of this year. June’s series will be the first manhwa of the bunch and I’ll be hosting it here at Manga Bookshelf!

The MMF’s chosen manhwa series is Kim Dong Hwa’s Eisner-nominated trilogy, The Color of Earth, The Color of Water, and The Color of Heaven, published in English by First Second. For more information on the series and manhwa-ga Kim Dong Hwa, visit the Macmillan website.

The Manga Moveable Feast is open to participation by anyone. No blog? No problem! Just email me your submission anytime between Monday, June 21st and Wednesday, June 30th, and I’ll post it on your behalf! If you’re interested in the Feast but have questions…

Read More

Manhwa Monday: Scanlation wars reach manhwa?

by Leave a Comment

Welcome to another Manhwa Monday! This week, a fannish battle that has been raging in the manga blogosphere for ages may be ready to brew amongst manhwa fans, thanks to fan frustration and some unpleasant statistics.

First, from the fannish side, manhwa summarizer Comic Seoul has had enough of readers requesting links to scanlations. It’s a worthy rant, pointing out that even the detailed summaries posted there violate copyright law.

And from the industry side, later in the week, JoongAng Daily (the English-language version of Korean newspaper JoongAng Ilbo) published this article by Sung So-young, naming illegal downloads as a major culprit in the decline of manhwa sales in South Korea while film and television based on manhwa properties thrive. …

Read More

Manhwa Monday: Anticipating 12 Creators

by Leave a Comment

Welcome to another Manhwa Monday! A bit of recent news comes from the Toronto Comic Arts Festival, where British publisher Fanfare/Potent Mon debuted Korea As Viewed By 12 Creators, their long-awaited follow-up to 2006’s Japan As Viewed By 17 Creators. The book’s official PR describes it as, “Twelve insightful short graphic stories into the ‘Hermit Kingdom’, six by European and six by indigenous creators, including award winning Park Heung-yong and ‘Best Manga 2006’ artist Vanyda.”

Originally listed as a winter release in Fanfare’s 2007 catalogue (and again in 2009‘s), this has been a highly-anticipated title for quite some time. A quick check-in with About.com‘s Deb Aoki confirms that the book did indeed appear on the convention floor!

Due for full release in July, word on the cyber-street suggests that this collection of Korean and French stories is a must-buy for fans of Korean comics. I look forward to seeing it for myself!

In other news, Comic Seoul returns (“sort of”) after a lengthy hiatus with summaries of new chapters of Goong and Habaek.

Last week offered just a handful of reviews from the blogosphere. First, Kate Dacey looks at volume two of One Fine Day (Yen Press) at The Manga Critic.

If Sirial’s approach to the material remains unchanged from volume one, his artwork is cleaner and more assured in volume two; the linework is firmer, giving the characters a more solid appearance, and the panel flow is smoother.

At the Graphic Novel Reporter, Danica Davidson reads the first four volumes of Click (NETCOMICS).

Click gets props for creativity and interesting weirdness.

Manga Life’s Charles Webb takes a first-timer’s look at the final volume of Croquis Pop (Yen Press).

While you could swing a stick and find a few dozen other setups with the same blueprint, Croquis Pop sells it with an infectious dose of enthusiasm … I felt like I’d read something that deserved notice because it was trying so hard (and succeeding on its own terms).

And at Kuriousity, Lissa Pattillo reviews volume three of Sarasah (Yen Press).

Volume three of Sarasah continues on the second volume’s trend of well appreciated new content and plot elements that help raise the series up from its superficial beginnings … The series still needs a bit more kick but a building cast of interesting characters and a potentially deadly political mess brewing in the background looks promising.

That’s all for this week!

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