Search Results for: manhwa monday

Manhwa Monday: August Preview

August 9, 2010 by MJ 2 Comments

Welcome to another Manhwa Monday! With August already underway, it’s time to take a look at this month’s anticipated manhwa releases.

Dark Horse makes an appearance this month with volume six of Bride of the Water God, one of the prettiest manhwa series around. For a little background, check out Kate Dacey’s review of the series’ first five volumes at The Manga Critic.

With NETCOMICS remaining quiet in terms of print releases (and even web updates, lately) and most of Udon’s series on seemingly indefinite hiatus, the rest of the month goes to Yen Press. Yen does their best to fill the void with new volumes of a number of popular releases, including Goong, Sarasah, Moon Boy, Black God, and the dramatic final volume of One Thousand and One Nights.

For anxious readers, reviews of some of these volumes have already started to turn up online. At Manga Maniac Cafe, Julie deems volume 8 of Moon Boy, “… the best installment so far,” and states that she’ll be “counting the days until Volume 9 hits stores.” …

Manhwa Monday: The Webtoon Cometh

August 2, 2010 by MJ 3 Comments

Welcome to another Manhwa Monday!

Last week, Manhwa Bookshelf contributor Hana Lee introduced us to the world of Korean webcomics, or “webtoons” as they are known in Korea. Though only a handful of webtoons have made it into English translation so far (all published by NETCOMICS), more are on the way (at least for iPhone/iPad users), thanks to a new Korean company, iSeeToon.

As a response to both Hana’s post and some extensive conversation on Twitter, iSeeToon representative Kim Jin Sung has posted a number of posts in the company’s blog over the past week, including some general information about iSeeToon, descriptions of several potential properties, and some musings on the difference between Korean webtoons and western webcomics.

For more information on iSeeToon, check out their official website or follow them on Twitter. …

Manhwa Monday: Welcome, Hana!

July 26, 2010 by MJ 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 …

Manhwa Monday: Poll, Part II

July 19, 2010 by MJ 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. …

Manhwa Monday: Mid-Season Poll

July 12, 2010 by MJ 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. …

Manhwa Monday: July Preview

July 5, 2010 by MJ 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…

Manhwa Monday: MMF & More!

June 28, 2010 by MJ 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 …

Manhwa Monday: MMF Begins!

June 21, 2010 by MJ 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…

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Manhwa Monday: Quick Links

June 16, 2010 by MJ 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 …

Manhwa Monday: Quick Links

June 14, 2010 by MJ 2 Comments

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.

Manhwa Monday: June Preview

June 8, 2010 by MJ 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: June Preview

June 7, 2010 by MJ 5 Comments

Manhwa Monday: Manhwa Moveable Feast!

June 1, 2010 by MJ 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…

Manhwa Monday: Manhwa Moveable Feast!

May 31, 2010 by MJ 11 Comments

Manhwa Monday: Scanlation wars reach manhwa?

May 28, 2010 by MJ 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. …