* This could be hidden soon to do better edit, without any notification.
* This article is based on interview of mirugi, Korean manhwa columnist.
Speaker : mirugi (Jeong-U Seon) - Homepage / Twitter
Editor : mrkwang (iSeeToon) - Twitter
Choice of picture & Caption : mrkwang (iSeeToon)
Outline of Manhwa <2> 2. Korean Manhwa is different : Diversity of Media
Before we start talking about Manhwa, let's see how different words were used to call Comics, how usage of those words were changed.
In US, 'Comic Strip' - 'Graphic Novel' were used. 'Graphic Novel' was used for special kind of Comics, but it is used for wider genre at now. In France, 'Bande Desinee' were used which were similar to 'Comic Strip' in US, but now it represents all about Comics. Of course, 'Manga' from Japan is another important word.
<Not sure I'd add pictures of each words.>
In Korea, 'Manhwa' is used for a long time, but it's not well known abroad. Kocca released several books for 'Manhwa' to let foreigners learn, however it's hard to explain only with that.1 For wikipedia 'Manhwa' page, it's better polished at now. But at 2007, it featured picture of [Now] by 'Sung-Woo Park', which has Manga style graphic. It became better in 2010, however it lists only few publishers based on 'Magazine System'.2
<I'd add cover pictures of 'Now' & 'Pink Lady'? Or screen capture of 'Wikipedia'?>
The most sad part is, people consider 'Manhwa' as imitator of Japanese 'Manga'. Of course, there are some Manhwas which got influence from Manga, but it's just small part of whole Manhwa scene. In fact, 'Magazine System' worked well only for short time, during 1990-2000.3 If we count Korean Manhwa history as 100 years, that's only 10%.
<Cover of Magazine picture I'd add?>
So what's the difference of Korean Manhwa, compared to Comics & Manga?
The most important difference & characteristic is 'Diversity'. It does not mean 'Diversity of genre', but 'Diversity of Media'. Korean Manhwa is published through several dissimilar kinds of Media.
Of course, Comics & Manga are not released for only 1 Media, either. In US, Comics are released as Caricature / Editorial Cartoon / Graphic Novel (Independent release / Issue based paperback). In Japan, Manga is released through Newspaper / Magazine / Book form. However Manhwa is released through more various Media. Especially most of them are 'Story-based', rather than 'Omnibus' or '4-panel-comic'. The most special thing is, all Media coexists their domain at the same time, not only 1 media became mainstream to take other's share.
So if we talk about characteristic of Korean Manhwa, we must care 'Media' rather than 'genre'. Difference of Media applies more than Genre itself.
Usually Korean Manhwa is considered as '1 of East Asian Comics'. For diversity & market size, Korean Manhwa industry is almost top 4, after US / Japan / China. But many people including Korean doesn't think about that, because they only care about 'Magazine System' usually. And it gives misunderstanding about Korean Manhwa. At least, Manhwa is big as 'Bande Desinee' scene. If we talk about Comics worldwide, we'd better divide into US / Japan / Europe / China / Korea / East Asia.
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I told you that we must categorize Korean Manhwa with 'Diversity of Media', not 'Diversity of Genre'. If so, we could divide into these.
- Shin-Moon Manhwa (Manhwa for Newspaper)
- Dae-Bon-So Manhwa (Manhwa for Daebonso, old school Korean version of Manhwa library.)
- Jab-Ji Manhwa (Manhwa for Magazine)
- Hak-Seub Manhwa (Manhwa for Educational, especially for Children.)
- Webtoon (Online Manhwa, Korean Web Comic)
In fact, this kind of division is well known & understandable to Manhwa readers in Korea. But they don't know how important it is. Even critics don't use that, so foreigners never heard about that.
Authors gather by what media they work for, all of them called their style is major & best. But in present Korea, most readers read Book & Webtoon. Major media is Webtoon at now.
From now on, I'd introduce Manhwa by each media type.
- Editor's Note : I can find only [Manhwa 100 : The Era for Korean Comics] from Amazon, but as I recall, kocca released around 3-4 books in English. Not sure why I can't find them from Amazon, anyway. [Back]
- Editor's Note : 'Magazine system' is only small part of Korean Manhwa industry, not all of them. You could know about that better in the later post. [Back]
- Editors Note : Of course, Magazine history in Korea is longer than 10 years, even few Magazines still exist. However mirugi meant that Golden Era for Magazine was only 10 years. We will talk more about that in the later post. [Back]
Posted by mrkwang
