Korean comic books aim at U.S. market

From cartoonist Lee Hyun-se`s "The Frightening Outsiders` Baseball Team" to Shin Il-sook`s "Four Daughters of Armian," comic books aren`t just for children in Korea. Employing as much depth and creativity as any serious fictional works, they were more a medium connecting all generations.

Such superiority of Korean comic books finally seems to be recognized overseas, signaling a major turn in the international comic book market beginning from the United States.

Just a few years back, "manhwa" - the Korean word for comic books - were licensed in modest numbers by U.S. publishers, shoved aside by the popularity of Japanese "manga." But currently, Korean comic books have begun to firmly establish their ground in the U.S. market with a growing number of steady fans.

U.S. readers define Korean comics as "graphic novels." Unlike the one-column or one-page comics that they are familiar with, graphic novels are comic books with lengthy storylines which are usually serialized in more than two books.

Grasping more fans with interesting plots and solid structures, graphic novels currently take up about half of the whole U.S. comic book market, adding up to about 230 billion won ($240m) each year.

Although Japanese manga was first to charge into the U.S. market, creating the term of graphic novels, Korean manhwa is beginning to draw more fans with less violent and lascivious, but more poetic and touching plots.

Korean comic books are loved for their diverse genres such as the Korean "shonen-ai" - boy-love comics that are less sexually graphic than "yaoi," Japanese boy-love comics - romance, fantasy, science fiction and a more mature line of titles that portray the realistic agonies of everyday lives.

"The Great Catsby," winner of the 2005 Grand Prize for Manhwa in Korea, for example, is a feline rendition of the 20-somethings of Korea today. With its popularity rising in Korea, the comic book title has made a hit in the United States for its sarcastic yet realistic depictions of life.

Won Soo-yeon`s "Let Dai" has also received a warm welcome from American shonen-ai fans with its poetic account of a touching romance of an ordinary boy Dai who finds himself drawn to his charismatic friend Je-hi. Won is also the creator of "Full House," which inspired a popular Korean TV drama that has been a huge hit throughout Asia.

Amid the surging popularity, cartoonist Hyung Min-woo`s horror comic "Priest" was sold to Hollywood moviemakers this month. Produced by the movie "Spiderman" creator Sam Raimi, "Priest" will become the first domestic comic book to be made into a Hollywood movie.

In 2002, major comic book publishers Sigongsa and Seoul Media Group jointly established publisher Ice Cunion in the United States, acting as pioneers for other domestic comic book publishers.

This January, the situation took another turn as Netcomics - an American branch of Korea`s leading online comic book provider Ecomix Media - gave a big shot in the arm to the U.S. comic book market by bringing several Korean comic book titles at a stretch.

Signing a contract with the U.S. publisher Ingram, Netcomics has put out 12 translated comic book titles for sale at major bookstores including Barnes & Noble and the online book seller Amazon.com.

"We plan to release 10 titles per month by next year," Netcomics director of operation Jung So-young told The Korea Herald. "There are still so many talented comic artists who haven`t been introduced to the United States yet and we plan to bring them all for recognition."

Netcomics` parent company Ecomix Media is a major publisher which has offered over 40,000 selected comic books through its website (ecomix.co.kr) and several portal websites including yahoo.co.kr for the last eight years.

Pursuing both print and online business in the United States, Netcomics is also servicing translated versions of comic books online (netcomics.com), marking a new trend of "web comics" in the country. Although it only charges about $1 per book, Jung said that it was not a bad bargain.

"Unlike Korean readers, American comic fans usually want to possess the book even after reading it online," said Jung. "Thus, the website works as a major marketing tool for us."

Despite such efforts - not to mention the high quality of Korean comic books - critics point out that Korea still lacks the skills to effectively promote its comic books overseas.

Although the Korea Culture and Content Agency provides translation support for popular comic books, the translation quality of comic books is still in question for many titles. Because publishers are often hasty in printing out English versions, many translated copies fail to bring out the emotions of the original book.

"Comic books are one of Korea`s finest cultural contents which we have neglected for a long time," said Kim Jong-bum, director of Urimana Solidarity. "We need to support more cartoonists for them to keep on developing new genres of comic books, and strive to improve the translation quality in order to keep the sales going overseas."

(hayney@heraldm.com)

By Shin Hae-in