Forget Manga. Here's Manhwa

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The cover of Banya: The Explosive Deliveryman, created by Kim Young-Oh and released by Dark Horse Comics in 2006. Dark Horse Comics

An interior page from Banya: The Explosive Deliveryman. Dark Horse Comics

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These numbers encompass an impressive range of subject matter and treatment. Marley's Dokebi Bride is a coming-of-age fantasy about the heir to a family of traditional shamans balancing domestic angst with supernatural peril; Doha's The Great Catsby features a modern-day slacker navigating the mortifications of single life. Sooyeon Won's Let Dai, a popular title in the "boys'-love" genre, follows the unlikely romance between a vicious punk and an innocent schoolboy; and JTK's Madtown Hospital is a deranged workplace comedy with hospital hijinks that surpass those of Grey's Anatomy. The illustrative styles in manhwa also vary greatly, from Marley's blend of elegant romanticism and emotional intensity to Doha's loose-lined, humorous work on Catsby. X Diary, a free web comic, uses a charming, almost Peanuts-like minimalism to chart a post-breakup relationship.

Netcomics and Ice Kunion are leading the manhwa revolution, but others are also betting on a growing American appetite for the comics. Tokyopop was one of the first North American publishers to make a concerted effort at licensing manhwa, though Jeremy Ross, the company's director of new product development, notes that Tokyopop is sticking to the "manga" tag for all of its output. "While we acknowledge the nationality of all our creators, we don't believe it should be advanced as a primary factor for categorization," Ross explains. "Americans, for better or for worse, tend to accept only a few new foreign products or concepts at a time, and we felt we would fail if we tried to introduce to a mass audience the terms manga, manhwa, and manhua." (Manhua are comics from China.)

With other American publishers entering the manhwa field all the time, Tokyopop could probably stand to be more sanguine. Among its competitors is Dark Horse Comics, best known for blockbusters like Sin City. Dark Horse recently launched its own manhwa line with action-rich titles like Kim Young-Oh's Banya: The Explosive Deliveryman, a story rife with political machinations, and Park Joong-Ki's Shaman Warrior, which uses shifting "camera angles" to unfold its mix of swordplay, wizardry, and intrigue.

Tran Nguyen, the publisher at another new manhwa player, DramaQueen, says, "We really wanted to honor the artists from Korea," adding that the company is specifically interested in titles that appeal to older teens and adults. DramaQueen launched a line of romantic manhwa late last year, beginning with Audition and DVD from Kye Young Chon, whose style embraces the angularity and delicacy of line sometimes associated with manhwa visuals.

Where in this tidal wave of Korean comics are the offerings from North Korea? For the most part, the country's extraordinary isolation seems as prohibitive to the distribution of comics as it is to much else. According to Heewoon Chung, some North Korean comics were imported to South Korea recently, but they were educational titles dealing mostly with issues of ideology or morality. The North Korean manhwa viewable online, while technically accomplished, often looks severely dated.

South Korean manhwa, which exists easily in a global comics culture, has no such setbacks, but other factors may keep it from achieving the level of popularity that manga attained in such a short time. Animated versions of manga played a significant role in boosting sales; so far, manhwa has yet to tap into that kind of lucrative adaptation, here or in Korea. However, manhwa is due to get a live-action boost onscreen in the States: One of Tokyopop's earliest manhwa acquisitions, Hyung's Priest, is being adapted into a film produced by Sam Raimi, director of the Spider-Man films, and scheduled for release in 2008.

Meanwhile, manhwa publishers are mounting increasing presences at western comics conventions like San Diego's Comic-Con International and the New York Comic Con, ensuring that American fans come into contact with manhwa. When they do, they'll see part of a rich national oeuvre, and maybe they will connect with it as they have with Japan's manga. As with comics from any country, it's the power to enthrall readers that will ultimately make the difference.

Provided by Print—America's Graphic Design Magazine