Manhwa
Cover of NOW, a popular manhwa.
Korean name
Hangul:
만화
Hanja:
漫畵
Revised Romanization: Manhwa
McCune-Reischauer: Manhwa
Manhwa (Hangul: 만화, Hanja: 漫畵) is the general Korean term for comics
and cartoons (including animated cartoons). Outside of Korea, the term
usually refers specifically to South Korean comics.
The term Manhwa is a cognate with Japanese manga and Chinese manhua.
There are many common characteristics shared, however each has been
taking different paths in theme, visual and narrative approach in
accordance with their own cultural and historical contexts. Manhwa has
been influenced by the dramatic modern history of Korea and resulted
in diversity of forms and genre[1], ranging from the more mainstream
Manga-like ones[2] to the editorial comic strips,
artistically-oriented works and webcomics serials. Recently,
long-running webcomics serialized via Internet portal sites (e.g.
Media Daum) and personal homepages have become both the creative and
popular basecamp among the younger generation in Korea.
Manhwa is read in the same direction as English books, horizontally
and from left to right, because hangul is normally written and read
horizontally, although it can also be written and read like Chinese
and Japanese, that is, vertically from right to left. Both are from
top to bottom, unlike some popular belief.
Unlike Japan, animations based on Korean comics are still relatively
rare (though there have been several major hits in the late 80's and
early 90's with titles such as Dooly the Little Dinosaur and Fly!
Superboard). However, live-action drama series and movie adaptations
of manhwa have occurred more frequently in recent years. Full House in
2004 and Goong ("Palace" or "Princess Hours") in 2006, are prominent
examples as both have been accounted as the best dramas of their
respective years.
Theoretically, the reading direction of manhwa should make it more
accessible to Western audiences when compared to Japanese and Chinese
comics, but so far the relative obscurity of Korean culture has
cancelled out this apparent advantage, and the word remains relatively
unknown in the English-speaking world. Instead, English translations
of manhua have achieved success by targeting the manga and animé
community, to extent than manhwa are often marketed as "manga".
However, there are three ways to tell the difference:
* the style the character designs - manwha aimed at teenage girls
(which make up the majority of English-translated series) have a
distinctively angular style of abstraction which contrasts with the
more 'cute' and rounded style of their Japanese, Chinese and western
equivalents (most obvious, but does not apply to manhwa aimed at boys
or adults)
* the left->to->right direction of the book (still quite obvious,
and still not very reliable, as some manga and manhua are 'flipped'
around to the western way)
* the Korean name of the author/artist - usually double-barrelled
and with syllables that do not exist in Japanese (usually the most
reliable method, the only exceptions being when a culturally-neutral
pseudonym is used, or when the artist is of Korean ethnicity but but
resides in another country such as the USA)
Fortunately, there are now a number of publishers specialising in
English translations of Korean comics, and by and large they are
unafraid of calling them "manhwa".
Contents
* 1 Korean manhwa publishers
* 2 North American manhwa imprints
* 3 Notes
* 4 See also
* 5 External links
o 5.1 Manhwa information
o 5.2 Festivals
o 5.3 Manhwa on mobiles
o 5.4 Associations
o 5.5 Information and studies
Korean manhwa publishers
Comics by region
Comics in North America
Comics in Canada
Comics in Mexico
Comics in the United States
Comics in South America
Comics in Argentina
Comics in Brazil
Comics in Europe
Comics in Belgium
Comics in France
Comics in Germany
Comics in the Netherlands
Comics in Italy
Comics in Poland
Comics in the United Kingdom
Comics in Asia
Comics in China
Comics in India
Comics in Japan
Comics in Korea
Comics in the Philippines
Comics in Australia
Comics in Australia
List of comic creators
* Daiwon C.I.
* Haksan Publishing
* Seoul Culture Corporation
North American manhwa imprints
* ADV Manga
* CPM Manhwa
* Dark Horse Manhwa
* DramaQueen
* DrMaster Publications
* Ice Kunion
* Infinity Studios
* Media Blasters
* NETCOMICS
* NBM ComicsLit
* TOKYOPOP
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