[INTERVIEW] Korean girls' comic books reflect multifaceted female roles in society

 

Kim So-won, a comic critic and researcher / Courtesy of Kim So-won

Korean girls' Bóng độ show differences in storylines from that of Japan

By Park Ji-won

Cover for the book "Girls Portray Ages: A History of Korean and Japanese Girls' Comics" by Kim So-won / Courtesy of Somyungbooks

From the late 1950s to the 1990s, female-targeted comic books known as "sunjeong manhwa" were popular among female readers in their teens and 20s.

Many would expect these stories to revolve around a starry- and wide-eyed Barbie-like lead character who struggles her way through a tough life situation but ends up falling in love with a handsome male character and living happily ever after. Also, some would think those comic books are simply a copycat of Japan's "shojo manga," literally meaning girls' comics.

But Kim So-won, a comic critic and researcher who earned her Ph.D. in Japan based on her study of comics, was wondering whether this was true and found faults with the public's understanding of the Korean comics. So she compared the two types of girls' comics and revisited the history of the unique genre in her newly released book "Girls Portray Ages: A History of Korean and Japanese Girls' Comics," and concluding that there are differences between Korean and Japanese comics for girls when looking deeper than the artistic styles.

Rather, "sunjeong manhwa," which portray socially ideal women specific for Korea, don't always have happy endings, and tend to mix in various genres beyond romance including fantasy, science fiction and historical fiction.

"Eternal Bell" (1957) by Han Sung-ik, known as the first girls' comics in Korea / Courtesy of Somyungbooks

Defining sunjeong manhwa as a genre with a unique sentiment that is both consumed and created by female readers, Kim said "After the publication of the first sunjeong manhwa, Eternal Bell by Han Sung-ik in 1957, some early sunjeong manhwa works in the 1960s have illustrations that resemble Japanese style. For example, girls in the comic books have round faces like a doll. Also the two have similar styles in drawing panels or frames. But the genres have totally different storylines and developed separately."

"Many books (especially in the 1960s) show typical stories such as good girls going through and overcoming difficult situations. But they often have magical powers and help others like a fairy tale, which I didn't expect from the genre before I started my study. Also, there was no romance between characters in the publications especially in the 1960s and 1970s due to the government screening."


Along with the strict screening in the 1970s, which discouraged many authors from writing diverse stories, Koreans started to favor pirated versions of Japanese comic books.

"As a backlash from the oppression, more diverse comic books featuring exotic backgrounds were published in the 1980s, revolving around independent and heroic female lead characters as well as romance, as you can see in Four Daughters Of Armian (1986) by Shin Il-sook and Sword of Fire (1989) by Kim Hye-rin."

Cover of the comic book "Four Daughters of Armian" (1986) by Shin Il-sook / Courtesy of Somyungbooks

Cover of the first issue of the first girls' comic magazine "Renaissance" / Courtesy of Somyungbooks

Kim said the definition of Sunjeong Manhwa was expanded following the birth of the first girls' comic magazine "Renaissance" in November 1988, as it aimed to publish various comics to attract many readers.

"Until the 1980s, when the country was suffering from tragic incidents in society, there were tragic and negative comic books. But since the introduction of the first comic magazine, more comics tried to have bright and short stories in the 1990s according to the monthly publication. Not only romance stories, there are many stories such as comedy and same-sex love stories called BL (boys' love). Many monthly magazines were born at that time as well which were in a fierce competition with each other with various new stories to attract more readers."

Kim stressed that sunjeong manhwa books tended toward having long poetic dialogue and long storylines. But the genre itself started to lose luster after the emergence of webtoons, or online comics, from the early 2000s.

"The unique panel style that sunjeong manhwa had and its narrative styles were no longer working with the new computer- and mobile-based webtoons, where people prefer to read short-lined illustrations and short stories. The term sunjeong manhwa itself is nearly dead."

She said many authors who were used to publication of their works monthly or ever couple weeks failed to adapt to the weekly publication system of Webtoons.

"Sunjeong manhwa's unique paneling techniques don't work in the vertical scroll screen. So the term and the genre itself disappeared. But its DNA of presenting diverse stories and illustrations as well as independent and unique female characters survived in webtoons especially in the romantic comedy and fantasy genres."

Cover of the 2004 comic book "Girls" by Lee Bin / Courtesy of Somyungbooks