Manhwa Before the Web

Korean Webtoons and Manhwa

Course 1 · Chapter 2 · Manhwa Before the Web

Webtoons did not appear from nothing: Korea had a print comics industry with its own magazines, reading rooms, hit titles, stars and regulators. This chapter sets out what the sources I could read say about it. Those sources are thin on this period, much thinner than on webtoons, and the chapter says plainly where they run out.

How this chapter was checked The facts here come from Wikipedia's articles on Manhwa (its history, webtoon and media sections), Heo (Huh) Young-man, Lee Hyun-se, Dooly the Little Dinosaur, Webtoon, Webtoon (platform) and Manga cafe (its South Korea section). The print history in the Manhwa article is a single paragraph of a few sentences, and I found no separate article on Korean print comics, comic magazines or their censorship. An article on censorship in South Korea that I read has nothing about comics. I read no books, news archives or government records, and every date and claim is an article's.
What this chapter cannot do The outline promised the history of magazines, comic-rental shops, regulation and the decline of print. The sources give a few facts on each and no detail. The chapter reports those few facts, marks every gap, and does not fill them from memory.

Starting Points

The Manhwa article says that "political cartoon slowly reemerged following the establishment of the Republic of Korea... in 1948", and that "popular artist Kim Yong-hwan started Korea's first comic magazine, Manhwa Haengjin, in 1948, but it was quickly shut down because the authorities disapproved of the cover". That is the article's whole account of the first magazine: it gives no reason beyond "the cover", and I could not check it.

For the Korean War, it says manhwa "was used with the aim of boosting the morale of the public", while "there was also doctrine and propaganda on some manhwa leaflets and books". It names Hong Gil Dong as an example. I cannot say what that example refers to, and the article does not explain it.

The 1950s and 1960s

The article says the popularity of comics "rose during the 1950s and 1960s, creating diversity of styles and subject matter", including:

  • Sunjeong (or soonjung): romance stories "aimed at young women".
  • Myeongnyang: "happy comics", a humorous genre that became popular "in order to counteract gritty ones".
  • Manhwabang (comics rooms): "cafés and stores that allowed readers to pay a set rate to sit and read comics", which "created a positive atmosphere around the comics".
Regulation, as far as the article goes "In response to the increasing publication of comics, as well as social and political changes within South Korea, the government began to enforce censorship laws and, by the mid-1960s, created a comics distribution monopoly that further censored manhwa." The article then refers to "times of 'Manhwa Revolution'" when authorities formed commissions "to suppress manhwa fanaticism among childrens and in order to address parents' concerns". It names no law, no commission, no year after the mid-1960s and no case. So the sources support only this: a government that regulated comics, a distribution monopoly by the mid-1960s, and later commissions. They do not support any account of how strict the rules were, which titles were affected or when they ended.

Stars, Newspapers and Hits

The articles on individual artists give a different kind of evidence: careers, with dates.

  • Huh (Heo) Young-man (born 1947). He debuted in 1974 with In Search for Home "through a competition seeking new cartoonists hosted by the Sonyeon Hankook Ilbo (Boy's Korean Times)", and had a "big success" with Gaksital. The article says his works were "serialized in local dailies": Sikgaek in the Dong-a Ilbo and Tajja (also Tazza) in Sports Chosun. The Webtoon article adds that Sikgaek ran for five years and "sold 540,000 copies in paperback", and that Tazza "garnered over 100 million homepage views", which is an odd measure for a print serial, and the article does not explain it. The spelling of his name differs between articles (Huh or Heo).
  • Lee Hyun-se. He "debuted in 1978 with The River Knows", a Vietnam War story, and his works include A Daunting Team. The article calls him "Korea's leading comic ('manhwa') artist", which is the article's judgment and not a measured ranking.
  • Dooly the Little Dinosaur. It was "originally created as a manhwa that was serialized from 1983 to 1993" by Kim Soo-jung, and the franchise expanded into a television series and an animated film. The Manhwa article lists Dooly and Fly! Superboard as "major hits in the late 1980s and early 90s" among Korean comics' animations, and says such animations are "still relatively rare".

Two features of the print age follow from these entries: newspapers and sports papers were a main place where a comic could find readers, and a hit in one medium could grow into others. Both come from the article texts and are not statements anyone makes in a source about "how the industry worked".

Print Crosses Borders

The Manhwa article says Sanho Kim "was the first manhwa artist that worked in the United States", for publishers including Charlton, Warren, DC and Marvel in the 1960s and 1970s, and cites the journalist Paul Gravett for the claim that "in 1987 Eastern Comics published the first original manhwas in the United States". Both are "firsts" with the article as owner, and the second is attributed to a named journalist. It also says English translations were successful by "targeting the manga and anime community", to the point that the American publisher Tokyopop marketed manhwa as manga. So manhwa abroad was often sold under another medium's name.

Where the Comics Room Went

The Manga cafe article describes manga cafés as a Japanese-originated type of venue where people pay for time to read comics. Its South Korea section describes café chains that add "a cartoon room", naming Nolsoop, Beoltoon and Kongtoon, with hourly fees and a drink discount, and says more are appearing in cinemas. It does not say that these are descendants of the manhwabang, and I do not claim it. The Manga cafe article also says Haksan Cultural Centre runs a "Comic Cakes" café, and Haksan Culture Company appears among Korean manhwa publishers in the Manhwa article. Whether the two are the same body is not stated.

The Decline of Print

Here the sources offer only what Chapter 1 already found. The Webtoon article says "as digital comics have emerged as a popular medium, print publication of comics has decreased" and that webtoon material "has now reached an equal amount as that published offline", but it also says "print publication remains the primary means of comic retail" in the same market section. The platform article claims that free posting "caused the $3 billion South Korean book and comic industry to rapidly collapse", while the Manhwa article blames "economic collapse that South Korea had experienced at the end of the millennium". Neither article gives a year for the print decline, a cause that is sourced here, or figures for magazine circulation. The articles contradict one another about whether print is declining or still primary.

Reading a Claim About Print Manhwa

  1. Is there a date? "Mid-1960s" and "1948" are dated; "manhwa revolution" is not.
  2. Is there a name? A law, a commission or a title can be checked; "the authorities" cannot.
  3. Whose "first"? Treat "first comic magazine" and "first manhwa in America" as claims with owners.
  4. What is a career, and what is an industry? An artist's dated works show a hit. They do not by themselves show how the industry was run.
  5. What is missing? Report a gap as a gap.

Exercises

Exercise 1

Describe the three print-era developments the Manhwa article names for the 1950s and 1960s (sunjeong, myeongnyang, manhwabang). Then say what the article gives for the first comic magazine, and what it does not.

→ Solution
Exercise 2

State what the sources support about the regulation of comics, and name three things they do not say. Then give one odd detail in the articles' figures for Huh Young-man's Tazza.

→ Solution
Exercise 3

Give two print-era hits or artists from the chapter, with dates. Then explain why the articles' account of the decline of print is contradictory, and say what you would need to find to settle it.

→ Solution

Quick Reference

  • 1948: Manhwa Haengjin, called the first comic magazine, shut down over its cover (Manhwa article)
  • 1950s–60s: sunjeong romance, myeongnyang humour, manhwabang comic rooms; censorship laws and, by the mid-1960s, a distribution monopoly
  • Artists and hits: Huh Young-man (debut 1974; Gaksital, Sikgaek, Tazza), Lee Hyun-se (debut 1978), Dooly the Little Dinosaur (1983–1993)
  • Abroad: Sanho Kim in the U.S. in the 1960s–70s; first original manhwa in the U.S. in 1987 (Gravett, per the article)
  • Decline: no year, figure or sourced cause; the articles disagree about whether print still leads
  • Check: the 1948 story, "Hong Gil Dong" as propaganda, the regulation details, the Tazza "100 million homepage views"

Next chapter: The Move Online, which covers the first portals, the 2000s change, and why free serialisation became the model.