Just three or four decades ago cartoons and comic books were considered a bad influence to hard-working students for distracting them from their studies. Comic book stores were also maligned as hangouts for losers. But today cartoons and comic books, called “manhwa” in Korean as a blanket form, have become effective educational tools for history, culture, math, and science, and are now applauded as a promising industry. Here’s Ms. Jeong Na-young, curator of Soma Museum, to explain more about the recent trend.

In the 1960s and 70s, when comic book stores flourished, comic books were accused of facilitating juvenile delinquency. Accordingly, manhwa authors were not considered a good career choice. But recently cartoons and comic books have reinvented themselves as an educational tool that can deliver knowledge in a rapid and fun way. Publishers have rolled out countless comic books about Chinese characters, economy and science, and some manhwa titles have been dramatized or turned into movies, creating a new business field.

The cartoon “One Thousand Magical Chinese Characters” is a hit among both parents and children, for it teaches difficult Chinese characters in an amusing way.

Several manhwa-style education supplements designed to help students better understand school subjects have made it to the bestseller list. As the virtues of cartoons and comic books began to surface, people’s prejudice against the manhwa genre started to transform into admiration for the medium’s effectiveness. Not only that, some comic books have been turned into lucrative TV shows or musicals, demonstrating the banking power of well-crafted contents. A case in point is TV drama “Full House,” a huge hit even in foreign countries, which was based on a comic book of the same title.

Filmmakers are also eyeing comics as a good source of inspiration. The comic-to-film trend began back in the 1980s, when Lee Hyun-se’s comic book “Alien Baseball Team” was turned into a movie. Since then, Heo Young-man’s “Tazza: The High Rollers” about high-stake gamblers and “Le Grand Chef” about competitive chefs have ranked high in box office hit lists. In addition to the published manhwas, online cartoons called webtoons have gained huge followings in recent years. Yoon Tae-ho’s webtoon wonder “Moss” won rave reviews after it was made into a film starring top Korean actors. The surging popularity of manhwa has generated a new wave in the art scene as well.

From March 15th through April 15th a meaningful exhibition took place in the Dongdaemun History and Culture Park in eastern Seoul. It was a manhwa art market named “33+Collections.” Here’s CEO Lee Cheol-ju of Arte Pia, who organized the event, to tell us more about the exhibition.

Three decades ago comic books were already considered an art form in advanced countries. But in Korea they were considered just an entertainment or a low-class culture. I wanted to approach manhwa not as a business, but as an art, and the most important mechanism in doing that is to create an art market for manhwa. This market represented what was lacking in the manhwa industry, which was a solid distribution system. I believe establishing a regular art market was an achievement in itself. From the consumers’ point of view, now they have an official channel through which they can purchase manhwa like artworks. It was a big achievement business-wise to have opened a healthy distribution market for manhwa contents.

The manhwa art market is an exhibition where original manhwa works are sold like paintings. The exhibition was named “33+Collections” to represent the participation of 33 local cartoonists plus a number of rising artists. Here’s CEO Lee Cheol-ju of Arte Pia again.

The event was originally named “33.” We first selected 33 artists, which included big names like Lee Hyun-se and Lee Doo-ho, political cartoonist Park Jae-dong, historical cartoonist Baek Seong-min, and well-respected Kim Dong-hwa of romantic comic books. We received three pieces of work from each of those 33 artists. In addition to the 33, we selected young promising artists and some established ones considered blue chips in this genre. They each contributed one or two pieces. In total we had collected 168 pieces of work for the exhibition.

“33+Collections” included both the latest and earlier works of these 33 respected names in the industry. The works encompassed published cartoons, original drawings, and brainstorming sketches. This art market is garnering attention for being the first such event in the Korean manhwa history. The works of cartoonists have long been recognized as art in overseas markets. Angouleme in France, a city renowned for its international comics festival, has been hosting auctions since the festival first kicked off in 1973. Presently, the Angouleme Comics Museum has roughly eight thousand original drawings of famed comics in its inventory. Compared to this, Korea has just taken an infant step. Here’s CEO Lee Cheol-ju of Arte Pia.

A similar auction of comics works took place last year in Hangzhou, China. All 222 works that went up for sale were sold, with the highest bidding price at 800 million won. Many works by rising Hong Kong artists fetched 400 to 500 million won. China has one of the largest markets for comics and in Japan comics drawings are traded all the time. In the U.S. comics make up a bulk of auction items, as in France and other culturally established nations. But in Korea “33+Collection” is the first one in the industry’s 103-year history. I hope to see this exhibition established as a regular event. If so, many more artists would take part and promote the growth of Korea’s comics market.

Since this is the first one of its kind in Korea, Mr. Lee Cheol-ju had a hard time convincing comic book artists to participate in the event.

The hardest part was that cartoonists were unfamiliar with the concept of an art market. When I met with them to persuade them to take part in the event, they would question whether their works would really sell. They were really hesitant at first, but they eventually came to see the positive effects of the art market and were quite pleased at the opening ceremony.

New artist Kim dong-beom, who took part in the art market, has participated in several exhibitions. But he experienced disappointments, rather than satisfaction, at those events, because people looked down on manhwa works.

I was rather skeptical when I was first offered a chance to participate in the art market. I came to realize by holding a number of exhibitions that comic works don’t sell. One of the reasons people buy artworks is for investment. But when people see comics, they can’t be sure the drawings would appreciate in value, which explains why our drawings don’t sell that well.



To boost the value of manhwa artworks as investment, CEO Lee Cheol-ju of Arte Pia collected original drawings.

About 80% of the displayed works are one-of-a-kind. The remaining 20% is digital reproductions. In photography, it is an internationally recognized practice to consider up to seven copies of a photo as original. The digital reproductions in our exhibition remain within that international criteria. So all 168 pieces in our exhibition are original – the sketches for published works, autographed drawings, and numbered editions of computerized drawings.

The drawings are priced from 150 thousand won to five million won, based on the value of the manhwa, the name value of the artist, the size of the drawing, and other factors. None are exorbitantly priced to encourage accessibility. At the 7th China International Cartoon and Animation Festival held last year in Hangzhou, the cartoon drawing that fetched the highest price, 500 thousand yuan, at the auction was famous cartoonist Wu Shangming’s ink-and-wash painting. Compared to the astounding prices garnered at the Chinese cartoon auction, the prices at Korea’s manhwa art market are quite affordable.

A lot of careful planning to hold Korea’s first cartoon art market was rewarded by the spectators’ explosive responses.

- I have never seen framed cartoon works. It felt like a real painting rather than a cartoon. I used to love Kim Hye-rin’s “Star of the North Sea” when I was a teenager, and I was really moved when I saw a drawing from my favorite comic book. Hanging it up in my room would remind me of other favorite cartoonists. It’s quite nostalgic.
- This is a drawing from Yoon Ji-hyun’s “White Reindeer.” This drawing is so beautiful that I want to give this to my girlfriend. We are used to seeing comic books in black and white, but seeing the drawings in color is really different and awesome. There are so many drawings that I want to buy. I couldn’t imagine buying the works of cartoonists, but now I think differently, thanks to this exhibition.

People came to accept comics as an art form, not only as books. The drawings at the exhibition sold like hot cakes. More than half of them were sold, and even the works of up-and-coming artists were received warmly. To his disbelief, cartoonist Kim Dong-beom ended up selling all three of the drawings submitted from his travel essay.

I was stunned when two of my drawings were sold as soon as the exhibition opened. The third piece was sold today. I’m so happy. People who saw only my drawings reacted different from those who read my book. My book was about my travel to Nepal and contained a number of drawings, but the drawings at the exhibition were stand-alones, not connected to any text. What I found encouraging was that people found a connection with my drawings without reading the accompanying story.

The art market opened up a new horizon for cartoonists. The success of “33+Collection” showed new possibilities of comics to manhwa artists and greatly boosted their self-esteem and confidence. Here’s cartoonist Kim Dong-beom again.

I realized that manhwa had artistic value as well and was worthy collecting or investing in. The manhwa art market is just beginning so there’s much room for improvement. But it showed potential for growth. For a cartoonist making a lot of money is not as important as showing the works to as many people as possible. I want to show my drawings to not only Koreans, but to the Japanese, Americans, and the French. I want to show people my thoughts and my heart through the drawings and writings. Also I want to publicize Korean culture to the world, and inspire people around the world to appreciate Korean culture.

While the manhwa art market is enhancing the artistic values of cartoon drawings, Soma Museum in southern Seoul is hosting an exhibition titled “The World Seen through Cartoons.” Here’s Soma Museum curator Jeong Na-young to explain more about the exhibition.

While we were discussing exhibition themes that could appeal to the public, we hit upon the idea of cartoons. It’s a culture that easily bridges different generations. Comics are not only a cultural content, but an artistic genre that can inform the world about Korean art and culture.

Each exhibition room is filled with fun and nostalgic memories. From the 1960s and 70s when comic books were drawn by hand with dialogue bubbles, to today when digital webtoons are in demand, each era is represented by the time’s most influential and popular cartoons.

- I was happy to see my childhood favorite. I learned Chinese characters through that comic book, the background of which was the Joseon era.
- I used to read comic books when I needed comfort or wanted to laugh. So it was weird to see cartoon drawings in a museum. But now I am more appreciative of this genre. I am grateful to have had manhwa in my life, because it was a familiar and comforting presence for me. It was what linked me to the outside world.

Each cartoonist has his or her distinct style. But they are all inspirational and artistically complete. That’s why the art world is paying close attention to manhwa.

Manhwa with its text and drawings is the most widely appealing and complete communication form. Young artists use manhwa to express and symbolize their world views and use their characters to speak for their philosophical beliefs. This is why manhwa is being accepted as an important part of modern art.

It is hard not to recognize the artistic endeavors of manhwa artists. Manhwa is a genre that combines entertainment and artistry. It is great to see manhwa being recognized as a legitimate art form while still retaining its close ties with the masses.