Random Musings: Manhwa Creator Bank

Recently, an article at CNN’s blog Geek Out! caught my eye—Publishers want you to know: Manhwa is not manga written by Danica Davidson. As the article points out, manhwa (Korean comics) are often promoted in the United States as manga (Japanese comics). This is not always the case, and more recently there have been greater efforts to support manhwa as manhwa. Although manhwa and manga share similarities, they also have their differences, mostly stemming from the cultural differences between Korea and Japan. While my primary interest is in Japan and therefore manga, I also read and enjoy manhwa and other comics from around the world.

Not long after the above-mentioned article was published, I was contacted by a representative from Netcomics, which primarily publishes manhwa along with a few manga titles, about the project Manhwa Creator Bank that they are helping to coordinate with the Seoul Animation Center, a part of the Seoul Business Agency in Korea. The campaign is meant to be a way promote manhwa to other cultures and countries with the hope that publishers will become interested in licensing manhwa.

The Seoul Animation Center initially picked forty-nine manhwa properties to be a part of the campaign. Netcomics created a Facebook page for the Manhwa Creator Bank project as well as individual pages for each of the forty-nine titles that were selected. The Manhwa Creator Bank website also provides information about the individual titles and can be browsed by genre or publisher. A PDF catalog can be downloaded for each manhwa, generally consisting of a cover image, the creators’ bibliography, a brief synopsis, key selling points, art and page samples, and other general information.

The Manhwa Creator Bank is primarily aimed towards marketing manhwa to publishers interested in licensing a title. As a reader, it is a useful way to discover manhwa that has the potential to be released in English. I found it to be a really interesting collection. If by browsing through the Manhwa Creator Bank or looking around its Facebook page you see something that strikes your fancy, talk about it. Let your friends know, and let the publishers know, too. Personally, I would love to see more manhwa translated into English.