Most of my Saturday at Otakon 2023 was spent doing interviews, so my first panel of the day was at 5:15pm. However, this panel was the most eventful of the weekend, and felt like a full weekend’s worth of paneling content synthezied into just one hour – The Korean Manwha panel.
It would be apt to describe Otakon 2023 as the manwha year, because manwha had a huge presence at the convention, with nearly a dozen hours worth of panels, signings, and events at the con. Manwha and webtoons have exploded in popularity in recent years and has a huge crossover audience with fans of manga and anime, so it’s only natural to see the medium be more represented and have an expanding presence at anime conventions.
Otakon had not previously hosted much manwha or Korean pop culture content and programming before, but rather than playing up the popularity of manwha and webtoons, the programming choices at Otakon were collaborative with their guests, and it was clear there was thought, planning, and intentionality behind them. What was particularly novel and extraordinary about manwha’s presence at Otakon 2023, however, was the variety and breadth of guests and events that were featured and hosted, providing audiences with a much broader picture of the Korean manwha industry than you would normally see at other conventions that focus on hosting only the most well-known contemporary artists and creators.
Otakon 2023’s manwha guests ranged from academics and educators of manwha and Korean animation, independent manwhaga, creators of popular series just breaking out in the US from major publishers, and even an appearance by the publisher of a classic manwha character, Dokkotak, “the boy who never cries,” a tough baseball-loving boy who overcomes his adversities and limitations with determination, bravery, and an iron will. Dokkotak is little known outside the US but has starred and been reinterpreted through over 300 different titles in his 50 years history in Korea, and holds a place in Korean popular culture arguably comparable to Peanuts and Charlie Brown’s in the U.S.
The Dokkotak Company and Korea’s Gangdong University were the primary sponsors and organizers of the manwha events over the weekend, with the Dokkotak company hosting signings for manhwa artists alongside information, books, and merch at their booth, and the GU educators taking the lead in organizing and running various panels, with assistance from Yen Press, the publisher of Imitation, for Park Kyungran’s appearances and events. As such, the manwha industry was present and represented from many different angles at Otakon, offering fans of popular series an opportunity to meet their favorite artists while also providing opportunities to dig deeper into manwha’s history and the breadth of the stories that have and are currently being published in Korea.
What’s more, these panels and events gave fans a personalized experience to connect with these creators, including through live-drawings of caricatures of the audience and a Tarot Card fortune-reading experience where the Dokkotok character gave both sincere and humorous advice to audience members. Even if fans didn’t know much about these guests and artists before the weekend, these experience built personal connections and dialogues between the guests and the audience.
I didn’t know anything about Dokkotok before the weekend began, for instance, and was skeptical of a costumed character hosting and acting in-character as a panelist, but I really came to find the character, portrayed by the daughter of the original creator, endearing and formed an emotional connection with the character, wanting to know more about him and read more of his stories. When I asked a question at Dokkotok’s fortune-reading panel, confessing my insecurities about my loneliness and difficulties in making connections with people, I was so touched with how connected and supportive the room felt, and Dokkotok’s hug and encouragement to me.
This experience was one of many positive ones I had with the manwha guests, events, and community over the weekend, and I found the manwha panels hosted at Otakon 2023 were not only fun and informative, but also creatively and emotionally inspiring and invigorating.
Saturday’s Korean Manwha Panel, held in one of the convention’s biggest panel rooms, encapsulated the entire spirit, ethos, and raison d’etre for the manwha content and programming at Otakon 2023. The panelists were an all-star lineup of the year’s manwha guests, including; Gangdong University Manwha and animation academics and educators, Kim Hanjae and Kim Jongik; manwhaga Park Kyungran (Imitation); Choi In Sun, manwhaga and founder of the independent publisher INSUNNY; and the cute, sweet, and thoughtful costumed character and mascot – Dokkotak, A Little Boomer.
Professor Hanjae took the lead as the primary host and moderator of the panel, which was focused on a walkthrough of the history and development of Korean manwha as an artform and an industry. She was very pleased to see so many familiar faces from the other Korean manwha events from earlier at the con also in attendance at the panel. Indeed, while the panel room was not filled, there was a sizable audience present who were genuinely and eagerly interested in learning about manwha history and the experiences of the panelists, and was an especially strong showing for an early evening panel on a Saturday night. The audience’s keen interest was palpable and could be felt by the panelists, and Hanjae was extremely happy to be in the room with passionate manwha fans. She had heard this was the first time manwhaga have been brought out as guests to Otakon, and hoped this will be the start of bringing over more guests and works over in the years to come.
Dokkotak introduced himself next. He explained to the audience how he was the most popular manwha characters in the 70s and 80s, though sadly not many people know him nowadays. Even so, the crowd was excited to get to know him, and gave many cheers of support!
Choi In Sun introduced herself next. She explained how she started her own independent manwha company, INSUNNY. She then presented her original manwha. Drawing You, to the audience.
Park Kyungran introduced herself next. She noted that webtoons coming over from Korea to the US is still pretty rare, but she hopes the crowd will still enjoy learning about it.
Professor Hanjae properly introduced herself next, explaining how she’s both a manwhaga herself and an animation professor at Gangdong University.
With introductions taken care of, the focus of the panel turned to exploring Dokkotak’s history. Dokkotak was born in 1971, and his “father’s” name was Lee Sangmoo. Beginning in the 1950s, Sangmoo became one of the most popular manga artists in Korea, and was especially so after Dokkotok. Before he died, Sangmoo made over 300 titles starring Dokktok – which can sorta be considered the Dokktok multiverse! The Dokkotak costumed character on the play represented the synthesis of his various characterizations, essentially his “soul,” across the hundreds of stories featuring the character.
All of the Dokkotak stories are connected by the theme that, even though life is hard, and you have a lot of flaws, life is still worth living. It has been said the Dokkotak stories have brought readers to tears; it is a very humanist series. Even until the 90’s, Dokkotok was the national character of Korea. Kids nowadays don’t seem to recognize him. But even though Lee has passed on, his stories still resonate nowadays, and the Dokkotak Company, the rights holding company established by his daughter to promote, publicize, and publish the character and property after her father’s passing, wants to carry on his legacy, and believes he will live forever.
Choi In Sun remembered seeing Dokkotak cartoons in elementary school. Everyone in her generation knew him. She noted how there are many other famous characters in Korean pop culture – including Run Honey, Baby Dinosaur Doolie, Black Rubber Shoes – and these works are now taking a new life.
They then showed excerpts of Freckles, Dokkotak’s debut work in 1971. There is no original manuscript anymore; they couldn’t find it. Freckles was published in two books, one is in a museum, but the other they sadly just couldn’t find anywhere. They had even put out an ad looking for it. They heard a huge collector was in possession of it. They were able to contact and purchase it from them, joiking how weird it was for the main character of his own series to buy his own book. Unfortunately, Tte manuscript was so damaged they couldn’t publish it as is. But, working with Gangdong’s students, they have recreated the series in Sangmoo’s artstyle digitally. Some of the students involved in the restoration project were born over 30 years after the book’s original publication, but even so, they traced over the work and helped give it a more modern look. After finishing the remaster, they started serializing it weekly as a Webtoon, introducing the Dokkotak character and stories to a new generation and audience.
Dokkotak is referred to as a “Little Boomer” because he’s effectively a 51-year old soul in a 8-year-old child’s body. The Dokkotak mascot has been doing a lot more PR recently, so now little kids know him better. He’s also doing a YouTube channel now, proudly exclaiming “Yes, I’m doing content!”
The panel proceeded by going into the history of manwha readership in Korea. Archival video was shown depicting manwha-bons, or manwha rooms, from the 1950s, where young kids could rent manwha that they couldn’t buy at full price. It was essentially a comics-specific library that you could rent books from.
Then, they spotlighted different Korean manwha magazines. Choi In Sun noted how she used to serialize her work in Wink magazine, and that Kim Hanjae first read her work in Nine magazine. Park Kyungran chimed in that her favorite was also Nine. Kim Hanjae said she used to be an American correspondent for a Korean manwha magazine when she was still studying Cartooning at the School of Visual Arts in NYC.
Afterward, they introduced Imitation and discussed its live-action drama adaptation. There were real Korean idols cast in the live-action series. Park warned that fans of male idol series might not like it very much. The story is about how the heroine, Maha, finds her true self through the act of imitation. The series was completed at 200 chapters in 2021.
Kim is very pleased Yen Press is publishing Imitation and thanks their marketing manager, Mark DeVera, for pushing for it. She hopes to see it lead to even more manwha published in America going forward.
The panel turned to discussing Choi In Sun’s work, describing it as “scary but beautiful.” They work they showed on screen was hand-drawn and done through pointillism (drawing through multiple dots), and was a piece she worked on in between taking care of her kids. It is A4 size, and the piece is worth $20,000 dollars! When the interpreter joked that the audience can’t count numbers that big, Dokkotak retorted “not me!”
Many of Sun’s pieces have feminist themes. They show a piece of hers depicting the feeling of having your first period. She feels she was able to reflect the life of a woman through this character.
Though In Sun’s works are relatively niche and indie, she was a huge influence on Park Kyungran. Before Park debuted as a manwha artist, she liked a lot of dialogues she read in anime, especially In Sun’s short stories. In Sun likes drawing short stories because they feel like writing poems to her.
They spotlight how another famous Korean artist is at the con working at the Dokkotok booth. His Toon Toy series has been very popular with folks who’ve popped by their booth. Hopefully in the next few years he’ll be invited to the con officially as a guest!
Hanjae spotlights different types of manwha she hopes to see brought over in the future – including classics, action, horror, and comedy. Worries that a horror manwha panel might be too adult for a family friendly panel like Otakon. Also notes the Korean comedy genre is small. pic.twitter.com/enDGpT6TcD
— LumRanmaYasha 🔜 SDCC (@LumRanmaYasha) July 29, 2023
Hanjae then spotlighted different types of manwha she hopes to see brought over in the future – including classics, action, horror, and comedy. Though she worries that a horror manwha panel might be too adult for a family-friendly convention like Otakon. She also notes the Korean comedy genre is small compared to other comics markets. Hanjae continued by spotlighting regional manga, manga made to promote/represent different regions in Korea and to encourage tourism. She hopes that in reading these manga, and after listening to their panel, many people in the crowd will themselves visit Korea one day!
Professor Hanjae noted there are also a lot of indie manwha artists, like Choi In Sun, whose work is often overlooked, so she hopes American readers and audiences will start reading more of them.
Hanjae then goes over her career as a manwha educator, academic, and influencer. She is currently exploring potential positive applications of AI in manga creation, feeling that humans can manipulate AI as a tool in a productive way. She feels that presenitng at Otakon is the height of her dream of being the “Otaku Professor.” She is also a writer, and wants to write about her Otakon experience. It’s been a year since she first met with an Otakon representative to pitch and plan the manwha content and programming for Otakon 2023, and she’s been bragging about it ever since. Even though most Koreans haven’t heard of Otakon, they’ve been taking a lot of photos to share with their audience back home and bring attention to it.
This was everyone on the panel’s first Otakon. Dokkotak was introduced to their interpretor, Ju-won a year ago, and even though he’s just a character, they were very glad they were able to find a way to bring him over here (though they had problems with transporting his big head). They were happy to find so much support for the character at Otakon, even though most people outside Korea don’t know him.
Choi In Sun was so happy to be here that she said it motivated her to draw a lot, including a lot of caricatures of people without rest at the Dokkotak booth. Park, meanwhile, had been drawing a lot of drawings of Imitation’s main characters at the booth.
With the history and final thoughts run through, there was some time left in the panel for a Q&A with the audience, of which there were many interested attendees lining up to ask the panelists their thoughts. One attendee asked the interpreters whether they knew of Dokkotak before Otakon, especially because they’re so young. It turned out Dokkotok’s interpreter actually had been familiar with him since she was a little kid, so it felt really cool to meet him in person. Dokkotak didn’t know this, and was flattered by her kinds words.
As for manwha recommendations for the audience, Park recommends hunting manwha, and Choi In Sun recommended short stories, though both acknowledge it’s harder to find such stories in manwha published in the west. However, Professor Hanjae tells the crowd they can always DM her for manwha recommendations!
Finally, as to whether manwha is produced individually or as a team, it depends on the series case by case, but usually indie works are usually done by one person, while more mainstream works by teams.
With that, the panel concluded with gratitude on the part of the panelists for the crowd’s enthusiasm and anticipation, which carried on to the other manwha panels and events that continued later that the night and on Sunday. This informative panel was a buffet of fascinating information and perspective on the Korean manwha industry’s history and development, and it was so interesting to explore it through the lenses of a popular modern series, a niche manga artist, and a classic legacy manga character from the 70s being reintroduced to new audiences to enjoy nearly 50 years later. The panel succeeded in showing the depth of Korean manwha publishing culture and intriguing attendees into looking into reading more classic and indie Korean manwha, hopefully fueling demand and interest from fans to publishers to license and bring more such work over officially in English alongside the most popular modern Webtoons online.
Even if it takes some time to introduce more classic and indie works to the American comics market, I was so fascinated and enthralled by the presentation, and am incredibly grateful to Professors Hanjae and Jongik, Park Kyrungran, Choi In Sun, and especially Dokkotak for introducing me to a whole new world of comics to investigate and explore, and the rewarding and satisfying feeling of coming out of a panel having learned so much more about a topic than you knew going it. I think most of the attendees similarly learned so much about Korean manwha that they hadn’t known before, and to me, that makes the panel a rousing success, and an exemplary encapsulation of how successfully Hanjae and her team passionately sparked curiosity, enthusiasm, and interest in manwha of all kinds to a whole new audience who may very well find their next favorite story through the medium.
For me, the Korean Manwha panel was the highlight and crown jewel of Otakon 2023 in a diamond bed of gem panels sparkling and dazzling with passion for manwha, and I hope to see more panels like it exploring manwha and other unexplored categories of animanga-adjacent comics and animation at Otakon in the future!
