tag Graphic novel
-
- THE AWL Vols. 1-6 (completed)
- Having established itself as a must for salaried workers, a veritable national textbook on labor, and a Bible for all workers, The Awl is now complete in a total of six volumes. A recipient of the Korean Cartoon of Today Prize, this work caught public attention as a television drama of the same title in 2017 as well. A tour de force by cartoonist Choe Gyu-seok, who is a giant in South Korean comics, the work has enhanced public perceptions of labor problems according to many evaluators. By sharply depicting labor problems, which constitute the most crucial issue in South Korean society, and attaining both dramatic entertainment value and artistry through outstanding construction and storytelling in addition to conveying a social message, it has established itself as a monumental work in South Korean webcomics. A story of ordinary folks struggling to be treated as humans Set against Pureumi, a fictional French superstore chain in South Korea, in the latter half of the 2000s, this work unfolds with a focus on two protagonists: Yi Su-in, who has been instructed by the corporation to dismiss workers unjustly; and Gu Go-sin, a labor activist. A man of principles, Su-in is someone who cannot restrain outspoken criticism and is constantly at odds with the world. Though he has quit a career in the armed forces in order to live quietly and chosen an ordinary job, he once again clashes against the world because the company has ordered him to drive out employees by force. Aiding Su-in is Go-sin, a cool-headed and deft labor activist who runs a labor counseling center near the Pureumi chain. Unlike Su-in, who has difficulty getting along with people and sternly sticks to rules, he approaches others without hesitation and even resorts to extreme measures at times in order to accomplish goals. The process through which these two figures remind ordinary, diligent workers of their rights and change together will fire up readers. The message of The Awl is clear: working people naturally have rights, and such rights can be retrieved and a just society can be created only when ordinary people join forces together. Indeed, when the work was serialized online, the space for readers’ comments was filled with accounts of the reception of delayed wages and labor-related civil servants’ resolution to maintain integrity in their work, thus turning into a cyber labor counseling center for readers of various ages and classes. In other words, the comic also served as an occasion for readers to reexamine injustices suffered by everyone in life and to regain their lost rights. With increasingly vocal opinions in South Korean society today that labor education must be included in school curricula, some have even argued that The Awl must be designated as a textbook. Proof that popular works can also be created based on social topics, The Awl has left an indelible mark in South Korean comics. Conveying a social message, consummate in its artistry, entertaining, and moving at the same time, The Awl will remain a monumental work in the nation’s comics. Praise for The Awl Since others have amply praised the excellence of the theme already, to recommend the work as someone in the same field, I never even imagined that so much entertainment could be had from such a topic. In a word, it is seriously entertaining. The completion of a monumental work in South Korean comics. Choe Gyu-seok has painstakingly finished a tale harbored for a long time like an emotional debt, without a single panel drawn carelessly. The Awl is a tale neither of a knight-errant saving pitiable commoners nor of the populace attaining enlightenment on their own and achieving liberation as workers. It merely shows ordinary people who fight to be treated as humans in the shabby and wretched work lives that we lead each day. As such, the work is an all the more invaluable must-read.
-
- The Taste of the First Time
- A collection of stories in which diverse beginners including job seekers, newly employed, repeaters at various examinations, new independent businesspeople, and rookies at love are comforted, convey their feelings, overcome failures, and open their hearts through food, this volume warmly consoles youths who barely find their places in a confining society. As such, it is a bittersweet comic book of young novices in public life who meet and move forward through food. Stories of people who take their first steps in public life: Job seekers, newly employed, and rookies at love While meals eaten every day are all too easy to become simply means of staving off hunger, certain foods stay in the memory forever. Skewered fish balls eaten in the street with a lover on a cold winter day, ice cream eaten at an amusement park on South Korean Children’s Day—the feelings of those moments are remembered wholly by the tongue. The taste of the first time experienced by characters in their 20s-30s in this comic book is sweet at times, bitter at times. Memory of plum syrup drinks made by Mom, who now lives apart due to divorce; dried persimmons delivered from hometown while assiduously preparing for employment; vending machine coffee drunk while working at a driving school; fiery chicken feet eaten to shake off the memory of a degrading matchmaking session; café mocha drunk while working at a coffeehouse after giving up on becoming an actor; cooked rice sold in a paper cup eaten alone in the street of Noryangjin, a neighborhood in Seoul famous for cram schools for various test preparers, in order to save time for studying… The protagonists of the episodes each show the concerns of South Korean youths today as if unfolding a screen. Family, employment, dating, friendship, and career… Although the personages come from a wide spectrum, their tales will be relatable to anyone who has striven to enter public life. Su-yeon, a job seeker, finds herself shabby among friends who have already succeeded in finding their places in society; after failing even the driving test four times, Su-ji criticizes herself, “What’s easy for other people is so hard for me”; and Min-hui chooses to find employment after struggling to become an actor and facing the barrier of reality… Shining like gems, episodes with lifelike characters and circumstances will warm readers’ hearts.
-
- How to Raise a Lone Person
- A working woman in her late 20s who lives in a cramped studio apartment in Seoul, Yi Si-da, the protagonist, one day finds herself saddled with Squeaky Yun-fat, a hamster that used to belong to her friend. Subsequently, she is initiated into raising small animals and becomes friends with O Hae-su, a neighbor, thus extending her perspective to her life and surroundings through the experience of growing a small animal. This work has struck a deep chord with readers by accurately capturing, with an outstanding sensibility, the lives of single people living alone in South Korea today, where “solo eating” and “solo drinking” are no longer considered eccentric in an otherwise collectivistic society. Acclaimed by readers and critics alike for its adroit presentation, flowing sentences, restrained formal beauty, and contemporary sensibility, How to Raise a Lone Person has established itself as the most noteworthy and present work in South Korean webcomics now. Each of the women in this volume has had to undergo a plethora of trouble simply for being a female in South Korea: facing Grandmother’s tears that she was not a boy immediately after birth; covering up her nipples as secondary sex characteristics emerged; having menstrual blood leak out in a 24-hour café; putting on makeup each morning as if assembling a plastic model; being cursed by strangers for walking in the street with a foreign man; and being threatened with sexual harassment on the way home at night. How to Raise a Lone Person candidly depicts the unadorned lives of women and, even with this alone, creates a narrative that is unprecedented in the country. Episodes about growing small animals in How to Raise a Lone Person extend to individuals who live in teeming cities. Indeed, just how different are hamsters in 120 l boxes, living fish sold in takeout coffee cups, and humans in dormitory rooms measuring 3.3 m2? One way to reduce territorial feuds among cichlids in an aquarium is to make these fish give up fighting by creating an overcrowded state to begin with (episode 36, “Half Water, Half Fish”). Quoted in abundance, knowledge of rearing small animals metaphorically expands readers’ viewpoints to individual lives. This is presumably why the work is titled “how to raise a lone person” instead of “how to live alone.”
-
- Whitey
- A message of hope from the wordless Whitey Whitey, a dog, is discarded by its owners because they are “sick of it.” Although it finds its way back to their home after great hardship, they have already moved away. After suffering from hunger and wandering about the streets, the canine encounters an elderly woman who gathers junk at the entrance to a shantytown, and her granddaughter Mi-rae, who is cheerful and kind-hearted despite the poverty. To repay the girl and her grandmother for unhesitatingly sharing their lunch box with a famished beast, Whitey collects waste from sundry places, and, in the end, the three form a new family and live together. One day, however, with Mi-rae away at school, Grandma is involved in an unexpected traffic accident while gathering junk with the help of Whitey. For the girl and her grandmother, who now are without a livelihood, the animal visits an employment agency and, thanks to the consideration of its kind director, comes to work as a day laborer at diverse places including construction sites. Although initially shunned and resented by people for taking “humans’ work,” Whitey prompts them to look back at themselves, awakens them, and gives them hope with its quiet diligence. Meanwhile, Mi-rae is bullied at school for being poor. Su-cheol, her seating partner in the classroom, is at the head of such taunts. Nevertheless, the girl is always kind and good to the boy. Though mean at first, Su-cheol has a change of heart and repents his wrongdoing after after realizing that she is the only one to help him in times of trouble, going on to protect the girl from harassment by other children. When Whitey and Mi-rae are barely settled in their respective positions, however, the dog is suddenly infected with heartworms and falls gravely ill. Unable to obtain medical expenses, the girl and her grandmother do their utmost to save the animal…
-
- A Gasp for Air
- A 30-year-old who works part-time at a bakery, Gyeong-bok dreams of becoming a cartoonist but has been unable to take even one single step toward its fulfillment. Longtime lover Go Jeong-sin is her only hope. After dating him for 6 years, she decides to cohabit with him and plans a new life. However, the protagonist is then struck by news that is like a bolt from the blue: suffering from depression, her mother has escaped from the eldest daughter’s house and attempted suicide in a motel room. Deciding that Mom can no longer be left to her devices, Gyeong-bok relinquishes her plan to live with her boyfriend and, instead, becomes her mother’s housemate. Suffering from a light hearing disability in addition to chronic depression, the heroine’s mother was subjected to unending domestic violence from her alcoholic husband throughout their married life: “Dad drank, cussed, and hit every day, and Mom was hit, was hurt, and cried every day. My sisters and I saw this together and cried together” (vol. 1, p. 38). Growing up under a violent father and a powerless mother, the three sisters “each found a way of mitigating pain as they became older” (vol. 1, p. 44): Gyeong-hye, the eldest, devoted herself to studies; Gyeong-su, the second child, focused on her appearance; and Gyeong-bok, the youngest, found solace in comic books. Having thus distanced herself from childhood memories and forged her own life, will the protagonist get along with her sickly mother? Things are excruciating enough up to this point, but Gyeong-bok’s misfortunes are far from over. Though she has given up college education and found employment instead due to family circumstances, she must quit even work due to sexual violence. Living together with Mom leads to estrangement and, ultimately, separation from her boyfriend. Adding insult to injury, the mother and the daughter are evicted from their home due to real estate redevelopment. Although Gyeong-bok painstakingly strives to maintain normalcy notwithstanding the series of calamities, Mom in the end stops taking her medicine and even starts to exhibit symptoms of light schizophrenia… Having thus presented an extremely realistic story throughout, A Gasp for Air concludes with a fantastical ending that is open to diverse interpretations. Has the protagonist been saved? The author has stated that she wished to realize the “desperate wishes of Gyeong-bok, who has always been trapped in reality since birth.” Having come to cheer for the heroine’s life unawares, readers may sigh in great relief or feel deep despair. Even after putting this book down, we will be haunted by the protagonist’s bright smiles and her mother’s boundlessly apologetic face, letting out a deep breath like divers’ gasp for air.
1