Unlimited Imagination of Comic Books is Truly Attractive

Singer Kim Hyun-jung(25) is a comics mania, which is not known to many people. She showed her longstanding love for comics at the Dong-A, LG International Festival of Comics and Animation at Ilmin museum of art in Sejong-ro, Jongro-gu. Her love for comics dates back to elementary school days when she enjoyed comic books such as Dragon ball by Doriyama Akira and Atom by Dezka Osamu. Kim then read all the famous comics for girls from the authors such as Hwang Mi-na and Won Su-yeon. Kim even likes comics from Europe such as Mouse by Art Spiegelman.

“I like comic books regardless of their genre. I read nearly all kinds of comic books only if their pictures are not so poor,” laughs Kim Hyun-jung.

Kim drew a comic book together with her friends when she was a student. She debuted as a storywriter for a comic book in December 2001 when she wrote a comic book together with author Park Mu-jik about a success of a would-be singer. The comic, titled T.R.Y., appeared in Cake, a magazine for comics issued every other week. The comic was recently published as a book. As part of the Dong-A, LG International Festival of Comics and Animation, Korean comics invited at the famous Angouleme Festival in France early this year are again exhibited on the second floor of the museum.

Finding the drawing of the author Choi Ho-chul, singer Kim Hyun-jung expressed her love for the drawing, asking whether she could buy the picture. She said that the drawing has expressed the daily lives of ordinary people in a sophisticated hue and atmosphere.

Looking at the eyes filled with despair in Princess Anna by Park Byung-jun, Kim Hyun-jung commented that the comic had a feeling of a Japanese comic book, but the unique characteristic of pictures that come from the author`s own pen touches was similar to the one found in a German comic book. “Refrigerator” by Yang Yeong-sun, exhibited in the festival, is a comic with an experimental character. The story is about storing a girl in a refrigerator. The last scene of the comic was expressed by a real refrigerator with a model of a girl in it. Kim said she was a little bit scared to see the refrigerator with a girl in it. But at the same time, she said she was amazed at the unlimited imagination that comes from a comic book.

Kim Hyun-jung praised the work of Lee Ae-rim, `Rainbow`, saying that it is an elaborate work. The expressions of characters and the techno colors are noteworthy, in particular.

`The Breaths of Korean Comic Books’, an exhibition held on the sidelines, shows how Korean comic books have developed from newspaper cartoons in the Japanese colonial era to Internet comic books of today.

Kim found the 1950s` comic books used for political propagandas and Kim Yong-hwan`s `Kojubu`s Three States` unfamiliar. She was attracted to leading comic book writers in the 1960s like Goh Woo-young, Gil Chang-deok and Yoon Seung-woon, however.

“I read Yoon Seung-woon`s `Maengkongi Village Schoolhouse` many times. It is about history, but it is still fun. `The Invincible Team of Outcasts` is also one of my favorites. I have been a fan of the little dinosaur `Dooley` and `Hee-dong` since the series began to be published on the monthly `Treasure Island`.”

Kim soon noticed Hwang Mi-na`s `Goodbye Mr. Black` and Gang Gyeong-ok`s `Star Light` from the 1980s.

“I have seen this kind of show in Europe, but this is the first time I see comic books exhibited at an art museum in Korea. I believe that comic books deserve a better treat as a key part of the culture industry. Comic book fans must come and visit to show the power of comic books,” stressed Kim.

The event will continue through August 17 (except every Monday). 3,000 won admission fees for primary, middle and high school students and 4,0000 won for adults. For any further inquiry, call 02-2020-1620.

kathycho@donga.com