Talking with Tokyopop's Jae-Hwan Kim
This story originally appeared in PW Comics Week on August 8, 2006 Sign up now!
by Kai-Ming Cha, PW Comics Week -- Publishers Weekly, 8/8/2006
Jae-Hwan Kim is the artist behind one of Tokyopop’s most successful licensed original manga properties, WarCraft: The Sunwell Trilogy. Based on the enormously popular role-playing game, volume one of the WarCraft manga has gone back to print four times. Volume two, Shadows of Ice, was released this spring. Kim is also the artist for another Tokyopop licensed series, King of Hell, written by Ra In-soo. Kim is based in Korea and is a popular artist there. He was a featured manhwa-ga (Korean artist and writer) at the recent San Diego Comic-con, where PWCW got a chance to talk with him through an interpreter.
PWCW: Where did you grow up and how did you get your start in manhwa?
JHK: I was born in 1971 in Taegu, Korea, and I still live in Taegu. I dreamed about becoming an artist when I was a kid. I decided to be an artist when I was in high school. I became an assistant to another artist, Mr. Sun, when I was 18 years old, while in high school. He did action/drama stories in the Hong Kong action style. After 10 months, I went to serve the army for three years and when I came back, I debuted at 23 with my own project, Dew Kal, a science fiction series. It was my own original project.
PWCW: For WarCraft you’re working with a writer, Richard Knaak. Which do you prefer, working with writers or working on your own material?
JHK: I prefer to work on projects with writers. I have to meet the deadlines for the magazines. It’s more efficient to work on a team with good writers.
PWCW: When you were growing up, what was the manhwa scene in South Korea like?
JHK: It was discouraging because parents wanted their kids to study more than read comics. I was scorned by my parents for reading comics. Now, my mom is very proud of me. It was a good choice.
PWCW: What was the biggest influence on your drawing? Was it manhwa? Was it fine art? Movies?
JHK: I was influenced by animation the most, both Japanese and Korean. Nothing in particular, but I always turned on the TV when the animation was on.
PWCW: Did Korean manhwa rental shops play any role in exposing you to manhwa?
JHK: They helped promote my books, but now the Internet is the biggest problem. People are downloading my book for free. One guy will buy the book and then scan the pages and upload the pages and share it.
PWCW: How do you approach a script? Is it a collaborative process, working with writers? Do you correspond with them about the plot, discuss where the emphasis should fall, etc.?
JHK: First of all, I respond to the reputation of the writer. Then I select the writer I want to work with. The story must be very fun and interesting.
PWCW: Have you noticed any difference working with an American publisher compared to working with a Korean publisher?
JHK: The American interest is slightly different. Korean editors focus more on detail of the drawing. But American editors are more interested in the big picture, the story, the angle of the drawing, the artwork overall.
PWCW: Did you have to make adjustments to your work regarding depictions of violence? What about acclimating yourself to a different schedule than in Korea?
JHK: Korean editors are very detailed in the beginning. They talk to me before I start working and review my work in the beginning. American editors keep reviewing my work so if they don’t like one part, they'll ask me to redo it. They're more involved. If the drawing is too violent, it can be censored. But only the Korean editors do that. I've never had my work censored by American editors. Korean editors have a set schedule. Americans can change their schedule. They have more flexibility, but that means I can't predict their schedule. With Korean editors, I can predict the schedule because it's set.
PWCW: In Korea, comics are serialized in magazines, as they are in Japan. But in the U.S., the longer, graphic novel form is becoming the norm. What is the greatest challenge that you have found in the graphic novel?
JHK: In Korea, I have to meet the deadline for the magazines, so I always have a set schedule. Sometimes it’s more efficient for me because I know when I have to finish my work. But with American publishers, I have to set my own schedule. If I can't manage my time wisely, the deadline has to be extended. Sometimes it can be more stressful than working with a Korean publisher. Having the control is the biggest challenge when working with American editors.
PWCW: Tell us about your working situation. Do you use assistants? How many pages do you average per day?
JHK: When I have work, I cannot leave my house. I have to sit and work. I’m really busy. Now, I have six assistants. The number of pages I average, it depends. Sometimes I have to work on details for a background, and then I can do two or three pages a day. If it’s dialogue, I can do more, around four pages per day.
PWCW: You dreamed of becoming an artist when you were a child. What's it like now that it's a job?
JHK: It's not necessarily that I've lost my passion, but my artwork has become my routine. I sometimes forget that I love it. It's a hard life.
PWCW: Korean soap operas are a popular export in East and Southeast Asia. Manhwa is attracting fans in the West, and Korean movies have also become popular. What do you think of the wave of interest in Korean popular culture that has been building in the U.S., China and Japan?
JHK: I definitely feel the Korean wave in terms of movies and television shows. I've been traveling through Southeast Asia ,and I can tell there is a Korean wave [of popular interest]. I want to lead the Korean wave in the comics industry. I'm helping it build.
