While the popular Korean manhwa artist Hee Jung Park may not be a household name in the U.S., Tokyopop is making plans to change that over the next year. The L.A.-based manga house published the first volumes of Park’s Fever and Hotel Africa series in the spring and plan to publish two more series, Martin and John and Too Long, later this summer.
Both Fever and Hotel Africa center on fictional individuals who don’t quite fit into society: Fever, which debuted in March, is the tale of a high school girl who teams up with two quirky boys as she tries to escape her stifling surroundings. Hotel Africa, released in April, centers on Elvis, a biracial child who was raised by his widowed mother in a hotel in the Utah desert. Too Long, which will be published in August, is a single volume of short stories that all have the theme of waiting. Martin and John, due out in July, is a collection of short stories about gay couples, all named Martin and John. “[Park] was one of the first creators in Korea to deal with homosexuality,” said Tokyopop junior editor Hyun Kim. Tokyopop plans to release a volume every four months in each of these series.
The creator of a manga usually isn’t its main selling point, unless the artist is as well known as a group like CLAMP, superstar female manga collective. But while emphasizing the manga creator is unusual, it’s not unprecedented. Tokyopop includes the name of Mitsuhazu Mihara, creator of such manga series as Doll and The Embalmer, on all her manga. “It is something we are trying in several cases, too see if it helps grow sales amongst a creator’s other titles,” said Tokyopop editor in chief Rob Tokar. “We have a weekly acquisitions meeting where we talk about any titles we want to license, and especially if the creator has released several one-offs or several short series, [whether] we should put their name ahead of it so they get grouped together in stores.”
Tokyopop is even planning to publish Hotel Africa in a deluxe edition with extra color pages and a larger trim size, priced at $12.99. Until now, Tokyopop has stayed close to the industry standard of the 5” x 7” trim size and the $9.99 price tag.
While she may not be known in the U.S., Park is well known in Korea for her art and Hotel Africa is one of the best selling manhwa in Korea, said Kim. Park, who began her career as a graphic designer, has published an art book and had her work displayed in art galleries, which Kim said is unusual for a comics artist in Korea, especially a female one. Park’s drawing style is more elegant and hard-edged than most Japanese manga, featuring elongated figures with expressive faces and flowing clothes. Her drawings are rich in detail and fairly realistic, often evoking specific moods or places.
Kim first saw Park’s work in online previews on Korean websites. “I just log in every now and then and see what’s hot,” she said. “Hee Jung Park is definitely hot.” Tokar said that, “Hee Jung Park is someone we have had our eye on for a little while. We think she is incredibly talented.” Although Kim came to Tokyopop after the Park works were licensed, Tokar said she has helped put them into their cultural context. “It’s thanks in large part to Hyun's involvement that we know so much more about this creator and we can honor her work better,” he said.
While the trim-size of Park’s books will be unusual, Tokyopop has been experimenting with different formats. In April the house announced a line of full-color titles that will come from around the world and feature a larger format. “You don’t usually see that big a color section in one of our books,” said Tokar about Hotel Africa. “We deliberated for a while over the best way to release it. We want to show it off with a little extra prestige, including all those color pages.”
