Tokyopop, the company that is largely responsible for a huge boost in the number of U.S. manga offerings during 2002, has just announced four new Korean manga ('manwha' in Korean) titles that will follow in the highly successful footsteps of Tokyopop's previous Korean-originated offerings: Ragnarok, Dragon Knights, and Priest.

 

All four new titles are in the epic fantasy genre.  Rebirth by Kang-Woo Lee is the story of a magician/vampire, who is imprisoned for 300 years and then resurrected to duel again with his powerful adversary.  Chronicles of the Cursed Sword by Beop-Ryong Yuy tells the story of a rootless orphan who has a chance to become a great hero when he happens to find a cursed, but powerful blade.  Hong-Seock Seo's Dragon Hunter takes place in a world where everything revolves around dragons -- hunters make a living by slaying them, while shamans control them with incantations.  In King of Hell by Na In-Soo tells the ferocious story of a rift between Hell and the mortal world which allows lost souls to escape from Hades and torment the living until the King of Hell releases Ma-Je -- the greatest swordsman of the underworld -- to wreak havoc on the hellions who are tormenting mankind.

 

To what do we owe the influx of Korean titles?  Is Tokyopop running out of Japanese manga to import?  The answer to the second question is 'no;' there are still thousands of manga series from Japan that haven't been exploited overseas.  The answer to the first question is that the top Korean creators are very good, and their titles such as Ragnarok have done very well here in the States.  The Korean penchant for epic fantasies with religious and mythological themes and overtones gathered from all over the world also appears to have struck a chord with American audiences.  It's not that Japanese creators haven't done this sort of thing before -- they more or less invented the multi-cultural fantasy epic -- but Korean artists have seized this genre and they are exploiting it like crazy with striking artwork and imaginative storytelling.