Jeremy Ross Media

English translations of Koran manhwa and other Asian comics were largely unavailable in the US until about a decade ago. Thanks to the pioneering efforts of TOKYOPOP along with several other English-language publishers, there has been an explosive rise in their popularity in the US. Korean manhwa properties have been successfully introduced to a growing fan base. More and more Korean manhwa creators are discovering and developing a global appeal that makes their work appropriate for a US audience. TOKYOPOP alone has licensed over 75 Korean properties, and our competitors combined have licensed over 45. Although Japanese manga has traditionally outsold Korean and Global graphic novels, there is strong critical recognition of the best Korean books.

My essay provides a brief history of the US manga and comic book market, including the rise of Korean manhwa and Asian graphic novels along with the decline of Western comic books. I will address fundamental differences between Korean and American markets, discuss how TOKYOPOP chooses Korean titles to license, tell two Korean success stories in the US, and provide suggestions for Korean manhwa business development in the US.

THE POPULARITY OF MANHWA AND MANGA IN THE US:
There are a number of factors that make manhwa and manga tremendously popular among US teens. First, they have fresh and engaging stories that tackle real-life issues with insight and respect. They cover a broad array of genres: fantasy, comedy, romance, action, sci-fi, mystery, martial arts and more. Practically any topic is fair game. The serialized format encourages repeat business and fosters a collector mentality. But the series do end, and these limited story arcs mean that consumers experience closure and know when to stop collecting. The books are accessible because TOKYOPOP and others have ensured that graphic novels are no longer just in US comic book specialty stores and are now found in many other venues. Manhwa and manga appeal to a visual generation defining its own forms of entertainment. They have made these books and Asian pop culture their own, and see them as defining elements of their youthful rebellion. It’s all part of Asia’s influence on global trends in many areas of entertainment and design.

Most consumers choose their favorite works by the quality of the art and the story. Some are vocal fans of specific Korean creators. Others don’t focus on national origin so much – they just pick the stories they like. Korean certainly has its supporters. Strong relationship stories, great fantasy and fighting tales, a slightly more-realistic look to characters –these are all found in the most popular Korean titles. I have had fans come up and thank me for the efforts of TOKYOPOP, KOCCA and the Korean publishers to bring the creators of Ragnarok, Arcana, Tarot Café and Warcraft and other Korean manhwa to the US so they could meet them and get their signatures.

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN MANHWA/MANGA AND US SUPERHERO COMICS
The two are both comics, but they could not be more different in many significant ways. US superhero comics feature extraordinary people in predictable situations: Villains fight heroes, nobody dies and the ending is just what the reader expects. Manhwa and manga generally feature ordinary people in extraordinary situations. The reader is surprised at how things turn out. There’s always a twist. Sales of superhero comics have been in a steep decline for years in the US. They are read by a limited audience of young boys and older, male collectors. These readers are often viewed as social outcasts by their peers and parents. Manhwa and manga are read by boys and girls alike and there are stories for everyone from eight to 80. Cool kids, tastemakers, kids who are socially adept and can get dates constitute the readership. US sales have grown dramatically in the last five years.

A VERY BRIEF HISTORY OF US-MADE COMICS:
Comics in a wide variety of forms have been available in the US for many years. The comic book format was invented in the 1930’s and the US was the leading country to produce them, followed by the UK and Japan. Prior to the 1950’s, US comic books were available for a wide range of male and female readers, spanning all genres. But due to unfounded concern on the part of some moral watchdogs and politicians that comics were undermining morality, the industry turned to strict self-censorship and imposed the Comics Code in 1954 after widespread banning of many comic books.
The most popular comics from the mid-1950’s to the mid-1990s in the US were primarily superhero tales, which were designed to meet the stringent requirements of the Comics Code. The development of the so-called direct market, with non-returnable sales, led to comic books disappearing from the newsstand and selling almost exclusively in specialty comic book shops that only a niche group would frequent. The public saw comic books as the entertainment medium of a small group of social outcasts. Comic books became more and more expensive and appealed primarily to collectors.

The US comic book industry in the 1990’s fell into a serious decline. An attempt to create a speculator market in collectible comics backfired and contributed to the demise of hundreds of stores. Annual comic book sales growth plummeted in the 1990s and has never recovered. The only consistent source of income in the US for comic book companies was from licensing decades-old characters (Batman, Spider-Man, Superman, X-Men) for theatrical films and video games.

This state of affairs explains why the success of Asian graphic novels in the US was unexpected, unprecedented and revolutionary.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF TOKYOPOP AND MANGA IN THE US:
Founded in 1996 by Stu Levy in Japan, TOKYOPOP’s mission was to bring Asian pop culture to America. Manga was the vehicle for achieving the mission. But despite the prevalence of Japanese manga, it was a Korean manhwa that our founder, Stu Levy, was first attracted to and that set him on his course to make Asian-style graphic novels of all kinds popular in the West.

In the late 1990’s TOKYOPOP was part of the Annenberg Incubator Project at the University of Southern California. It graduated in 2000. TOKYOPOP, Mixx and Smile magazines were the company’s first published product. But it was not until TOKYOPOP introduced the graphic novel to the US that the revolution really began. And it was the female-friendly Sailor Moon that really took off, starting the trend of girls reading comics in the US.

TOKYOPOP pioneered a standard price of $9.99 and a standard trim size of 5” x 7 7/16” (this is closest to a Korean size and shape, not a Japanese size). TOKYOPOP also introduced its own rating system from All Ages to Mature (derived from videogame and movie ratings, and now adapted and used by other manga publishers). The ratings increased acceptance by booksellers, parents, and librarians by helping them pick age-appropriate material for tween, teen and older readers.

In the period from 2000 to 2006, graphic novels as a category (of which manga and manhwa constitute 60%) grew over 900% in sales to become a $300 million industry in 2006. 70% of customers were teens from 13 to 17. TOKYOPOP has consistently held one of the top manga market share positions.

TOKYOPOP’s distribution power and wide number of sales channels makes it stand out from other competitors, especially US comic book companies that mainly distribute via the direct market to specialty comic book shops. A major contribution of TOKYOPOP to the industry was in leading the way to move a large majority of sales into chain bookstores, causing them to expand shelf space to many times its original size. TOKYOPOP even manufactures its own freestanding spinner racks and POP displays to place in the store and give manga more shelf space.

The company was also the first to sell manga in mall stores and freestanding stores that specialize in video, computers, videogames and consumer electronics. TOKYOPOP has experimented with sales in every kind of retail outlet, from Army base PX stores to big-box discount stores such as Target and Wal-Mart. Some manga titles sell exceptionally well via the Scholastic Book Clubs and Book Fairs. The latter have more than 75,000 venues across the US. Each year, they bring a wide selection of books into schools and with school and parent cooperation, can sell astonishing numbers. One recent TOKYOPOP Cine-manga based on the animated TV show Avatar sold a record-breaking half-million copies, largely the result of a big purchase by Scholastic.

One of the biggest breakthroughs in the US was that the relationship stories that characterized popular manga became attractive to girls, who had stopped reading read US comic books in the late1950’s. The influence of anime, which became popular a decade before manga in the US, along with a trend towards taking sequential art more seriously as an art form, supported the acceptance of Asian graphic novels in the West.

TOKYOPOP was initially known for localizing Japanese manga into English. And Japanese manga titles were the only kind that many US fans knew in the early days. In the early 1990s, many fans learned Japanese just to read their favorite series and some posted English fan translations (scanlations). TOKYOPOP and a few others filled a market vacuum by publishing “official” translations of the popular titles that fans were begging for. TOKYOPOP served as a trusted tastemaker and fans would generally look at anything the company published.

TOKYOPOP INTRODUCES MANHWA IN THE US:
Starting in 2002, TOKYOPOP was the first US company to successfully license and localize a wide variety of Korean graphic novels, before early competitors such as CPM and ADV and well before more recent competitors such as ICE Kunion, Infinity Studios, DramaQueen and Dark Horse.

TOKYOPOP’s German sister company, launched in 2004, had its first #1 German-language hit with the Korean series Demon Diary. The property’s success was followed by a successful European author tour for Kara, the team who created Demon Diary. At long last, Korean graphic novels, feature films and animation began to earn the critical and fan acclaim they deserve—as well as helping to change the face of the comics business around the world.

Much of the US fan awareness of Japanese manga properties was driven by prior knowledge of fan-dubbed anime and fan-translated scanlations in English. Many hard-core US fans, who called themselves “otaku,” felt that the only real manga came from Japan. Unlike Japanese manga properties, Korean properties were not previously well known by US fans before they were published in English-language editions. The initial impetus for TOKYOPOP to localize manhwa from Korea was that we saw the art and stories were strong and very much the equal of their Japanese counterparts. We believed we had the market power to introduce them to readers who would hopefully judge the art and stories on their own merits. It was obvious to everyone watching the industry that Asian-style graphic novels had become a global phenomenon. It was important to bring in material from the second most prolific country. We bet that despite the challenges, Korean work would catch on with fans if they judged it on its own merit.

We were pleased to discover that a number of fans were willing to be open-minded and liked certain Korean works as much as the Japanese ones they were familiar with.

TOKYOPOP AND THE RISE OF GLOBAL MANGA:
TOKYOPOP’s next step was to start the world’s largest program of publishing “global manga” from creators all around the globe. The international popularity of Korean and Japanese graphic novels means that young people everywhere are highly influenced by Asian pop culture. TOKYOPOP is a virtual studio, with artists and writers from everywhere. The books sometimes pair Asian artists with Western writers to create a unique East-West fusion. See the Warcraft success story below for one example of how this blend can create a manhwa product that can be published in major countries such as the US, Korea, China, Europe, South America as well as small countries such as Bulgaria and Israel—virtually all industrialized nations.

CHOOSING KOREAN TITLES FOR THE US:
TOKYOPOP has years of experience selecting Asian titles for a Western audience. We bring this experience to bear when choosing manhwa titles to license.

First, home market success does not automatically translate into a hit in the West. We look for work that appeals to our target audience. This includes both shojo (girl’s) and shonen (boy’s) titles. Korea has some of the strongest and most stylish shojo titles on the market today. However, some of their shonen work is also strong.

Korean work is often more accessible to a world audience than Japanese. The reasons range from the practical to the conceptual. Korean graphic novels books are read from left to right, making them more accessible to a mass audience in most Western countries. The characters look more realistic and fashionable than Japanese characters created for comparable age groups. This can be especially appealing to audiences that like European comics. Many Korean creators have a strong global vision and an interest in history or culture from around the world. Their work combines Eastern styles with Western ones. Ragnarok is based on Norse mythology, for example.

The bottom line in the US graphic novel business today is that cool art sells. Appealing, fashionable and modern artwork is a major deciding factor for consumers, and therefore it is a major deciding factor for our acquisitions team. TOKYOPOP also likes to support authors and artists, because manga is a creator-driven format. So whenever we have a successful series by one writer, artist or team, we try to license other work by the same creators.

People often ask me to name the most popular Korean graphic novel properties that TOKYOPOP has published in English. In the period 2002-2004, some fan favorites were Ragnarok, Island, Rebirth, Priest, I.N.V.U., King of Hell and Demon Diary. In 2005 and 2006, popular Korean titles include Kill Me, Kiss Me, Tarot Café, Arcana and Soul to Seoul. I expect good performance from several future titles, such as Archlord (which will be cross-promoted with a major 2006 MMORPG computer game launch in the US and Europe)

CASE STUDY IN SUCCESS: Warcraft
TOKYOPOP teamed up with Blizzard to adapt the worldwide online gaming phenomenon into a spectacular graphic novel series created by a Korean artist and an American writer. TOKYOPOP faced a great challenge once the creator of the Warcraft lore, Blizzard VP Chris Metzen, agreed to let his world be brought to life as a manga story. Metzen expected only the best writing and artwork.

Writer Richard Knaak came on board as a key team member. He had written several popular text fantasy novels for Blizzard, and he was the rewriter for TOKYOPOP’s English edition of the popular Ragnarok manhwa.

Then Korean-born Kim Jae Hwan, the artist who draws King of Hell, came forward and provided test artwork from his home studio in Thailand. Metzen saw it and sent a brief but telling email: “This dude gets it. Send more art!” TOKYOPOP and Knaak were thrilled.

The story was crafted by Knaak and Metzen, melding minds over the telephone. Kim Jae Hwan received Knaak’s scripts, translated into Korean, and basically channeled the world of Warcraft into his being. Blizzard is known as a very particular licensor, yet most of Kim’s art was approved without a change.

The results were historic. The series charted at #1 in Germany and #5 in the US. Warcraft is licensed in 16 territories with more to come. It continues to sell hundreds of copies per week long after its initial release. This series is proof that East-West collaboration can produce a winning global manga product.

CASE STUDY IN SUCCESS: Priest
Ever since TOKYOPOP licensed Hyung Min-Woo’s Priest graphic novel series from award-winning licensing director Kim Nam Ho at Daiwon C.I. for U.S. publication, we have all been huge fans of Min-Woo’s work. Priest is unique in many ways. The style is not stereotypically “manga” or “manhwa,” but rather a fusion of influences ranging from Asian, American and European comics to American genre films. Min-Woo is a prime representative of the extraordinarily imaginative artwork that is coming out of the hotbed of talent that is Korea today.

TOKYOPOP first published the US edition of Priest in July 2002. Priest is a dark and rich story that has caught the attention of countless tastemakers in America, from Hollywood execs and writers to designers and fine artists—not to mention a legion of fans. It was not a runaway hit title initially, but its popularity grew over time. Priest has now attracted worldwide recognition. It has its own entry in Wikipedia, the popular multi-lingual online reference, listing the TOKYOPOP releases in English and detailing the twists and turns of its intricate plot. The URL is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Priest_(manhwa)

As Mike Carrey said in his introduction to TOKYOPOP’s edition of Priest, Volume 6: “…it’s currently evolving into one of the most enthrallingly unpredictable stories in the entire medium.”

I personally fell in love with the artist’s work and edited a three-language licensed TOKYOPOP edition of his stunning art book, Justice N Mercy. The original Korean version was edited by Eddie Yu for Sigongsa. Min-Woo is more than an incredibly talented artist—he is also a cool guy and a good friend. My time spent in Seoul hanging out with him, his family and friends has always been fun. And I can attest from first-hand experience that what he says in the Justice N Mercy interview section is true: most of Min-Woo’s friends are simply crazy…and I hope to always qualify as one of them.

One of the most exciting developments of the last few years—for TOKYOPOP, for Min-Woo and for all Korean manhwa creators—is the plan to make a feature film from the Priest manhwa series. TOKYOPOP acquired the film rights directly from the creator in 2003 because we saw special promise in the tale as subject matter for a Hollywood film. That proved to be the case. As confirmed by authoritative sources such as Variety and several online movie database sites, the Priest movie is currently in production with SONY Pictures’ Screen Gems. Producers include Sam Raimi (Spider-Man 2), Joshua Donen, Mitchell Peck and Michael De Luca. The current director of record is Andrew Douglas, credited with the remake of The Amityville Horror in 2005. Leading man Gerard Butler and supporting actor Steven Strait have been officially confirmed. Principal photography is planned to begin in 2007 and the film is slated for release in 2008.

OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE KOREAN MANHWA BUSINESS IN THE US

I have been lucky enough to visit Korea many times and have come to have a great love for the country. I have had many revealing conversations with business partners, publishing colleagues, artists and writers. Here, in my humble opinion, are some suggestions for future success of Korean creators and businesses in the US.

Develop Properties with Global Potential
Properties that appeal to a worldwide audience have the greatest potential to become mega-hits. To truly implement a global product development vision, Korea should study consumer desires and buyer requirements in the US and other Western countries. Creators should function not only as fine artists with vision but also as commercial artists who can make saleable products that resonate with an international audience.

Properties developed with Western needs in mind have a greater chance of finding receptive retail buyers, consumers and cross-media development partners. Properties developed in a vacuum for the Korean home market will generally be perceived as too “foreign” or “artsy” to achieve more than niche market success. They may meet the demands of the artist or “auteur” making the manhwa or film, but if they are not also informed by understanding of international markets and consumer needs, they may be unsuited for foreign markets.

Do Market Research and Evaluate Consumer Opinions
As a strategy to develop global properties, do market research—ranging from reading online forums to conducting actual qualitative and quantitative tests with graphic novel buyers. Take the criticism to heart. One common perception of Korean manhwa heard from many US fans is that the art is almost always good, but the storytelling is not as fluid, refined or original as they would like. Readers remark that they see the same story formulas being rehashed over and over. US fans value originality as well as skill in storytelling.

Find the Right Partner
Entering new markets is generally best accomplished with a strong local partner, and the US is no exception. Differences in consumer taste and buying habits, differences in marketing and distribution, all make it important to work with a US partner or partners who can impart their experience about how things work in the US. It is particularly challenging to do something radically new in the US market, but manga has truly been a revolution in the West over the last decade so such dramatic change has a precedent and can occur when conditions are right.

Take Advantage of the Korean Government’s Support
As Koreans, you have a unique advantage because of several strong programs uniting government, education, business and individuals in support of the creation and dissemination of cultural and content products. I have had the opportunity to work with KOCCA and other Korean government groups for several years. While no government agency in any country is universally perceived as perfect by the creative and business communities, KOCCA and its peers try their best and frequently succeed. Above all they keep showing up with their foreign tradeshow presence, support for seminars, funds for creator book tours and many other programs. In the immortal words of American actor Woody Allen, “Eighty percent of success is just showing up” Other countries should benchmark their own programs against those of KOCCA and other Korean government agencies.

Build on the Success of the Graphic Novel Business in Bookstores
Korean manhwa will continue to have a solid chance for success in the manga sections of US bookstores. The market has become saturated and so property recognition and quality are more important than ever. Average graphic novels sell less today than several years ago, when the market was not flooded and many fans would try just about every story that came out. But the best manga sell more than ever.

It is strategically important to develop a working relationship with the buyers in the handful of bookstore chains that represent the vast majority of sales. They have incredible power and influence. Industry watcher Web site www.icv2.com recently named Kurt Hassler, the graphic novel buyer for the Borders Group bookstore chain, the most powerful person in the US manga publishing industry—over any publishing company CEO, publisher or manga creator.
http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/9478.html

Consider Other Book Sales Venues
Certain other sales venues may work well for some products, such as Scholastic Book Fairs for graphic novels that appeal to young readers. Others may be more challenging but still worth working with.

US comic book shops have begun to carry some manga, but they still specialize in American superhero and independent comic books. All sales to them are non-returnable, so they are very cautious about ordering. Store owners are frequently US comic book fanboys, and they tend to buy comics that match their own taste. Some of them are beginning to stock manga and manhwa.

US “big box” discount stores are very challenging because they do not stock a wide variety of any kind of books and they rarely stock all the volumes in a manga series. They tend to sell the top hits at any given time, and return books that do not sell at a very high rate. Furthermore, graphic novel fans do not typically go to them when looking for their favorite new releases.

Understand Consumer Differences
In Korea, as in Japan and other Asian countries, people of all ages read comics. There are comics for every age group, from simple color graphic novels for your kids to serious stories for people over 50.

Here is the US, there is still a strong bias against comics of any kind among people 25 years and older. The 13-24 demographic, split about evenly between males and females, is the best consumer target for graphic novels. They buy them with their own money and see reading them as rebellious and as a way to define their own generation’s form of entertainment. Younger kids below the age of 11 do not read comics in the US, partially because they tend to prefer TV and videogames and partially because their parents do not see much value or appeal in comics.

It is very important to consider that, while the US has over 300 million population, the average sales of a successful graphic novel are still in the low tens of thousands. This is less that the peak sales a few years ago in a smaller country such as Korea, with a population of under 50 million. It would be a mistake to think that the graphic novel market would grow to be a huge percentage of publishing in the US in just a few short years (such as in Japan, where manga is 40% of all print publishing). It may take several decades before people of all ages in the US read graphic novels as they do in Asia. The current teen generation needs to grow up, have families and communicate to their kids that reading graphic novels is worthwhile as well as fun for people of all ages.

Understand Marketing and Distribution Differences
In Korea, bookstore sales are fairly straightforward. The publisher supplies the stores with manhwa, which are displayed and sold. The publisher receives as much as 70% of the retail price. However, Korean manhwa rental stores are a challenging market because there are so many of them, they buy only a few copies that many people read, and they do not pay a percentage of the rental fee to the publisher.

In the US, solid bookstore sales for graphic novels are much more challenging to achieve, although success is possible with the right approach. Bookstores buyers follow the American rule that “the buyer is king” and dictate many terms. As kings, they feel free to refuse to carry books they do not want for any reason, and make very firm suggestions to the publishers about what to publish. They may require payments, called co-op funds and market development funds (MDF), in exchange for promoting books in their flyers, placing them in desirable and visible locations such as on higher shelves, end caps or tables, or accepting free-standing POP displays—all of which can yield significant results in increased sales. At any time, bookstores can return as many books as they like. These factors increase the marketing cost and the risk for US publishers.

In the US, the manga market grown explosively since 1999. Ironically, this growth occurred at the same time that the Korean manhwa business faced severe challenges from a sales decline due to the proliferation of manhwa rental stores, along with illegal scans posted on the Internet. The US differs in that most graphic novel fans still like to own their own collectible hard copy.

Finally, there are almost no graphic novel rental stores in the US. Only lending libraries present a significant alternative to individual ownership, and arguably, the US librarian’s acceptance of manga (previously, most of them disliked and even banned comic books) helped the growth of the manga revolution in the West by exposing kids to manga stories that they later purchased to collect. If rental stores were to become widespread in the US, it is likely that consumers would still buy books because of the collector mentality here.

Develop New Markets with Cross-Media Products
Korean manhwa publishers may do well to focus on finding partners to bring to the US sophisticated product lines of online manhwa, mobile manhwa and manhwa-based games, for PC, console and mobile phone. These digital products are rapidly becoming more popular in the US.

The US is lagging behind Korea in broadband penetration, but catching up fast. Young Americans are moving seamlessly between real and virtual life much like their Korean counterparts.

Cyworld, which has incredible market penetration in Korea, has just launched in the US. It faces serious competition from dozens of other social networking sites.

The jury is still out on whether online microtransactions will work, or whether US consumers mainly expect online content to be free with advertising support. The market is so new that it is hard to predict what products—and business models—will succeed. So it is risky, but promising.

Consider the Challenges of Introducing a Foreign Product in the US
For marketing reasons and to support the success of Asian graphic novels in the West, TOKYOPOP has branded all of our graphic novels as “Manga,” and this had caused some consternation among our Korean friends and colleagues. We used the Japanese pronunciation and Romanization because it was better known and already in use. Americans, for better or for worse, tend to accept only a few new foreign products or concepts at a time, and we felt we would fail if we tried to introduce to a mass audience multiple terms from different Asian countries: manga, manhwa and manhua (The Japanese Korea and Chinese pronunciations of the same two Chinese characters, 漫画, which literally mean “entertaining visual”). Many Americans still mispronounce the name for these graphic novels as “Magna,” “Magma” or “Mangia” so our work is not done!

The September 4, 2006 cover of the popular US magazine The New Yorker demonstrates this point. It shown the cutaway of a teenager’s brain, and of the 12 hot items listed as the best ways for marketers to reach that teenager (including MySpace and iPods) “manga” is one. I believe this could not have happened if we romanized all the local pronunciations and tried to segregate by nationality.

Ultimately, I believe that manga is a global phenomenon, and while all of us at TOKYOPOP acknowledge the nationality of all our creators, we don’t believe it should be advanced as a primary factor for categorization. Perhaps most important, most booksellers and consumers do not make a huge distinction based on the nationality of graphic novel artists.

As ShibbyNezumi posted on MangaNews:

“I think it’s the same with most of the American readers of graphic novels. Working at a bookstore, I’ve heard the kids refer to all of it as manga. Which perhaps isn’t fair to the manwha artists. But what can we do… The section of the store is called the manga section and it’s unlikely that it will ever get broken up into manga and manwha. It’s hard enough teaching them all how to say the names properly… much less telling them this manga is manga, while this one is manhwa. I look forward though to more manwha, and more manga. If China wants to join in with manhua, I’ll look forward to that too. If the plot and art are appealing, I don’t care where it’s from.”

Echoing this sentiment eloquently, the creator of the best-selling Japanese manga in the US, Fruits Basket, has this to say about the unity of global manga artists:

“I think that nationality has no relation to that which gives rise to manga,” the artist said. “Even among the Japanese, manga creators are making their creations everyday reflecting their own individuality, with none being the same. What is important aren’t the differences between the creators but their love for manga.”
– Natsuki Takaya, author of Fruits Basket.