Horror cartoon 'Again' is scheduled to be serialized on Daum on 6tt
"I will create a fiction true to life in this work, too".
Kang Pool (age: 36, real name: Kang Do-young), a famous Korean webtoonist, makes comeback. He is formerly known for 'Innocent (Sunjeong Manhwa)', and 'A Fool'. On 6th next month, he will serialize his new horror cartoon 'Again' on Daum, a portal site. He is the first generation of web comic (webtoon or internet cartoon) artists. Page view of his works reached 60million. It is no wonder that netizens wholeheartedly welcome his comeback, calling it as the return of the king. Stories made by
Kang Pool are famous for their elaborate development so much so that 3 out of his 7 works were on the theatrical stage and reborn as movies and the remaining works are in the stage of discussion to make them as movie and drama.
We met him working on a new work at the office of 'Nuruk (Korean-style mold bran) Media' in Sinsa-dong, Seoul, on 23th. It was a long time since we saw him last winter when he finished the serialization of 'The Neighbor'. He looked healthier than before. As the serialization of 'The Neighbor' reached the final stage his physical strength was getting so weak that updates were postponed several times. After completing the work he spent 8 months only for him.
"My health became deteriorated due to 20 hours of work a day. After finishing my work I thoroughly enjoyed free time. I travelled with my wife', said
Kang Pool.
It, however, was not a complete break. He established 'Nuruk Media', a content management company, with Yang Yeong-sun, Park Chul-kwon, and Yun Tae-ho in May. The company was named after nuruk, Korean style mold bran. As nuruk is used for alcohol drinks, the company strives to promote contents of cartoon and add spice to them. The company is in charge of copyrights of those artists as he said in his introduction of the company, "It is dedicated to cartoons".
He didn't forget to voice concerns over social issues, whenever possible. He shared sorrow with netizens by uploading webtoon right after the death of former president Roh to pay tribute to him.
Horror cartoon 'Again' pits The Immortal against Master of Time
Preparing a new work, however, takes most of his time. Horror cartoon, 'Again', which he has worked on for 3 months, is soon to be released. It is his 4th pointless psychological mystery series.
"I developed a story about immortality while thinking about a person who never dies. Those who live forever appear in 'Again', going against time. That is why I named it as 'Again'. It contrasts those who transcend the boundary of time with master of time who can prevent them from living forever. It will present the largest scale and most powerful actions than my previous works have ever shown.
In the preparation stage, however, it was called 'Timing 2' given that it also deals with the Master of Time who was featured in his previous work,
"...ing". It shook off its image as a follow-up of
"...ing" and is soon to be open to the public. Characters of the previous work do appear in his latest work 'Again' but their proportion has been reduced and lead roles are new face. However, the main character is same. He is detective Yang Hyung-sik, who appears in his every pointless physiological mystery series. He is an investigator but at the same time he serves as a messenger who takes a dead soul to the underground.
"I don't like a perfect hero character. I prefer a hero with human side, who is capable but makes errors and feels pain. And detective Yang is the perfect fit. I've had some ideas about a story centering on him as a lead role. In 'Again', I fleshed out those ideas. I am considering prequel horror cartoon in dealing with high school days of detective Yang. I want to depict who he was before he became a detective and what made him the God of Death. Detective Yang will appear in my pointless psychological mystery series continuously", he said.
He summarized his latest work as "realistic fiction", adding that it was conceived while talking to Yang Yeong-soon, who is famous for 'Noodle Nude'. "We try not to expand the scale and forget where we come from", said
Kang Pool. That's because he witnessed countless precedents which failed due to burgeoning scale. That's why he focused on 'Human' in his latest work. He is determined to deal with human mind deeply while avoiding the scale expansion.
"I want to show that super natural power becomes trivial in front of love and trust".
His works rarely feature evil characters. Bad men who starred in his works are former president in '26 years' and serial killer in 'The Neighbor'. Except for them, every character in his works has reasons and pains which are addressed by others. Readers of his works are healed by looking back on their sufferings. That's why his cartoons receive enthusiastic supports from netizens.
"'Again' is about 'human story', focusing on the ethical view that humans are born good. I want to show that an ability to kill a person or control the time cannot win. The power of love and trust prevails. It will be about a story that says those who were hurt by people are healed by people. And it will also follow those who suffered under a situation which they couldn't control receive comforts", he added.
For rapid progress of the story in 'Again', he reduced lines and increased pictures. It is expected that the amount of serialization increases about two times, compared to the previous work. Still, his priority remains unchanged, a concrete story. "80% of my energy is spent on developing story lines, which is reasons for disqualification as a cartoonist", he said with laughs. "I start from the beginning if I am not satisfied with next episodes even if I already completed 10 episodes", he said, adding "I try until I myself find the episodes funny".
To him 'Again' is a new challenge given that it features the largest number of characters than any other his work did but he plans to reduce the lines and let the story proceed quickly. For this, he moved to a new studio and commutes to it from home while working on 'Again'. He formed a team for the first time. It is a quite small group, consisting of 3 members. He expects that he can focus on stories and meet the deadline punctually better than before.
Kang Pool sticks to serialize his works on every Monday and Thursday, hoping that office workers go to work on Monday and start a great week after seeing his cartoons. "I may soon draw cartoons which deliver messages to the society", he said, adding "'Again' is commercial cartoon. It is for fun. I hope the viewers to just enjoy it without trying to interpret it".
The Source : Segye Ilbo
