A Powerful Beginning for Korean Manhwa of the Next 100 Years: BICOF 2009

The 12th BICOF (Bucheon International Comics Festival) explodes with a big bang at the Korea Manhwa Contents Agency.

Our Big Hope, BICOF2009

The 12^th Bucheon International Comics Festival (known as BICOF2009), the only festival specializing in Korean comic named manhwa, will be held at the Korea Manhwa Contents Agency from September 23 and September 28. With the theme of the Big Bang, BICOF2009 has prepared a variety of events to commemorate 100 years of Korean manhwa, beginning with an opening ceremony held jointly between BICOF2009 and the Korea Manhwa Contents Agency(KOMACON), to celebrate and observe the grand opening KOMACON.

Manhwa Mastery: The Power of 100 Years of Training (Exhibitions)

This year, BICOF features a special exhibition of the work of Lee Hee-jae, a BICOF2008 award winner best known for his work, Akdongii(The Malicious Child), with its realistic depiction of Korea in the 1980s. This special exhibition will give visitors an opportunity to survey the relationship between manhwa and their time periods, seeing how comics reflect the conditions of their eras. The exhibit will include manhwa for every age group, ranging from children’s comics to adult-oriented realist manhwa. In addition, readers will have a chance to meet and talk with the artist at an ‘open talk’ with Lee Hee-jae, who incidentally created the illustration on the poster for this year’s BICOF.

Moreover, as an international event, BICOF2009 is not limited to just Korean works; visitors can look forward to seeing works from abroad as well. A featured special exhibition will show works by invited Italian master Milo Manara, offering a chance for visitors to break existing prejudices about adult erotic comics, as well as to be exposed to European comics that are not very well known in Korea. This exhibition will be a valuable opportunity for Milo Manara’s Korean fans to glimpse his works in a single viewing, along with an exhibition of hommages by Korean artists.

Along with the exhibits mentioned above, an international exchange exhibition called “Lingua Comica Re-play” will be held, introducing Lingua Comica to the public and providing a retrospective of its activities to date. An exchange program for comics and artists in Asia and Europe, Lingua Comica is internationally active, and it is our goal to again host Lingua Comica next year at the 2010 BICOF.

An abundance of other exhibitions have been scheduled, as well, including One Hundred Years of Korean Manhwa, Toon Toys, remakes of classic manhwa along with a touring exhibition of excellent Korean manhwa, and Cartoon Landmarks.

Manhwa Battery: Energy Recharge (Events)

Starting from the day of the opening ceremony, September 23^rd, a variety of colorful and interesting events on the ‘Big Bang’ theme are awaiting the participation of festival-goers. Events planned for visitors include the BICOF ‘Best of the Best’ Cosplay Event (costume roleplay) and a Popular Artists Autograph Signing Event. Activities are also planned for the enjoyment of artists, not just visitors, such as One Night / Two Days for comic artists. Some other events awaiting festival visitors are ‘Comics Meet Music,’ ‘Comics Meet Animation,’ and “Manhwa Golden Bell Challenge”.

Manhwa Calories: The Original Power Source (Fair)

With 50 booths ranging from the Artist Zone to the School Zone, Business Zone, and Art Market, an open-air fair (Manhwa Calories) will be held at BICOF2009. Featured exhibitions of many popular Korean manhwa artists are planned. And, manhwa artists and their fans will be able to form an even closer relationship through a collaborative artists/fans exhibition showing a variety of works created by manhwa artists and fans working together, based on a specific concept.

Manhwa Nutrition: Meal Replacement (Conference)

One of the main events indispensable to BICOF, this academic conference promises to be an informative and practical time, with distinguished guests from a variety of countries together with well-known Korean artists. Through a conference of CEOs of world comics museums, examples will be shared of best practices in such areas as museum management, scholarly research, and preservation. In part, this represents an effort to seek directions for improvement of the Korea Comics Museum. At the ‘Mania’ Session, well-known manhwa illustration artists in Korea have been invited to present tutorial sessions. In the Business Session, strategies for the advancement of Korean manhwa into foreign markets will be sought out.

Before the start of the festival, great efforts are being made by the festival organizing office of the Korea Manhwa Contents Agency to spread awareness of the festival to a broad audience of festival-goers and to promote their participation, with various online events on Naver and the BICOF Website, among others, so there are high expectations that a large number of visitors will be attracted to make this year’s festival a great success.