1 post tagged “korea”
Obtained: Brooklyn Public Library
Finished: 28-September 2008
Story Synopsis:
Joel hates Korea. Why he agreed to teach there defies his comprehension. He can't wait to return to normal life. His year of teaching is almost over and then he'll finally be free. But Joel's life is about to go from dark dreams to cotton candy kisses and it's all because of Hana. The very sight of this girl sends him flying straight to cloud nine, but won't another year in Korea send him crashing back down?
Commentary:
Young Canadian boy Joel decides that he's had enough of Korea. His job teaching at a Korean english language school is no longer satisfying, and things about the country that formerly amused him are now incredibly annoying. He's decided that he's going to quit his job and go back to Canada -- that is, till he develops an infatuation with the beautiful Hana, who just happens to be the English school's new secretary.
This romance-comedy comic, despite offering to show a portrait of current Korean culture, managed to find every single way to annoy me. I'm not a particularly militant or angry Asian-American, but this book takes all the known stereotypes about Koreans (and Asians) together and lumps it all in what may seem at first glance to be a sensitive book about the difficulties of a cute White boy dealing with this 'quirky' culture. Maybe it's not the Koreans who have a problem, maybe it's you.
I also don't care so much for the romance aspect of it. It's so incredibly shallow. I'm supposed to believe that even though he hates the culture and most everything about it that he's willing to overlook that because of this hot girl? Who doesn't even do or say anything particularly entrancing to convince me, the reader, why she's worthy of his attention in the first place. Is he suddenly hit with an incurable bout of yellow fever?
I had pretty high expectations for this comic since I saw it at MoCCA Fest earlier this year. I thought it was supposed to be something new, something different, something really worthy of all the praise that Oni Press lists on the page. But personally, this is the same old story wrapped up in a gaudy package.
Finished: 28-September 2008
Story Synopsis:
Joel hates Korea. Why he agreed to teach there defies his comprehension. He can't wait to return to normal life. His year of teaching is almost over and then he'll finally be free. But Joel's life is about to go from dark dreams to cotton candy kisses and it's all because of Hana. The very sight of this girl sends him flying straight to cloud nine, but won't another year in Korea send him crashing back down?
Commentary:
Young Canadian boy Joel decides that he's had enough of Korea. His job teaching at a Korean english language school is no longer satisfying, and things about the country that formerly amused him are now incredibly annoying. He's decided that he's going to quit his job and go back to Canada -- that is, till he develops an infatuation with the beautiful Hana, who just happens to be the English school's new secretary.
This romance-comedy comic, despite offering to show a portrait of current Korean culture, managed to find every single way to annoy me. I'm not a particularly militant or angry Asian-American, but this book takes all the known stereotypes about Koreans (and Asians) together and lumps it all in what may seem at first glance to be a sensitive book about the difficulties of a cute White boy dealing with this 'quirky' culture. Maybe it's not the Koreans who have a problem, maybe it's you.
I also don't care so much for the romance aspect of it. It's so incredibly shallow. I'm supposed to believe that even though he hates the culture and most everything about it that he's willing to overlook that because of this hot girl? Who doesn't even do or say anything particularly entrancing to convince me, the reader, why she's worthy of his attention in the first place. Is he suddenly hit with an incurable bout of yellow fever?
I had pretty high expectations for this comic since I saw it at MoCCA Fest earlier this year. I thought it was supposed to be something new, something different, something really worthy of all the praise that Oni Press lists on the page. But personally, this is the same old story wrapped up in a gaudy package.
