In memoriam: Lee Sang-moo, father of sports cartoons
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The Korea Manhwa Museum in Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province, holds an exhibition to honor the late cartoonist Lee Sang-moo (1946-2016) until April 14. / Courtesy of Korea Manhwa Museum
Poster for retrospective exhibition of the late cartoonist Lee Sang-moo (1946-2016)
By Baek Byung-yeul
For Korean cartoon fans who grew up in the 1970s and ‘80s, cartoonist Lee Sang-moo (1946-2016), who suddenly passed away of a heart attack on Jan. 3, will probably always reawaken their distant memories of childhood.
With his signature character Dokgo Tak, a boy with a buzzcut who strives to realize his dreams despite many ordeals, Lee gave children hope and taught them never to give up. Though he is widely known for his sports comics, especially baseball-themed ones, Lee also made readers laugh and cry with his family-themed comics.
Born in Gimcheon, North Gyeongsang Province in 1946, Lee, whose real name is Park No-cheol, took his first step as a cartoonist in 1963 while still in high school, publishing a four-part cartoon in a local newspaper.
After graduating, he moved to Seoul and became an apprentice of fellow cartoonists Park Ki-joon and Ki-jeong. In 1966 he made his official cartoonist debut with the high school romance cartoon “No Mi-ho and Joo Ri-hye” under the penname of Lee Sang-moo.
His breakthrough came in 1971 when he introduced Dokgo Tak in “Freckles.” In the comic, baseball player Dokgo Tak appears on the mound in disguise to fool his disapproving father.
Father of Dokgo Tak
Dokgo Tak is the character that made Lee one of the country’s most popular cartoonists.
Recalling the time when he started to gather attention as a celebrity cartoonist, Lee said in an interview with the local media a few years ago: “At that time when I debuted, a slew of budding cartoonists started to appear, and it was very hard for rookie cartoonists to show their presence. Despite tough competition, I could survive thanks to Dokgo Tak.”
Lee said he created Dokgo Tak, who has a rebellious spirit against social conventions and refuses to give up, in a bid to distance himself from the-then existing comics’ protagonists.
“First of all, I shaved almost all his hair to highlight his personality. When making his name, I used a two-syllable surname (most Korean family names consist of only one syllable), Dokgo as it sounds strong. And I decided to go with Tak as his first name to make him more dynamic.”
That was the beginning of his persona. Since his first appearance in “Freckles” in 1971, Dokgo Tak continued to appear in many of Lee’s sports comics including “Friendship Mound,” “The Boy Who Never Cries,” “Nine Red Caps” and “Run You Booby.” As Dokgo always lags behind compared to other protagonists who always come up triumphant, readers could easily immerse themselves in Lee’s cartoon works. Moreover, with the emergence of the country’s professional baseball league in 1982, Lee’s comics snowballed in the 1980s, producing a slew of young fervent followers who attempted to throw Dokgo Tak’s imaginative, untouchable pitch.
Thanks to their wild popularity, some of his hits were made into TV cartoons and animated features.
Not only did Lee release sports-themed comics but also he dealt with stiff real-world themes that seem to be difficult for his child readers to understand _ in “Beyond Hyeonhaetan” (Korea Strait), there is a struggle of second-generation Korean-Japanese. In “Choir of Pigeons,” protagonist Dokgo Tak’s older sister is a physically handicapped woman who contracted paralytic polio as an infant and later abandoned by her boyfriend. And in “Run You Booby,” Lee depicted Korean’s discrimination against a half-Korean, half-black character. Lee continued his creative attempts in the 1990s as well, drawing golf-themed comics.
Exhibition honors late cartoonist
As Lee was still planning out his next cartoon work, many others paid tribute following his sudden death.
To honor the late cartoonist, the Korea Manhwa Museum in Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province, is currently holding an exhibition.
Titled “Lee Sang-moo, The Boy Who Never Cries,” the retrospective exhibition opens Tuesday with hundreds of his junior and senior cartoonists.
“The exhibition is to honor Lee, who marked a new era in the country’s pop culture with his cartoon works that reflected the time period in the general lives of Koreans,” said Lee Hee-jae, chairman of the Korea Manhwa Contents Agency (KOMACON).
The museum said this exhibition was set up in cooperation with the cartoon agency, the Korea Cartoonist Association and the Cartoon and Animation Society in Korea.
At the museum, visitors can view Lee’s cartoon works, the tools he used and his video footage and photographs. Also, the exhibition pays tribute to the works of 28 cartoonists including Kim Kwang-sung, Kim Soo-yong, Yeo Ho-kyoung and Lee Chung-ho.
Lee’s retrospective exhibition will run until April 14. The museum is located near exit 5 of Samsan Gymnasium Station on Line 7, located in Bucheon, southwest of Seoul. Admission is free. For more information, call (032)310-3090 or visit
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