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| Graphic novels published by Mimesis / Courtesy of Mimesis |
By Park Ji-won
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| The book cover of the award-winning graphic novel "Grass," by Kim Keum-suk which depicts the life of a wartime sex slave / Courtesy of Drawn & Quarterly |
According to Yes24, one of the leading online bookstores in Korea, the number of graphic novels sold on the internet grew 31.1 percent in 2020, while sales increased 6.9 percent from a year earlier. The number of graphic novels being published annually has gradually been increasing, with the publications of 140 books in 2020 alone, just under four times the number of publications seen in 2010 when the number was merely 37.
A graphic novel is a book written based on comics as seen in Marvel's graphic novel series. The key customers of the genre are women in their 40s. Those in their 40s accounted for 39.7 percent of all customers who bought those books, followed by those in their 30s (26 percent) and those in their 20s (15.6 percent). By gender, women in their 40s accounted for 25.9 percent followed by those in their 30s (15.9 percent), those in their 20s (11.4 percent), and those in 50s (7.5 percent). This contrasts starkly with the data of men; men in their 20s and 40s are the main customers of the comic books.
It added that the highest selling graphic novel over the last 10 years is "Maus: A Survivor's Tale" by Art Spiegelman, the first graphic novel to win a Pulitzer Prize in 1992.
The graphic novel, "Grass," by cartoonist Kim Keum-suk depicting the life of a wartime sex slave, won the prestigious Harvey Award for best international comic book in 2020. Kim was the first Korean cartoonist to win the prize, becoming a trailblazer in showing how subtle and serious the graphic narrative can be.
The company added that Japanese comic books account for the largest portion of the market, but the graphic novels from Europe and the United States started to take share over the last few years.
Kim Yoo-ri, a product manager of comics and light novels, said in a press release, "Graphic novels are gaining popularity thanks to the fact that readers can enjoy good stories with images. The publication of those books is expected to increase as more readers get interested in unique books."
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