Inspired by the life of his own mother – and roughly based on written accounts and anecdotes that she provided about her life and that of her peers  – Yeong-Shin Ma's Moms – translated into English from the Korean original by Janet Hong – is a strikingly empathic and highly engaging account of the lives of a group of 50-something Korean working women.  In its 368 pages readers will experience the ups and downs of their loves, marriages and affairs (of which there are plenty) – including various intimate details – on the one hand, and their unrelenting working lives on the other.  Scattered in between are child-rearing – with a focus on the stay-at-home son that is the stand-in for the author – and other family matters, like funerals.  Through it all, there is the bond that the moms share with each other.  It is this, perhaps more than anything else, that keeps them all going.  And while the particulars of these women's lives will provide readers with insights into Korean life and culture – which is, if anything, even more patriarchal and paternalistic than that of the USA – there is a clear universality at the core of the stories and of the work as a whole.  These moms are characters that live and breath on the page.  

Korean comics-maker, Yeong-Shin Ma's follow-up to the biting-yet-moving Moms has arrived.  Artist is a 646 page, full color, flexi-cover graphic novel that takes an up close and personal look at the lives of three none-too-successful, long-suffering and still-struggling artists, all in their mid-40s.  A painter, a writer and a musician, living in a limbo between ideal and reality, between adolescence and adulthood...

To learn more, we recommend Lindsay Pereira's review on Broken Frontier, which also includes a few sample pages.

This new work – a 350 page softcover with translucent dustjacket – from the creator of Moms (a Copacetic favorite) is just in here and so we don't have much to say about it, yet, other than the fact that we are intrigued that the work's two parts start on opposite sides of the book and meet in the middle – and may be read in either order!  "Lake" starts at the Western side and is read left-to-right; "Island" starts at the Eastern side and is read right-to-left.  You decide where to start.  Which start point will we choose....?  Maybe flip a coin!

Take a moment to check out this PDF preview provided by D &Q and see what you think.

 

For now, here's the D & Q write-up:

 

HODO: A Life In Two Acts

A deeply affecting portrait of a woman’s life from the author of the Harvey Award-winning Moms.

At first there was “Lake,” and then there was “Island.” Or was it the other way around? A story told in two parts, it is up to the reader to determine where they’d like to begin this eerie journey. Based on a true story that Yeong-shin Ma felt compelled to help share, together these two parts are Hodo—the story of a painter, whose hard and dark past is brought to life with sensitivity and authenticity. 

Lake—

Hodo is haunted—by her mother and step-mother, her classmates, a neighbor, and yes, literal ghosts. She is also five years old. Through masterful cartooning, we see a child’s despair in the face of pervasive violence, and her confusion as to why bad things keep happening to her. We see the edges of her depression begin to appear. 

Island—

Hodo is haunted—by her past, a friend’s suicide, her sister’s heartbreaking yet unsurprising betrayal, and yes, literal ghosts, still. Through masterful cartooning, we see a woman reckoning with her past and the shadow it has cast on her adulthood. But we also see her develop her artistic practice and witness her determination to find herself through her paintbrush. Because despite the incredible pain, Hodo is a story of light in the dark—a story of hope. 

From the author of critically acclaimed Moms, Hodo is translated by award-winning Janet Hong. 

Want to keep going?  Then take a moment to check out this PDF preview from D & Q.