UDON ANNOUNCES KOREAN MANHWA LINE

[MattBrady]

Press Release

What is Korean Manhwa? Combine unique storytelling techniques and manga-influenced artwork with the rich and diverse culture of Korea and you’ll end up with the latest craze in Asian comics! UDON Entertainment has partnered with Korean publisher Haksan to bring the best Korean Manhwa to North America and English readers everywhere in the Fall of 2007.

UDON’s new Korean Manhwa line launches this October with Star Project Chiro Vol.1, a romantic comedy that take a young girl through the often harsh world of pop stardom: “Eun-Yo Song has beauty, popularity – everything a girl could want! After a chance encounter with pop-singer Nan Lee, Eun-Yo finds herself getting caught up in the world of super stardom. But little does she know that Nan Lee has plans of his own for her…and she’s about to fall into his trap!”

Next, in November, a new take on a timeless classic will surprise and enchant you in the action/fantasy Dorothy of Oz Vol.1: “When Mara Shin’s dog Toto gets lost one fateful day, she follows his trail along some yellow brick road and ends up in the wonderful land of Oz! Everyone instantly starts calling her Dorothy, but these aren’t the cowardly lion, brainless scarecrow and heartless tin man adventures you remember. This fantastic fairy tale features familiar characters…but with a definite action/animated twist!”

Then in December, Magical JxR Vol.1 tells the story of two teenage wizards and the young girl they befriend: “Jay and Aru are two of the most popular students in wizardry school. However, before they can graduate, they must venture out into the REAL world and fulfill a one year magic contract with a human girl named Cho-Ah. Is Cho-Ah ready for a whole year with two enthusiastic wizards-to-be at her beck and call?”

With more titles planned for 2008, these three new ongoing series are just the beginning of UDON’s Korean Manhwa line. For all the latest news on these and future Korean Manhwa releases, head to the all-new www.KoreanManhwa.com .

STAR PROJECT CHIRO Vol.1 (ISBN 978-1-897376-11-9)
DOROTHY OF OZ Vol.1 (ISBN 978-1-897376-31-7)
MAGICAL JxR Vol.1 (ISBN 978-1-897376-61-4)

[Livewire2nd]

Udon Can't even Seem to Finish what they Have Why would I buy more stuff from them?

[Frankfurt]

Originally Posted by Livewire2nd

Udon Can't even Seem to Finish what they Have Why would I buy more stuff from them?

You pretty much nailed it.

[Jed Saxon]

Originally Posted by Livewire2nd

Udon Can't even Seem to Finish what they Have Why would I buy more stuff from them?

Because that stuff above is licensed and is probably needed/used to keep them able to produce those high-quality Street Fighter comics.

Korean Manhwa. Not that good a name. Tokyop/VIZ aren't calling their comics Japanese Manga. That would be the same as saying American American comics or French French comics..

[EMeadow]

Originally Posted by Livewire2nd

Udon Can't even Seem to Finish what they Have Why would I buy more stuff from them?

You said it is right!

Let's see, they still haven't explained why they coudln't get the last issue of Exalted out in single form and had to trade it only leaving fans who bought all the single issues (and the exclusive 0 issue) floating in the wind.

Rival Schools is no where to be seen (with the artist complaining on his blog bout being overworked cause he's got no time to finish his Oni OGN - which is called, stop taking the extra work if you can't find the time for it)

Darkstalkers is on the wayside.

Street Fighter's on another extended break. Granted, the first volume of the original manga came out, but that's late too.

To Erik Ko/Udon: You might want to try again to explain why leaving Image/Devil's Due was a good idea considering you've never been able to keep anything remotely close to a schedule since.

[udoneko]

To answer your questions -

Exalted's sales is not what we expected. By the end, we have to make a decision. The only way we can print the last episode is to do it with the trade. It is no secret, as you can easily find sales numbers online: we sell more trades to book stores than we can sell the single issues to comic stores. It is sad, but the comic market nowadays is not in favor to indie books.

We are also offering Exalted # 5 for download through our regular online publisher. As I said, we would love to publish the book, but really, we cannot afford to do so.

As for the Capcom books -

Rival Schools - hands down, my bad decision to put Rey on the book. I have no excuse. Though I still believe he is a talented artist. I wish him best of luck in his future work.

Darkstalkers - similar to Exalted, sales are not where we wanted it to be. The choice is either to stop it, or put someone cheaper on the book, that will result in dropping of quality. We choose to stop it and is doing everything we can to find an artist that is good and within our budget to continue.

Street Fighter - if you did not know already, our whole team is currently working on redrawing SUPER STREET FIGHTER TURBO for HD release. Yes, it means we are drawing everything in our style. It is our biggest challenge yet. We have been working on that since we ended SFII #6. Until we have finished this job, the book is on hold. That is why we are doing the SF Mangas in the mean time, to keep the SF franchise going while we are on haitus.

Please note that up till this point, UDON's main business is still on the creative services we do for our clients. In the beginning of 2007, I have decided that we shall push our publishing end further, thus we are now expanding to manga, manhwa, and artbook publishing. We are hoping that with these ventures, it will help us grow to become a stronger publisher, both financially and experience wise, so that we can keep doing more comics in the future.

Thank you for your support.

[Peasily]

More manhwa is welcome, because I can't get into the rhythm of the right to left reading of manga.

[asteroidjawa]

@udoneko
Thanks for the update on status of your projects. I know a few people who will be interested to know about them.

Sad to hear about Darkstalkers fate, but the Oz book sounds interesting. Always interesting to see classic stories told with a different style.

So just out of curiosity, since you covered the comics, what is the status of Udon doing artwork for the UFS CCG? The last few SF sets have contained very little SF art and with a Darkstalkers set to be released in November, how much of a set can we expect to have Udon artwork?

[udoneko]

We are currently working on the next set of SF cards as we speak! I know that because of possible schedule issues, soemtimes they have to source out some cards to other artists as well.

We enjoy doing the card game stuff a lot, and we will certainly do our best to fit as many of them in as possible when schedule allows!

[EMeadow]

Thank you very much for the response and the status of all the projects Erik. Glad to hear it and even though I may have gripes bout book status, I'm still putting my money down for them. Specially when the man in charge makes sure to answer questions.

But is Rival Schools still planned to finish whenever Rey finds the time? Or is the book not going to be finished?

[Jed Saxon]

Originally Posted by udoneko

Exalted's sales is not what we expected. By the end, we have to make a decision. The only way we can print the last episode is to do it with the trade. It is no secret, as you can easily find sales numbers online: we sell more trades to book stores than we can sell the single issues to comic stores. It is sad, but the comic market nowadays is not in favor to indie books.

Now THIS is strange. The book sold EXTREMELY well at our store and would've continued to do so if only Diamond (or you?) would've had fulfilled our re-orders. But since no issues arrived... well what should the shops do? We can't sell what we don't have.
Also the reprint of the first Street Fighter GNs took WAY too long. It's still selling very well but we had at least two customers that weren't that happy that we (or several other competitors) couldn't deliver the GNs to them.

Overall I'm glad that you switched to trades (for the Japanese SF stuff), 'cause at least we are selling our comics at lot better in that format.

Darkstalkers - similar to Exalted, sales are not where we wanted it to be. The choice is either to stop it, or put someone cheaper on the book, that will result in dropping of quality. We choose to stop it and is doing everything we can to find an artist that is good and within our budget to continue.

What about your great artists aside from Alvin Lee? Arnold Tsang, Long Vo or Omar Dogan? Nobody of them is in your budget?
Sure I'm not missing Darkstalkers that much but I also wouldn't mind seeing it continue. Aren't OGNs an option?

We are hoping that with these ventures, it will help us grow to become a stronger publisher, both financially and experience wise, so that we can keep doing more comics in the future.

Personally I'm wishing you the best of luck. Aside from Rival School not one single issue from Street Fighter or one of its spin-offs (didn't care for Exalted, sorry!) has disappointed me and I'm looking forward to more and I'm happy that you are translating the rest of the SF mangas.
BTW: Will "Cammy" have a new translation or will you use the VIZ translation (IF you decide to reprint it)? And will Masaomi Kanzaki's brilliant SF manga also have a new translation?

[asteroidjawa]

Originally Posted by udoneko

We are currently working on the next set of SF cards as we speak! I know that because of possible schedule issues, soemtimes they have to source out some cards to other artists as well.

We enjoy doing the card game stuff a lot, and we will certainly do our best to fit as many of them in as possible when schedule allows!

Thanks for the answer, and I hope you guys can get to the point where you can do art for entire sets again.

[Sano]

Hey what's up Udoneko! Thanks for holding things down and keeping us informed. I'm really excited about Super Street Fighter II Turbo in HD. Keep up the good work man and thanks for everything! The Korean Manhwa sounds interesting I'll be sure to check those out.

[lostphrack]

Originally Posted by EMeadow

But is Rival Schools still planned to finish whenever Rey finds the time? Or is the book not going to be finished?

That's what I'm wondering. It almost sounded like the final two issues weren't going to happen. That'd be a shame, I've enjoyed the series and would hate to see it go unfinished... Actually, for the past few months I've been under the impression that they're done and just awaiting the whole printing and shipping deal. Either way.. hope they come out eventually in some form.

And good luck with Manwha line!

[jamarmiller]

thanks for answering peoples questions

I got to admit I am sadden that the SF II comic has been absent for so long and will probally be most of this year as that is what I am MOST interested in, Despite me living in Japan I am not big on the Manga Translations because they dont fit in with your SF comics and I am basically a one continuity kind of guy and I choose your line of comics as the continuity I follow

[mellon]

I bought the Darkstalkers (Vampire Graphic File) artbook from Capcom JP it was a surprise to me to see Udon's work in it, I hope you guys bring more Capcom and other artbooks into English, artists like Jun Tsukasa or Range Murata, they would sell thru the roof! I loved the Eternal Challenge artbook Udon edition so I know you guys aim for high quality.