In my first post I wrote about a paperback anthology as found in a Seoul love motel, and thinking about it, love motels and cafes of the book or comic book variety are probably the only places where you’ll see Koreans holding actual paper comics in their hands. Even then, these comics are not what’s currently in vogue, and more often than not are simply Korean translations of long-running Japanese series.

To find the latest and best manwha or 만화 , you’ll have to peek over someone’s shoulder and see what’s on their smartphone, for most if not all Korean comics reside on the internet in the form of so-called webtoons (웹툰) , laid out for free on a html page or app, as opposed to the priced downloads offered by the Comixology application on behalf of Marvel etc. After a little peeking on the Seoul subway, my eyes were drawn to the bizarre yet beautiful 평범한 8반, aka Normal Class No. 8 by Parker Young 영파카. This new series on webcomic home Naver is told through the eyes of an average Korean school student, who alas was born with a not so average-sized head. It’s a huge noggin actually, for reasons left unclear to the reader, and his predicament is laid out below in 4 strips that showcase Young’s eye catching style.

The situation is obviously a bad one, until one day when the boy’s transferred to a new homeroom at school, one made entirely of fellow ‘freaks.’ Again, the how of these kids came to be isn’t important. This isn’t X-Men, and they’re not superheroes. Instead, Young is concerned with how these kids bond in class and deal with the outside world together. Friendships are made, and crushes are formed e.g. on a girl with a cheetah’s tail (who is admittedly drawn to conventional standards of beauty — big chest, small face — in a disappointing move by the artist considering the cartoon’s overall message).

Normal Class No. 8 also cleverly shows that these freakish kids can only really be taught by similarly freakish teachers. For example, Vincent Van Gogh is their art teacher, reminding the reader why the kids’ physical differences are rarely discussed in the strip. One should think how often we discuss our own differences in day-to-day life, the ones within that lay invisible to the naked eye, much like the problems that dogged Van Gogh throughout his life.

Perhaps in a society like South Korea’s, not fitting in can indeed be viewed as freakish as an over-large head, or having a rubbery body like DC’s Plastic Man. Such freaks would naturally bond together, although outside of a school environment you’d be hard-pressed to find similar souls, whether in Korea or elsewhere. Talking of Korea, the comic stays grounded with little details that will be familiar to the teaching majority of Korea’s expats e.g. the Samsung PC and almost-uniform plastic slippers as shown below.

Last year an American company published a physical and digital anthology called Komacon, a great looking anthology of mythical tales and skits by current Korean artists. I’d argue though that the humdrum if odd nature of Normal Class No. 8 is a better representation of the askew tradition of present Korean manga. If you’re curious about the strip, you can peruse its fan cafe, or follow the creator’s blog & Facebook.