19th Bucheon International Comic Festival – 부천국제만화축제

August 6, 2016 shooky

Bucheon, July 31st 2016,

I went to Bucheon Comic Festival on the last day of the event. That day was Sunday, and I decided to depart around 9 o’clock in the morning from home. I thought Bucheon was far, but not really. So I arrived there around 9.50, then,, the ticket booth still closed hahaha so I was waiting, queueing with the other visitors until they opened at 10 AM. The ticket was 5000 won, but I got discount because I registered early, so I paid only 3000 won for entrance ticket. I received the entrance pass , stamp tour map, and paper fan.

I started with the nearest booth, Special Comics Market I, most of the booths are promoting Webtoon, both platform for reading Webtoon and selling Webtoon book. I saw one booth which was selling japanese figures in cheap price. I also tried drawing like a comic author there hehe they sold a kind of tool that let you draw as if you drew on paper, but your drawing will be shown directly on computer. I wanted to buy it but the cheapest one was 80k won hahaha I couldn’t eat for a week then. I spent a lot of money here :'( I bought Snoopy special 65th anniversary postcard and case file. And I also spent money to buy 3 new webtoon comic book hahahaha because I spent a lot, the seller gave me a lot of bonus, even poster. After I arrived home, it just became another trash in my room hahaha but I always grateful receiving this kind of things hahahaha Before leaving this place, I asked for stamp and received one pouch of orange juice haha

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After that I cross the street and move to the second Special Comics Market. I crossed one rest area nearby, and how amazing it was.. you will see some cafe where you can read graphic novel and comic book, and the interior was cute from outside.

So, I came inside the second comics market. Well, this market sold home-made stuffs things, and some creativity corner, for example caricature drawing for some Won, and many cute things here. I saw one shooting range corner also there, pay for 3000 won or 5000 won for some bullets then shoot the target to get the price, I wanted to try but the line was quiet long. Then I went to the next booth. This booth belonged to Korean Manhwa Museum. There I saw some property related to old manhwa generation, and they gave some old Korean snacks also. But in order to get the snacks, you have to play some traditional game. One of the staff talked to me in English and ask whether I could read Hangul or not. I said yes then He dragged me to stand in line and try the game. hahaha Basically, you just read the sentence “만화는 상상력! 저작원은 경쟁력!” . After I read that sentence, I was asked to pick one word from the sentence. I picked “만화” word, then I picked the stick bamboo. If I match the word with the word on the stick, then I will get all of the snacks provided, otherwise I will only get one snack depends on the word written on the stick. Well, without any burden I just picked one, then beginner’s luck haha I got the same word and I put another weight into my bag with all of the snacks hahaha What a very fun festival haha

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I went out and go to next booth named Children Dream Toon Zone. From entrance itself I knew it would be like that hahaha in here I only saw animation and comic for children. Inside they provided one area for children to experience building blocks. And there were some other experience corner also for children to try, for example VR Toon using Oculus Glasses, etc. I also read some comics made by children, and also they put comics for children in the wall. I recognized one, “귀신 선생님과 진짜 아이들”, since I had the comic book with the author’s autograph haha Before leaving, I took the stamp and got 2 bottles of drinking water.

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After seeing the Market, I moved to the main exhibition inside the Manhwa Museum. I came for this~ When I was walking towards the Museum, I saw a lot of cosplayers who were preparing for their show. Unfortunately I couldn’t watch the show because I have to go back fast, then I skipped the show and focus only on the exhibition.

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Well, at the entrance, they already put the interesting booth! When I step inside, I saw a gate with “만화의 미래 – The Future of Comics” written there. At first, I thought like “What kind of theme is this?” Because I found it interesting for Engineer student like me. Then I found out that, the title was not a theme or concept, but it was a comic book title hahaha But it is kind of concept too, since they introduced VR Toon as the future of comics there. And in the same time they released new comic book title “The Future of Comics 2030”. Still in the same area, They provided some preview about the comic book. Basically it is a collection comic book contains of 19 stories. The concept is about what will happen in the next 2030. One of the story is related to VR technology also. As expected, I ended up buying the book because… I am an Engineer. 😐 Before leaving, I also tried the VR Toon. And you can find out how it looks like in the link I attached above.

I saw one sign event from one of the Future of Comics 2030’s author, but I was late, so I could not receive any hahaha And I moved to next exhibition, Yoon Tae-ho’s Special Exhibition – Archeology of Life. Yeah he is the one who create Misaeng Webtoon 😀 every of his artworks were presented in one big exhibition hall. I noticed that the type of his drawing was similar to Misaeng. The character’s drawing type is similar, but yeah it was his character of drawing that make him different. Inside not only the work title, but also the sketch, the tools for drawing was there.

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The museum was quiet big, I was tired already here because there were many stuffs inside my bag and heavy 🙁 but I keep going haha. for short, you can see the history of Korean Manhwa here, you can see the evolution of Korean Comic from this area. I couldn’t express it with word, but really, you have to visit this place, even if you are not comic reader, but this place was lovely place and amazing of course 😀 I took the stamp again and got my other mouse pad special souvenir hahahaha special only for this year festival.

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Move to last exhibition hall, named Global Exhibition. Inside was international comic exhibition. The main exhibition was Snoopy, and the other was Chinese comic arts. And I spent another Won for one mug of Schroeder hahaha He is the handsome male character from Snoopy story. I couldn’t stand not to buy it since I’m collecting cute mug at home -,-” the original price was 10k but they sold it for 8k won at the festival. Anyway the exhibition was superb. I got to know the history of Snoopy and the charisma of each characters there. Ah, I didn’t forget to ask for stamp but I refused the souvenir haha because it was ramyun 🙁

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After spending 3-4 hours there and completing all the stamp, I went home bringing the fun experience and fresh idea about many things 🙂 I always love visiting any festival like this in Korea. Their animation and comic industry is something different than what other countries have. Thank you for inspiring me a lot, hope Korean Animation and Comic Industry can move forward internationally. 😀

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