Vietnamese comics before the open door

Publishing units are still making efforts for Vietnamese comics, but although many comic series have been published, there is still a lack of works that are attractive enough for readers of all ages.

Phan Thi is a unit that continuously creates comic books suitable for each period and age. Once famous for the comic book series Than Dong Dat Viet and created a buzz with the comic book series Masterpiece - adapted from famous literary works such as: Chi Pheo, Giong To, Chiec Comb Ivory, Tat Den... At the time when the situation of the sea and islands was "heating up", Phan Thi quickly released comic books Than Dong Dat Viet on the topics of Truong Sa and Hoang Sa.

Recently, this unit has also introduced the purely Vietnamese comic magazine Dream Way for school-age children. The playground has been opened for writers who are still passionate and persistent with sharing comics online. However, whether Dream Way can attract young readers with foreign comics or not still needs to wait for the market to evaluate.

Phan Thi Company's media representative said that for each comic series, the unit sets up a fanpage to promote and interact with readers. Currently, Hoc sinh chan kinh is the best-selling comic series, receiving many positive responses from readers. Hoc sinh chan kinh (made by BRO group) attracts with its humorous story, witty drawings suitable for school-age children - the current target audience of comics.

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However, a drop of water does not make a river, not to mention that Vietnamese comics always face many problems in terms of quality, both in content and images. The historical comic strip is exploited by many publishing units, but almost all have the same weakness: only illustrating history rather than having a truly vivid story. Meanwhile, the fairy tale comic strip has the mistake of distorting values: one is the story is shortened with monotonous drawings; two is the creation in a "trendy, modern language" style that is condemned by public opinion.

Even comic books that attract the visuals are judged to be similar to Japanese manga and anime. Vietnamese comics still follow the shadow of success, motifs, and drawing styles of foreign comics. This can be clearly seen in the works that are loved by teen readers on the forum vetruyen.com. It has been decades since Vietnamese comics had a series that has been as consistently loved as Than Dong Dat Viet.

As for the relatively popular Vietnamese comic books today, in addition to the books from Phan Thi Company, there is also the Bubu series (with Ybook version, Tre Publishing House) for readers under six years old. Kim Dong Publishing House has strengths in historical comic books: Southern Spirit, Vietnamese Historical Comics...; but in general, the famous and popular comic books that are loved by teenage audiences are mainly foreign books. This is also the main source of profit for publishers when exploiting the comic book segment. As for purely Vietnamese comic book creations, the first priority is still "passion for children" and not for business purposes.

Purely Vietnamese comic magazine Dream Way has just been introduced to readers.

According to the sharing from the book publishing units, the cost of purchasing the copyright for translation (average under six million/work) is much cheaper than the amount of money invested for Vietnamese authors to create comics. Not to mention the effort of finding collaborators and investing in the implementation but the manuscripts sent back do not meet the requirements.

“Most comic artists cannot make a living from their profession. Sometimes it takes half a year to write and draw a book, while the demand for comic books among children is extremely high. Foreign books are pouring in while our own books are only trickling in. How can we compete?” - an editor in charge of children's books worried.

Mr. Nguyen Minh Nhut - Director of Tre Publishing House said: "Children's comics must follow a series, a series, and cannot be published individually. We call for and welcome collaborators from all over the world, but it is not easy. Even the Bubu story took a lot of time to test, "dying" many images to come up with the final version of the Bubu character."

Recently, the Institute of Comics and Animation (directed by Ms. Phan Thi My Hanh, General Director of Phan Thi Company, under the Vietnam Association of Design and Fine Arts Creation) has opened a wider door for Vietnamese comics. "The first task of the institute is to record the history of the development of Vietnamese comics and animation through the ages, then the successful lessons from comics of countries around the world, to absorb and popularize for young artists in the country" - Ms. Phan Thi My Hanh expressed.

With this open door, can we expect a stronger and more sustainable development for purely Vietnamese comics?

According to PNO