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Comic artists battle for survival

Chang Chung-chin, vice-secretary of the Chinese Comics Association holds up a comic book last Saturday. Local comic artists claim their industry is under threat from foreign imports and want the government to do more to promote their industry. PHOTO: HOU CHIEN-CHUEN, TAIPEI TIMES

Comics are becoming more popular the world over, and Taiwan has been flooded by foreign comic books.

Japanese and South Korean comics are popular, while China has been doing its best to catch up. Taiwan, however, is lagging behind.

To remedy the situation, local artists have established their own association and hope the government will come up with a plan to foster and promote local comics.

Chang Chung-chin (張重金), vice-secretary of the Chinese Comics Association, said that Taiwanese comics used to be highly regarded in East Asia, but in recent years, South Korea has been on the rise.

Both South Korea and Japan actively cultivate the manga culture in their countries, he said, while China has been setting up school departments and making a great effort to cultivate professional comics artists.

Chang said comics are the origin of cultural creativity and the digital media industry.

Although schools in Taiwan have rushed to set up digital media departments in recent years, there are no departments for comics artists, which will make it difficult for the local digital media industry to create first-rate video games and software, he said.

Citing South Korea as an example, Chang said that the Seoul government has created a substantial reward program to encourage comics and set up digital, media technology and game animation departments in high schools to integrate culture, animation, games, film, TV, advertising and commercial products.

This effort to produce an "Arirang" culture has been a success, he said, and the South Korean comic book industry rose from an estimated 880 million won (US$0.96 million) in 2002 to 6.2 billion won in 2005.

By comparison, the Government Information Office offers a NT$700,000 award in a comic book competition.

Although this is an encouragement to Taiwanese artists, they would like to see a more comprehensive plan for fostering and promoting their art.

To unite comics artists in this country, Chang launched the Taiwan Comics Association Blog.

He said the Internet-based association has 44 members, including some famous artists. Their goal is simple: expanding local Taiwanese comics art.

Chang said he was also planning to organize a comic book fair in conjuction with organizations such as the Chinese Comics Association, and to cooperate with the government to organize an exhibition of the work done by comics artists nationwide.
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