Question for Manhwa Readers | PopCultureShock

15 May, 2007

Question for Manhwa Readers

By: Katherine Dacey

Does anyone have information about Ice Kunion’s much-delayed publication schedule? As far as I can tell, very few of their 2007 releases have arrived in bookstores (or at amazon.com, for that matter). I checked their website and quickly discovered that it hasn’t been updated since December 2006. The forums are still active, but I found this discouraging message posted by the moderator on May 13th:

Currently there has been no announcement/news about when the February [and onwards] releases will be back on schedule. I’ve tried contacting IK, but of to no avail. However, please be assured that once I get any info I will post them here ASAP.

Thanks for reading, and for your patience.

That jives with my own experience attempting to reach Ice Kunion using the email address provided on their website. All of my messages were returned to me marked undeliverable. If you have any news about the company or its production schedule, please comment below. Thanks!

POSTSCRIPT (5/16/07): I learned late last night that Ice Kunion and UDON dissolved their partnership in December 2006. That certainly explains the publication delays, but it’s unclear whether Ice Kunion will continue operation or sell their catalogue to other American publishers. Stay tuned for more information about both companies.

POSTSCRIPT (5/18/07): As of today, the Ice Kunion website appears to be down. No further information about the company’s status is readily available. If I learn anything else, I’ll be sure to post it here at Manga Recon.

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28 Responses to "Question for Manhwa Readers"

1 | yukitherat

May 17th, 2007 at 8:38 am

I am really not surprised. This is really sad, and very disappointing. It is stuff like this that will ruin the manwha market in America. Personally, I am very tired of spending hundreds of dollars on a manwha (and even manga) series only to have the series be cancelled or have the publisher disappear without even having the grace to inform the public. Tokyopop is also really good at dropping manwha series and just expecting the readers to be okay with it and pretend it never happened. I am becoming more and more weary of the whole mess and am starting to re-think picking up new series at all, since I only have a handful of companies that I actually trust will finish the series. Heck, I wouldn’t be surprised if in the future we started seeing class action lawsuits come out against these companies… worst case of course..

2 | Katherine Dacey-Tsuei

May 17th, 2007 at 9:34 am

NETCOMICS has adopted a really sensible approach to the American market: make manwha titles available online for free (or a nominal fee), give fans a forum to discuss them, then print the series with the biggest following. It’s too bad Ice Kunion didn’t try a similar approach. Gauging from the company’s message boards, fans are passionate about several IK series (The Antique Gift Shop, Cynical Orange). If given a more visible forum for sharing their enthusiasm, the fans might have helped IK develop a wider audience for their product.

If I learn anything else about Ice Kunion, I’ll post it here.

3 | Stephanie Duchin

May 17th, 2007 at 8:47 pm

This is actually a question for yukitherat… What titles from Tokyopop have been dropped? I only know of one or two titles that the company has ever done that to. Some of their titles aren’t finished yet in Korea (or Japan), so it’s possible that the titles you think have been dropped haven’t, they’ve just been waiting for a new volume to come out in the original country (or, in some cases, the title had been dropped by it’s original publisher, so it’s not Tokyopop’s fault).

4 | Katherine Dacey-Tsuei

May 17th, 2007 at 9:35 pm

As far as I know, Tokyopop hasn’t dropped any manwha series owing to poor sales. A few series were discontinued for the reasons Stephanie lists above–the publishers went bankrupt, the magazines in which they were serialized folded. Tokyopop is also aggressive about licensing new series, which means that it often catches up to the original Korean or Japanese manga. The Tarot Cafe and QWAN are two examples of series that went on temporary hiatus for that very reason; both are now back in production.

Yuki, if you’d like me to inquire about the status of a favorite series or two that seems to have been cancelled, please let me know.

5 | yukitherat

May 17th, 2007 at 9:42 pm

Answer for Stephanie, Off the top of my head, here is my list of titles that Tokyopop have dropped (and if they have not dropped they have not released in over a year, which is just as bad, and if they are not finished in their country it would be nice if they posted that on their website with the manga info): Honey Mustard, INVU, Legal Drug, and what happened to One, Neck & Neck, Soul to Seoul? Over a year between releases what is up with that, really? When TP started they were releasing on a decent schedule, now it is a total wait and see.

6 | Katherine Dacey-Tsuei

May 17th, 2007 at 9:47 pm

Yuki: Legal Drug is on hiatus because the magazine that was carrying it went bankrupt. CLAMP announced at last year’s Comic-Con that they planned to resume work on the series, but as far as I know, no new chapters have been serialized in Japan. I’m not sure about the other titles you list, but if you can give me a day or two I can post the answer for you here.

7 | yukitherat

May 17th, 2007 at 9:53 pm

And to Katherine. Thanks for the offer, but at this point I don’t even remember what I liked about those series anymore anyway, but it is very nice of you to ask. Lately I am sticking to June, 801, Go Comi, Netcomics and until this year Ice Kunion. Oh I do buy a Blu title once in awhile. And if I am being too hard on TP I am sorry to any fans, but back around the time they updated their website it seemed they revised their whole focus and it all went down hill from there - at least in my eyes. I have an entire closet full of TP releases, and 90% of them were bought before they changed their site. : )

8 | Katherine Dacey-Tsuei

May 17th, 2007 at 10:18 pm

If you change your mind about those TP titles, I’m happy to ask around. I understand how you feel–there were several Ice Kunion series I was reading, but it’s been months since the last volumes arrived in stores. I’m having trouble remembering why I was so enthusiastic about Bring It On!

9 | Yukitherat

May 18th, 2007 at 11:18 pm

Thanks again, and if I do I will surely let you know. Oh and Bring it on… um… I liked it a lot, but like you I am having trouble remembering why. I think my biggest disappointment when it comes to Ice Kunion is that I have been waiting forever for them to release ‘You’re So Cool’. I was really looking forward to that series, and now it looks like it might never see the light of day in America. Well, maybe we will get lucky and Netcomics or someone will pick up some of Ice Kunion’s series. Netcomics needs a few new ‘blockbuster’ series.

10 | gidget

May 20th, 2007 at 1:19 pm

I’m hoping Ice Kunion will carry on.

I like their editing & their quality (although one of their books did have the phrase: “What the crab is going on?!”) & I have ONE MORE BOOK TO GO before Bring It On is finished. I was really looking forward to the release in March too!

11 | Katherine Dacey-Tsuei

May 20th, 2007 at 7:35 pm

I do, too–Ice Kunion did a nice job with the books they published. I liked the larger trim size and the cover designs for many of their titles.

12 | Sara Wilson

May 22nd, 2007 at 8:55 pm

You can get to the site this way:

http://www.icekunion.com/ice/portal.html

For whatever reason the main page doesn’t work but all the others do.

Also, I asked my Diamond Comics rep abut the books, they said they are shipping May 30th.

13 | tg

May 23rd, 2007 at 11:59 pm

Thank you for the link. ^__^

14 | Peter Ahlstrom

May 24th, 2007 at 2:52 pm

Honey Mustard, INVU, Legal Drug, and what happened to One, Neck & Neck, Soul to Seoul?

Honey Mustard was canceled in Korea. The next book never came out, so there’s nothing TOKYOPOP can do about it.

I.N.V.U. went on hiatus in Korea while the artist worked on Queen’s Knight. When that series finished, she went back to I.N.V.U. TOKYOPOP’s volume 4 comes out in September.

Soul to Soul 5 (final volume) is coming in September.

One volume 10 became an online exclusive and was released in December 2006, but the online exclusives program has pretty much fizzled. I’m not sure what’s going on with it, but it’s now listed for a more normal release in November, with volume 11 to follow in December. (But this may be subject to change, I’m really not sure.)

The same thing happened with Neck & Neck 6. It’s currently listed for September, with 7 and 8 to follow in October and November. That sounds crazy though, so, um…stay tuned to see if it actually happens.

15 | bk1

May 26th, 2007 at 4:46 am

Udon’s name now appears on the koreanmanhwa.com page while the icekunion.com page is down. It seems as if Udon might be selling its own manhwa now? Does this also mean Udon has bough out ICE Kunion’s catelogue? I’m very worried about the status of the titles that ICE Kunion was releasing…

16 | Sara Wilson

May 26th, 2007 at 11:05 am

On the newest shipping update from Diamond, the following are set for 6/6/07 delivery. So not this coming week’s shipment, but next Wednesday it should start hitting stores, especially smaller comic shops. I especially like the fact that we are getting 2 volumes of Legend and it looks like they are trying to get back on a regular schedule.

11TH CAT VOL 5
ANGEL DIARY VOL 6 GN
ANTIQUE GIFT SHOP VOL 5 GN
BRING IT ON VOL 5 G
CHOCOLAT VOL 5 GN
COMIC VOL 3 GN
CROQUIS POP VOL 1 GN
CYNICAL ORANGE VOL 4 GN
FOREST OF GRAY CITY VOL 2 GN
FREAK VOL 3 GN
GOONG VOL 2 GN
HEAVENLY EXECUTIONER CHIWOO VOL 4 GN
HISSING VOL 4 GN
LEGEND VOL 2 GN
LEGEND VOL 3 GN
ONE THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTS VOL 4 GN
YOURE SO COOL VOL 1 GN

17 | tg

May 26th, 2007 at 11:56 pm

ICEKunion is apparently still around (according to the forum’s mod) but their main site is down. As for that long list, nothing for Moon Boy!? Ahhhh… *goes insane crazy from Moon Boy withdraw symptoms*

18 | Katherine Dacey-Tsuei

May 27th, 2007 at 5:11 pm

Thanks for the updates, guys. It’s my understanding that UDON will be launching its own line of manwha–I don’t know if they have any plans to publish any of Ice Kunion’s titles. As I learn more, I’ll be sure to share it.

I’m a little skeptical about Diamond’s release date info. These books have appeared on Diamond’s shipping lists over and over again, only to be delayed. I’ll believe it when I see it on the shelves. The sad thing is that IK could have alleviated much of the fan frustration and speculation with a website update… even just a note to their readers asking for patience would have been a welcome gesture.

19 | Howard Brown

May 29th, 2007 at 3:26 am

Udon has gone official with their Manhwa titles. The rest is still unknown.

http://www.popcultureshock.com/index.php?p=41863

20 | Katherine Dacey-Tsuei

May 29th, 2007 at 2:47 pm

Thanks, Howard!

21 | Cammi

August 18th, 2007 at 5:08 pm

Yen Press has bought Ice Kunion and will not be releasing any new manhwa series until 2008. All currently running manwha from Ice Kunion are currently being rush translated for print.

Please read the entire story here.

http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6462464.html

22 | Katherine Dacey-Tsuei

August 18th, 2007 at 6:14 pm

Cammi: Thanks for the link. We posted the news (and a link to the same PW story) several weeks ago in a separate blog entry.

23 | kellie

December 13th, 2007 at 9:37 pm

Hi there… I was kindda wondering about this manwha called “Honey Mustard” i wanted to know if anyone knows if there a fith book thats coming out or not? Cuz i really love reading that anime book…

24 | Lyd

January 11th, 2008 at 9:23 pm

I think that they should start up Hiney Mustard again because it is at a cliff hanger and this book is really good

25 | ashley

January 31st, 2008 at 12:23 am

hey, does anyone know if they are going to continue the “Angel diary” series because they left me hanging at the fith book. All of the book stores are all out of stock for the 6th book, and it’s been that way for about six or seven months.

26 | Katherine Dacey

January 31st, 2008 at 12:54 am

Ashley:

Yen Press acquired the rights to the entire Ice Kunion catalog, and will resume publishing series like Angel Diary in May of this year. When we have more specific information (i.e. actual release date schedule), we’ll post it here.

27 | ashley

February 1st, 2008 at 4:24 pm

thanks alot

28 | ashley

February 2nd, 2008 at 12:44 am

katherine dacey:

you have been a really big help. thanks aton

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