Hey, long time no see. I've been busy in Seoul doing odd jobs (mostly translating) and now I'm a temporary assistant for a comic artist, drawing backgrounds. Although it doesn't pay much (...well, to be blunt we didn't get paid yet after a month...but since I have been practicing for the first few weeks...), it does offer an interesting andunfiltered perspective into the current industry. (which I will recount later on, when the job is finished and I get a decent personal computer and some Internet connection-currentlytyping from a PC cafe) Also I've been taking advantage ofthe notoriously vastcomic book rental stores. (actually, the real threat nowadays are not the stores but online scans. Most rental stores have gone out of business during those years.) Whatever merits the store does have is that you can read works that have gone out of print, like the official Korean publications of Tezuka Osamu's works. It appears that Haksan, one of the major comic book publishers, had decided to publish the entire Tezuka collection around 2002. Unfortunately, although Tezuka works like the animatedAstro BoyandJungle Emperorwere favourites in Korea, his comics haven't been officially introducedin Koreabefore (well OK there was a mail-order place which sold Tezuka's short works in a collection, but it wasn't store merchandise and it disappeared quite quickly) in a popular level,and since the works do look dated stylistically for young readers, sale results were drastic. Haksan pulled the books out of stores quickly and thus,people who weren't around in Korea during 2002 or who decided to buy the collection later can only read the Korean translation of works likeBlack Jackin comic book rental stores (even most of them don't have them-out storeowners happened to have some taste for the classics). It's moredifficult to buy the books, which is a shame because I didn't realize Black Jack was so cute until I got to read all the books!! (OK, not my first time reading the comic book version-there was the occasional North American or Japanese bunkoupan copies that somehowmade itinto ourhouse-but reading the entire seriesstraight through had quite an impact)I mean it,he's awfully cute! I knew he was supposed to becoolfromthe Dezaki anime versions, but he's criminally adorable as well! (please leave alone this ranting. Affection blinds people.)As a result, I'm currently stalking online auctions and used book websites in vain.Why didn't I buy them when I went to Kinokuniya...(mumble mumble)Does anybody know aused bookstore that ships overseas? It seems that Amazon Japan only ships overseas when buying new products...Later: Never mind, I got the entire 22 volumes through a rental bookstore (in the far edge of Seoul)ownerwho complained it didn't rent out very well, buhahahaha. As they used to say, when there is a will, there is a way.PS. Matt, have you heard of Inariya Fusanosuke (荷家房之介? Highly recommendable, and....works also out of print in Korea....

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Life can be a pain. But it ain't that bad, either.