Korean comic books (“Manhwa” as opposed to the Japanese “Manga”) have increased their sophistication with incredible speed over the last five years. I do not read comic books as a rule, and my exposure is limited to the educational manhwa my children read at home. But when I saw an article about the new manhwa series “Misaeng” (未生 “The one who has not lived yet”) I had to have a copy. It is a remarkable work of art that deserves to be widely read and analyzed.

Misaeng, the work of Yoon Taeho (윤태호), describes the claustrophobic interpersonal relations between employees of Korean corporations, focusing on the banality of everyday life and the little struggles and tiny victories of survival in a corporate culture. The analogy that dominates the book is between life in modern society and the game of baduk or “go” as it is known in Japanese.

The cover of Misaeng features the relentless grid which suggests the gameboard of baduk, the unrelenting banality of office design (or the exteriors of office buildings) and the ruthless game of office politics that dominates the lives of individuals. Note the office chairs placed on a baduk board. Each chapter of the multi-volume series features a particular scenario from baduk, reinforcing the analogy between the slow war of attrition based on positioning in baduk and office life.





The protagonist of Misaeng is Jang Gurae, a young man who starts out as an apprentice to the national baduk Association. After his father’s sudden death, Jang Gurae finds his family in serious financial straits. When he fails to qualify as a baduk player, he enters the corporate world. Quiet and introspective, baduk is the underlying formula for his survival.

The drawing is exceptional, suggesting an odd mixture of animation, passion and despair.