A Study on the Publishing Culture of Comic Books in the Liberation Period Starting with the Korean comic book “Ahyeop Picture Story Book”

In Korea, the social perception of comic books has been rejected in the realm of culture and art to the extent that modifiers such as “rogue,” “cultivation,” “thousand,” “cold,” “back alley culture,” “children’s viewing,” and “quasi-crime” have been added for a long time through the days of military dictatorship. The cause of this perception may be social, but the publishing culture of cartoons is also a factor. Cartoon publishing, which has rapidly grown in the market since the Korean War, has fallen in productivity compared to exploding demand, creating a cartoon production system like a factory, and eventually became the main culprit that hindered the development of cartoons along with pre-censorship due to the monopoly of cartoon publishing. However, the publishing culture of comic books during the liberation period before the Korean War is quite different. Indeed, it plays a role in fulfilling the mission of the times to build a new country as a culture and art. The answer can be found by looking at the publication process and books of the “Ahyup Picture Story Book” series published by the Chosun Children’s Culture Association, affiliated with Eulyu Cultural History. The first comic book in Korea was also published by Ahyup. The “Ahyup Picture Story Book” series was made with great care from the beginning to the end to solve the problem of distributing Hangul, the first task of recovering Hangul that had been taken and letting children know the culture and spirit of the nation. The early comic book publishing in Korea, seen through the “Ahyup Picture Story Book” series, came out as a literary activity and achieved artistic achievements.