Art Spiegelman, Joe Sacco, Marjane Satrapi, and Park Geon-woong

Nogunri massacre of innocent civilians, the National Gudo League incident, the People's Revolutionary Party Reconstruction Committee incident, the Jeju April 3 Incident, the torture of the late Assemblyman Kim Geun-tae...
There is also an artist in South Korea who vividly condenses painful memories from history and records them in comics.
Cartoonist Park Geon-woong.
His first essay, "I am the Long Shadow of the Dreamers," is a book that contains the long journey of a boy who loved to draw and became a cartoonist who recreates the darkness of modern history.

Park Geon-woong has always taken up his pen to reexamine historical events from the perspective of those who have suffered the most and to remember events that should not be forgotten.
And he left a strong impression on the public, being evaluated as a “struggling humanist” and an “amazing chronicler of modern Korean history.”
When and where did his commitment to recording the painful wounds and uncomfortable truths of history originate?
As a cartoonist who has been continuously creating long-form cartoons, what was the driving force behind him?

"I am the Long Shadow of the Dreamers" is filled with a variety of stories from outside of Park Geon-woong's comics that readers have never been able to access before.
Through this book, he not only reveals the backstory of his work and his work diary, but also candidly confesses his thoughts as a creator who speaks out for society and his struggles as an artist on the so-called 'blacklist.'
We introduce to you the footsteps of cartoonist Park Geon-woong, who sometimes entered bloody scenes of bombing and bullets to draw cartoons with a fighting spirit, and sometimes with a heart of compassion for those who were unjustly sacrificed.

What I was really afraid of was the collapse of my will.
The real threat was internal censorship rather than external censorship.
Constantly censoring yourself beforehand, thinking, ‘I shouldn’t draw this’ or ‘If I do this, something big will happen.’
Self-censorship turns artists into artists who can no longer create.
It seems that this was exactly what the government was aiming for at the time.
The conformity of creators and the beautiful artificial hypocrisy… … .
--- pp.17-18 From "The Dreamer"

As I was taking pictures of the inside of the cave and the railroad tracks and looking around to try to figure out the sequence of events, it was already dark at night.
The inside of the cave at night was truly creepy, unlike during the day.
It was a sad thing to see that even after the villagers of Nogunri collected the corpses that had been left there, they found a clump of hair with a human hairpin stuck in one side.
When I said “Hello,” an echo rang out from inside the cave.
It was as if he was talking to me.
So, without realizing it, I left a comment.
--- p.53 From "Twin Bridges"

The teacher said he didn't have any photos from when he was young.
This was because his family was afraid of his identity being revealed and burned everything related to him.
There was nothing in this world that remembered him.
Everything visible had disappeared.
So what was left?
It was only a memory.
As those memories scattered into the air one by one as stories, I caught the scattered pieces and put them on white paper.
It was a very interesting task.
The memories that came to life in this way became a new history that we had never known before.
--- p.73 From “Old Memories and Unfamiliar Conversations”

The focus of the book, "That Spring," which tells the story of eight death row inmates of the People's Revolutionary Party incident, was "family."
I wanted to portray the images their families miss and remember, and through this work, I wanted to restore their everyday lives as they were, rather than portraying them as spies who have been distorted and fabricated by someone.
At the same time, I wanted to express that they were like us, someone around us.
So, in the work, the faces of the eight death row inmates and their families were left blank.
I hope that readers will fill in the blanks themselves and cherish those memories for a long time.
--- p.110 From "Empty Space"

Just as various colors mix to make black, black contains many emotions.
And it is the reader's job, not the creator's, to read and interpret it.
Readers will be free to imagine within the undefined colors, black and white.
--- p.121 From “The Meaning of Black”

A generation is disappearing, leaving behind scars that will never be erased and questions that will remain.
People who disappear without a trace and for no known reason.
What can compensate for those years of suffering?
I looked at the mountain while moving.
The layered mountains gave the impression of a person lying face down.
There were iron towers built on top of it, and it seemed as if they were tying up the souls.
--- p.153 From "Confession"

As time passed, the inside of Geumjeong Cave became empty.
But I keep imagining that the people who were unjustly sacrificed in the cave are still searching for their names.
I want to find that name.
How much longer will it take for them to return to their homeland?
But these days, I feel that the monster called 'savagery' is resurrecting and returning to our world through the crack called 'oblivion'.
Dressed up with the luxurious word 'freedom'.
--- pp.226-227 From "People I Don't Know"

When I started drawing comics, I didn't intend to follow the existing comic directing methods.
I just focused on conveying messages and telling stories through a series of pictures.
As I worked like that, I saw the world between the paintings.
The space between two rooms, technically called a 'home space'.
It is said that the space stimulates the reader's imagination and causes associations.
In that sense, I think that comics are very similar to looking at the stars in the sky.
The idea that there is a vast universe of space and time between the Khans.
As if there are endless stories hidden between the historical scenes we see.

--- p.230 From "Now, It's Light"