The struggles of workers against oppressive corporate supermarket giants take center stage in this socially conscious manhwa. ABLAZE has announced the debut date of the award-winning manhwa The Awl. Originally set to release on December 6, 2023, the date has been pushed until July 24, 2024, when it will be released in both digital and physical formats. It’s currently available for pre-order via Diamond Previews and other comics and booksellers.
Written and illustrated by Choi Gyu-seok, The Awl received the Korean Cartoon of Today Prize. It was adapted into a live-action television series, released in October 2015 for twelve episodes. The Awl is based on a true story that happened in 2007 in South Korea, where temporary workers were fired at a retail store. This led to a sit-in protest that lasted more than 500 days.
Described as “a story of ordinary folks struggling to be treated as humans,” ABLAZE’s synopsis of The Awl is as follows:
In the face of corporate greed and reprehensible actions, a bond of respect has formed between young executive Yi Su-in and union activist Gu Go-sin. Seeing what his employers are capable of, Yi joins Gu in trying to establish a union for the company’s employees. But despite the unacceptable working conditions, the workers are reluctant to go through with it…until they witness a shocking situation involving one of their fellow employees.
With a suggested retail price of $14.99, the first volume of the black-and-white manhwa contains 248 pages. Its
Source: Press release
The 500-day sit-in inspiration makes this far more than a workplace drama — grounding a comic in a real labor struggle gives it a weight most corporate dystopia stories lack. Smart of Ablaze to bring it over, since socially conscious comics travel well when the story is universal. The live-action adaptation history also shows the story has cross-medium legs. I’ve been noticing more publishers using animation and motion comics to extend manhwa reach beyond print, and tools for that are getting interesting. I’ve been collecting notes on AI-assisted animation workflows at https://migos-aivideo.com/ for anyone adapting comics to motion.