Bucheon International Comic Festival (BICOF) 2010, South Korea

Most of the events and conventions took place at the Manhwa Gyujjanggak Museum situated at the Korean Manhwa Contents Agency (KOMACON) compound in Bucheon.

The huge comics complex houses a theater, a comics museum, a comics library, comics studios and offices dedicated to the development of the Korean comics ("manhwa") industry.

BICOF 2010 kicked off with a grand opening ceremony on Wednesday, September 15 2010 at 5pm. The delegates were treated to a cultural show featuring a Korean martial arts exhibition and a musical performance by Bandy, a musical group that makes use of traditional Korean music instruments. One of the members of Bandy is legendary Manhwa comic creator Park Jae Dong. Mr. Park was joined onstage for opening remarks by another acclaimed Manhwa creator, Kim Dong Hwa and Bucheon City's mayor. After the ceremony was a celebratory dinner where we had a sumptuous buffet of Korean and Chinese food and drinks.

Our 2nd day at BICOF was jam-packed with events and things to do. Our day started with a seminar in the morning about the current situation of comics in East Asia, mainly in Japan, Korea and China. It was astounding to hear about the state of local comics from their perspectives as we in the Philippines still have a long way to go in terms of having a solid comics industry.

Lunch was at a traditional Korean style restaurant where we were served a hearty meal of Korean BBQ (using duck meat, I was told). Korean wine (which I mistook for soda!) was served along with the food and it was my first time to taste something like it. It's not as potent as soju but it still got me tipsy, nonetheless.

Events in the afternoon included a tour of creative studios in the Komacon compound. The first stop was Gobooky Books, a Korean manhwa publishing house where we had a question and answer session with the publisher.

The next stop was Liquid Brain Studio, a Korean animation company that was established in 2000. They showed us clips from their upcoming animated film Rolling Stars.

The next event took us by surprise - it was a nude croqis sketching session where everyone had to draw the male and female models in 10 different poses at 3-minute and 5-minute intervals. it was fun seeing the fast drawings everyone came up with.

Our last stop for the day was veteran Korean comic artist Tae San Jang's studio. He took us through his work process and showed us some of his amazing sketches and comic book pages. It's interesting to note that he does not use pen & paper, he draws everything straight on the screen of his Cintiq 21!

After the sessions, all the artist delegates were led to a small Korean village outside the Komacon where we witnessed a performance of Pungmul, a Korean folk dance.

The Artist Night festivities were also held at the grounds. There was a musical program, games, a big buffet spread, overflowing soju and lots of fellowship.This is also where we got a chance to meet and become friends with artist delegates from all over Asia and the world.

The last day of the conference started with a seminar on the Romance of the Three Kingdoms (namely Korea, Japan, and China) where representatives of their respective countries talked about the state of their comics industries. It was fascinating to learn that in spite of print publishing being on the decline, readership is still increasing because of digital content. Comics are not limited to the printed page anymore, now you can find them via apps on your iPad, cellphones and other multimedia gadgets.

After the seminar, the delegates boarded a bus for a tour around Seoul, the neighboring city and the capital of Korea. Our first stop in Seoul was at a restaurant in Insadong where we were treated to a traditional Korean smoked fish meal (I'm not sure what it's called but it's delicious).

The next stop was the highlight of the tour for me - watching a performance of Nanta at the Myeongdong Nanta Theater. Nanta is "a non-verbal performance of free rhythmical movements that dramatize customary Korean percussions in a strikingly comedic stage show". It's a brilliant show that was hilarious from start to finish so if you're in Seoul and haven't seen a performance of it, please do yourself a favor and go.

The final stop for the Seoul tour was the Cheongwadae Sarangchae, a history center that gives visitors a chance to follow in the footsteps of presidents of Korea and gain insight into the history of Seoul. The building is just a few meters away from the Blue House, South Korea's president.

After the tour we headed back to Koryo Hotel in Bucheon where most of the delegates, including us, were billeted for the closing ceremony dinner.

My husband and I enjoyed participating in BICOF 2010 tremendously and we would like to extend our gratitude to all the wonderful people at ICC, BICOF, and Komacon for inviting my husband and for welcoming me and letting me experience the event as an artist too.

Meeting fellow artists from all over Asia and Europe and hearing their stories about their countries' respective comic industries was an exhilarating experience. Some of the new friends we made come from Thailand, Cambodia, Singapore, Malaysia, Japan, Korea, Finland, Russia, Iran, Australia and the US and these are people whom we never would have met or whose brilliant work we never would have known if not for the opportunity provided by the International Comic Artist Conference. It was also a great idea on the organizers' part to provide the delegates with friendly and well-versed translators/interpreters who gave us insight on everything that was happening around us non-Korean language speakers.

The tours and fellowship nights were very enjoyable and well-organized. Aside from the events I detailed above, there were a lot of stuff happening on the grounds - exhibits, cosplay events, drawing competitions and more. There was a special exhibit by featured artist Taniguchi Jiro, a famous Japanese manga artist, and forums with Kintaichi Hajime, producer of God's Water Drops, and Mikawa Kaori, producer of Nodame Cantabile (which happens to be my favorite manga-turned-anime-turned-Jdorama!). It was very obvious that the business of comics is booming here in Asia, particularly in the three kingdoms of Korea, Japan and China.

All in all, participating in the Bucheon International Comic Artists Festival this year is an experience my husband and I will keep in our hearts and minds for a long time.