Artist | By Yeong-shin Ma | Drawn & Quarterly – Two years after Yeong-shin Ma’s critically acclaimed manhwa Moms was released in English comes a second major work, Artist. Instead of focusing on mothers in their fifties, the hefty, largely full-color volume revolves around three men in their forties—a painter, a musician, and an author. Ostensibly these three artists are friends, but as the story progresses they fall in and out of favor with one another (and everyone else) as their personal creative successes and failures further complicate their already fraught relationships. The realism of the main characters and their interactions with others is one of the most remarkable elements of the work. Admittedly, it can occasionally be an uncomfortable read as Ma doesn’t shy away from unflattering portrayals of...

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