Gak Sital

Hur Young-man (born June 1947) is a South Korean manhwa artist, a household name, he is known as a maestro of multiple genres of ‘manhwa’ (South Korean name for comics). He has authored more than 150,000 pages for over one hundred series, which include titles: Gaksital (1974), Spider Silk (1981), The 7th Team (1984), Chameleon's Poem (1986), Oh! Hangang (1987, writer Kim Se-yeong), Beat (1994), Sik Gaek (2003). Highpoints in Hur Youngman’s long, fruitful career include Gak Sital, a masked Korean resistance fighter who fought Japan’s occupation in the 1930s. This became a TV drama, and later a video game. Youngman also produced Sik Gaek, which follows a trainee chef’s discoveries in Korean cuisine, and was similarly developed for television.

This work features in Mangasia: Wonderlands of Asian Comics, a Barbican International Enterprises exhibition, curated by Paul Gravett. Mangasia presents a vivid journey through the art of Comics and visual storytelling across Asia. From its historical roots to the most recent digital innovations, the exhibition looks to popular Japanese ‘Manga’ and beyond, highlighting key creators, characters and publications.