Alaska News

K-pop star Psy becomes a comic-book hero

Do you have enough Psy in your life? Does anyone?

Whether you do or not, thanks to South Korean and US publishers, you just got a little bit more.

They've turned South Korea's biggest pop star into the protagonist of his very own comic book: 'Fame:Psy,' a cartoon telling of the singer's unlikely rise to global fame.

"Has he fallen from the sky? Has he risen from the earth?" our tale begins, accompanied, logically enough, by illustrations of Psy both falling from the sky and rising from the earth.

The book goes on to describe the "stubby" singer's success with his record-breaking single Gangnam Style, via ten years of fame in South Korea and an arrest for possession of drugs.

You'll laugh! You'll cry! You'll probably do the horse dance! Not least because the comic comes complete with an illustrated guide to Gangnam Style's trademark routine.

In South Korea, it's no surprise that marketers would jump on the story of Psy to write a comic book, says GlobalPost's Seoul correspondent, Geoffrey Cain.

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"Manhwa, as it is known, is the Korean equivalent for the more familiar Japanese hobby of manga – the word for cartoons drawn in that country," Cain says. "Manhwa is enormously popular in Seoul, and his storytelling in comic format will only stamp Psy further as a K-Pop icon."

'Fame:Psy' is published by US comic makers Bluewater and South Korean company Able. It went on sale in South Korea and the US from May 1.

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