Meticulous illustrations made the Oscar-winner ultra infectious.

First up, there are no spoilers in this article, but if you haven’t seen the Oscar-winning Parasite yet then make sure you remedy that as soon as possible.

Those who have seen Bong Joon-Ho’s masterpiece of Korean cinema may be interested to know that there’ll soon be a release of a graphic novel adapted from the film – one which, much like the movie itself, has a special twist.

Parasite: A Graphic Novel in Storyboards comes based on Bong’s meticulous sketches for the darkly comical class study, and is adapted from a two-volume Korean set released late last year.

That scenario and storyboard collection has since shot to the top of book charts in South Korea following Parasite‘s Best Picture win at this weekend’s Oscars; interestingly, the edition chose not to edit Bong’s handwritten annotations so as to preserve the raw authenticity of the original storyboards.

We can’t guess how authentic the English translation will feel as promo shots of its pages are yet to turn up (although there is a cover, which you can see below.) That it’s being advertised as a graphic novel would suggest a more sequential formatting of Ho’s already manhwa-like drawings.

All of the director’s movies have started as an intricate series of comic book strips, given to each actor as a bound book for them to study from. Each scene is perfectly composed before shooting takes place, down to the position of the actors in each frame.

Such a keen eye for composition no doubt explains Bong’s masterful films, and stems from the director’s love for Korean manga (manhwa) and indie comics. Lest we forget, his 2013 cult classic Snowpiercer  was adapted from Jacques Lob and Jean-Marc Rochette’s graphic novel Le Transperceneige, a limited Korean DVD of the film bundled with an art book of Ho’s illustrated reinterpretations.

A similar but stand-alone book was made for Ho’s Netflix feature Okja, and there was even a graphic novel of his 2006 monster movie The Host. That one has yet to see an English edition, though.

Parasite: A Graphic Novel in Storyboards by Bong Joon-Ho is released in hardback on May 19 2020. 

Catch the movie in cinemas now, and keep an eye out for a special black and white version that had been on very limited release in build-up to the Oscars.

Related: Hair Love – our best animated short of 2019 – wins the Oscar

https://www.digitalartsonline.co.uk/news/illustration/youve-watched-parasite-now-read-storyboards-in-comic-book-form/