A Dog: A Record of My Poor Paws

 ”The flesh is short-lived, but grit is eternal.” This has been the central message that cartoonist Kim Seong-mo has championed for nearly 30 years. Kim Seong-mo lays this intense message on thick, without pause. It is an overload of delivery. As a result, the sublimity of an indomitable spirit that bends to no adversity suffers the indignity of being reduced to a kind of cheap bravado.

 But this novel by Kim Hoon is different. As a single “dog” living through the human world, the “canine protagonist” endures everything with composure. The rules of the human world that a dog has no way of understanding, the providence he faces as a part of nature—he simply withstands it all with his “hardened paws.” There is no reason to run away, no need to hide. He is merely steadfast. With this, Kim Hoon paints one form of the ideal life. Yet he does not shout it. He simply shows it.

 Kim Seong-mo and Kim Hoon are both writers I cherish. I sympathize with the values they put forward. But when it comes to delivering that central message, there is something lacking in Kim Seong-mo’s approach. Is it because of the limitations of commercial comics as a medium? In any case, I always look forward to their work.

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Kim Hoon, 2005, A Dog: A Record of My Poor Paws, Prunsoop