The Waiting and Red Flowers in the Toronto Star

The Waiting

By Keum Suk Gendry-Kim; translated by Janet Hong

Drawn & Quarterly, 248 pages, $29.95

The Canadian publisher Drawn & Quarterly continues to bring us important graphic novels from far-flung climes, and we should be grateful for it. This new offering from South Korea is another masterwork only accessible because the D&Q people know it should be.

Like Gendry-Kim’s previous book “Grass,” this seeks to remind readers of the human stories born of traumatic times on the Korean Peninsula. “Grass” focused on women forced into sexual slavery during the Second World War; “The Waiting” is about the deep pain felt by families separated by the Korean War.

Red Flowers

By Yoshiharu Tsuge; translated by Ryan Holmberg

Drawn & Quarterly, 284 pages, $29.95

Yoshiharu Tsuge might be seen as Japan’s version of R. Crumb but that’s doing Japan a disservice because he’s even better, and it’s a joy to see how well his work has travelled.

This is a second volume collecting Tsuge’s work (it’s more of that D&Q comics curation), with his early work in “The Swamp.” Here, though, it’s a more mature style also serving an anarchic silliness that laughs in the face of international borders. The first story, for example, has a bunch of idiots messing around with a corpse, which leads to fart gags. It’s eye-wateringly amusing.

There really is maturity here, though, such as in the title story. In this subtle piece, a traveller meets a girl who has a tough life and, in a small act of kindness, makes a difference to her.

“Red Flowers” is evidence that Tsuge remains one of the world’s great cartoonists.