Comic Land Productions, starting the dream of Vietnamese comics

Dreams On! Vol.1 set and accompanying goodies such as: notebook, postcard, book case and high-quality prints - Photo: NVCC

Ms. Phuong and her colleagues have been researching and implementing Comic Land Productions for the past year.

They consist of two main members who are in charge of all tasks, including ideas, strategic orientation, searching, connecting with authors, communications, sales strategy, administration, working with partners such as: publishers, printing units, shipping units...

Vietnam lacks playgrounds

At the end of May, Comic Land Productions released its first "brainchild", Dreams On! Vol.1 , with over 270 pages, including 20 meticulously crafted color pages.

The authors participating include Lam Hoang Truc, Nachi, PlaSma, Nguyen Thanh Vu, Dr. Smiley. Each author brings a one-shot short story (from 30-50 pages) in the style they want. Some genres that can be mentioned in Vol.1 are: Slice of life, Fantasy...

Ms. Luong Thuy Phuong - co-founder of Comic Land Productions - Photo: NVCC

Readers will have the opportunity to access very special writing styles such as: one of the five stories has almost no dialogue but is a place for illustration, expressing the depth of emotions in each frame.

Confiding in Tuoi Tre , Thuy Phuong said that her husband is French and that she grew up influenced by manga and comic genres from Japan, America, and Europe.

During a trip to France in 2024, she had the opportunity to see the diversity of comics in this country as they are present everywhere, occupying a significant position on the shelves of stores, with diverse content for different ages.

"If you observe, you will see that in most bookstores in Vietnam today, comics are often placed together with books for children and students, and the vast majority are comics from Japan and China. There are very few Vietnamese comics.

We searched for the answer to that question, reading different articles, participating in social media forums, wandering around bookstores, chatting with authors or people involved in the comic industry.

We realize that in Vietnam, we do not lack talent but lack playgrounds, lack of environment to hone and lack of recognition from the community, especially when reading and sharing comics for free is very popular" - Ms. Phuong said.

Luong Thuy Phuong and her colleagues always believe that the works of authors deserve to be known by many people, are a part of the cultural life of each individual and vice versa, the authors also need to receive what they deserve for the efforts they have put in.

"Comic Land Productions was established with the desire to create a playground for Vietnamese artists to create, for their creations to be sought after by the community of interested readers, and from there, creating can become a "career" that brings in income commensurate with the effort they put in," Ms. Phuong emphasized.

I like to draw dreams

According to Luong Thuy Phuong, naming the first collection Dreams On! came later:

"Comic Land Productions was inspired by an author who said that there were times when he liked to draw his dreams. Dreams... We pondered. When authors put pen to paper and create, they all harbor a dream in bringing their creations to readers, a dream that expresses or satisfies their passion. Stories can also be dreams.

Moreover, the content of the story is mostly fictional, the authors can let their imagination run wild, bringing different colors.

So we chose Dreams On! , which is more dreams. Dreams On! , where dreams begin and always move forward!".

Sharing with Tuoi Tre , Nachi - one of the comic book authors participating in the Dreams On! Vol.1 project - said that what attracted her most about the project was mostly the human element.

" The Dreams On! team is truly dedicated not only to the production process but also to the lives and values ​​of the authors. In addition, their professionalism and system also make me feel very secure when working with them.

“The most important thing is that we create a quality publication,” we discussed from the first meeting between Dreams On! and the authors,” Nachi said.

Balance between ambition and inner strength

Dreams On! Vol.1 book cover - Photo: NVCC

Initially, Comic Land Productions had a number of directions that were being implemented to find a balance between "ambition" and "current scale limitations" such as:

Completely respect each author's style; limited budget for promotion; self-distribute books to readers through online sales through Dreams On! 's website and Facebook.

No intellectual property rights are reserved for authors other than the work and accompanying items.

This means that authors can use the characters; the character world they build in the project for other purposes they pursue.

The price is higher than the average of comics currently on the market, but the publications also aim for a good, different quality: a book that is larger than the current standard, thicker, in a new, modern style that still bears the identity of each author.

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Source: https://tuoitre.vn/comic-land-productions-khoi-len-giac-mo-truyen-tranh-viet-nam-20250523085802318.htm