- Source: Oh Seong-dae
Oh Seong-dae (Korean: 오성대; Hanja: 吳城垈; born November 18, 1982) is a South Korean webtoon artist. He is best known for his popular horror thriller anthology webtoon series Tales of the Unusual, which has gained widespread acclaim both Korean and global readers.
Life and career
Oh Seong-dae was born on November 18, 1982, in Seoul, South Korea. He developed a love of drawing when he was in elementary school. He graduated from Seoul National University of Science and Technology. Seong-dae studied various subjects related to art and design. He began his career as a designer but quit soon after. Later, he took part in a comic competition organized by Naver which gave him a chance to debut in the field of webtoon.
The webtoon platform Naver WEBTOON had three interesting series released between 2009 and 2012. The first one, called Author J, ran from October 2009 to November 2010 and tells the story of a deceased writer whose mind has been transferred to a computer AI. Bonbon au Chocolat, released from April 2011 to August 2012, is a funny love story between two middle school students. Finally, from July to August 2012, The Cliff was released, which follows two men who go on a hiking trip and end up stranded on the edge of a cliff. As they wait for help, tensions rise and their sanity begins to unravel.
On May 8, 2013, Seong-dae created an anthology webtoon called Tales of the Unusual and published it on Naver WEBTOON. Unlike Seong-dae's previous webtoons, Tales of the Unusual is a horror and thriller genre, containing elements of supernatural, psychological suspense, mystery, satire, black comedy, drama, science fiction, and dark-modern fantasy. For its artwork and aesthetic, Seong-dae chose to use monochromatic black and white, grayscale, and darker colors, rather than mild primary colors.
Seong-dae characterized Tales of the Unusual as "strange", "unusual", "thrilling", and "mysterious", frequently with a darker tone than its previous webtoons. It comprises self-contained, standalone short stories that follow characters (or recurring characters from previous webtoons) as they experience strange and unusual events. Each story's plot elements detail various topics such as real-life events, social issues, viral phenomena, urban legends, and paranormal events. They often involve bizarre and supernatural occurrences with an unexpected twist.
Tales of the Unusual drew inspiration from a variety of sources. Among them were the works of acclaimed horror authors, including Junji Ito, Stephen King, Neil Gaiman, R.L. Stine, Franz Kafka, and Haruki Murakami. Seong-dae was also influenced by TV anthology series, such as The Twilight Zone, Goosebumps, The X-Files, and Black Mirror. When it comes to films, Seong-dae drew inspiration from the works of film directors, including Jason Blum, M. Night Shyamalan, Darren Aronofsky, Stanley Kubrick, David Lynch, and Alfred Hitchcock, as well as korean horror films.
In June 2013, an anthology film Horror Stories 2 was released on June 5, 2013. One of the stories is adapted from The Cliff.
From July to August 2014, The Cliff received English and Chinese translations by WEBTOON. Tales of the Unusual received an official English translation by WEBTOON on July 1, 2014. The webtoon gained immense popularity among readers in Korea and globally, and it has become the most popular webtoon on the WEBTOON platform.
From November to December 2013, My Wife's Memories was released on Naver WEBTOON. The story follows a middle-aged man who is haunted by ghostly visions of his deceased wife after she passes away in a tragic accident. In August 2014, Sina Weibo user Yaoyaoxiaojing (妖妖小精) translated My Wife's Memories into Chinese and posted it on her Weibo. 550,000 people shared the comic just after two days she had posted it, making it an instant hit among the Chinese community, and bringing Seong-dae much fame.
On October 11, 2014, Tales of the Unusual received an official Chinese translation by WEBTOON and Dongman Manhua. On November 18, 2014, Tales of the Unusual also received an official Thai translation by WEBTOON. On April 20, 2015, Tales of the Unusual also received an official Indonesian translation by WEBTOON.
From February 10 to 15, 2015, Seong-dae attended the Taipei International Comics and Animation Festival along with fellow webtoon artist massstar. Both of them hosted autograph sessions for their fans in the booth of WEBTOON.
Between February and April 2015, a webcomic named Beauty Water was published on Naver WEBTOON. The story follows a young woman who uses a cosmetic liquid product to achieve her desired looks, akin to plastic surgery. However, as she becomes increasingly addicted to the product, she discovers disturbing side effects that begin to affect her. In June 2015, Sina Weibo user Hanmansimida (韩漫思密达) translated Beauty Water into Chinese and posted it on her Weibo. As the story touched on contemporary social issues, it was quickly viewed by over 1,000,000 people, making it an instant hit among the Chinese community and raising Seong-dae's profile in China once more. After knowing this, Seong-dae thanked the Chinese readers on Facebook in Chinese.
From October 1 to 5, 2015, Seong-dae attended and gave autographs to his fans with fellow webtoon artists Jo Seok, Son Jae-ho, and Lee Kwang-soo at the China International Comic Festival EXPO. On October 19, 2015, WEBTOON released a promotional animated trailer for Tales of the Unusual, produced by an animation studio, Delpic Design Studio.
On December 18, 2015, Seong-dae won a "Webtoonist of the Year" for his webtoon, Tales of the Unusual on WEBTOON's Webtoonist Day. From June 9 to 10, 2016, Seong-dae also attended and gave autographs to his fans in the booth of WEBTOON at Beijing Comic-Con along with fellow webtoon artist Jo Seok.
In 2017, the original Japanese television series Yo nimo Kimyō na Monogatari was released. One of the episodes is adapted from My Wife's Memories
In 2018, a print version of Tales of the Unusual was released on June 15, 2018, by Sodam Books. On February 21, 2019, an original net animation based on Tales of the Unusual was released on the Naver WEBTOON YouTube Channel. Each 20 episodes is adapted from 13 short stories, including The Dream-sharing Stone, The Hole, The Chatroom, The Teleporter, A Mysterious Package, The Pet Wig, Jayce's Pen, The Ghost Polaroids, Hair, 14K, Scene Box, Insomnia, and The Mole Stitcher.
On September 18, 2019, Seong-Dae announced that Tales of the Unusual would take a break after the first season ended. After an eight-month hiatus, the series resumed for a second season on May 20, 2020. On October 25, 2020, an English version of Tales of the Unusual also resumed after an 11-month break. The series concluded on June 1, 2022, after running for nine years.
In 2020, a South Korean animation studio, Studio Animal, produced an animated film adaptation of Beauty Water. After debuting at several international film festivals, it was released on September 9, 2020, in Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia, and New Zealand. Despite being popular among Chinese readers, the film was never released in China due to souring Korean relations after the deployment of the THAAD missile defense system, as no Chinese investors would support it.
On November 3, 2020, Seong-dae won "Today's Our Manhwa Award" for his webtoon, Tales of the Unusual from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.
On March 9, 2024, Naver WEBTOON released Tales of the Unusual 2, a sequel to Seong-dae's original work, and received an official Indonesian translation on June 6, 2024, and an English translation on October 24, 2024, by WEBTOON.
Works
= Tales of the Unusual
== Series and One-shots
=Adaptations
References
External links
(in Korean) Oh Seong-dae's Facebook account
(in Korean) Author J - Naver WEBTOON
(in Korean) Bonbon au Chocolat - Naver WEBTOON
(in Korean) The Cliff - Naver WEBTOON
(in Korean) Tales of the Unusual - Naver WEBTOON
The Cliff - WEBTOON
Tales of the Unusual - WEBTOON
(in Chinese) The Cliff - WEBTOON
(in Chinese) Tales of the Unusual - WEBTOON
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