Mr. Madang's Table, the new graphic novel written and illustrated by Yeon-sik Hong
Mr. Madang's Table, the new graphic novel written and illustrated by Yeon-sik Hong, is the first volume published in the series with two more volumes scheduled to be published in the future. in this autobiographical story, the main character, Mr. Madang, is a husband and a father of a new born baby, and he is looking for a new home away from the city. He finally finds a house in the countryside and starts a new life with his family; however, he also has ailing parents who live in the semi-basement floor in the city. As the first son, he is obliged to take care of his sick parents while he tries hard to protect the life with his own family which he has dreamed of, and to break away from the trauma of living with his abusive father.
As he learns the joy of being a parent, he also brings to remember his own childhood and the memories he has of his mother who was young and full of life unlike how she is now -old, sick, and unhappy. Suffering from chronic illness, his mother becomes hospitalized, and Mr. Madang has to take her to different hospitals which can offer her better treatment. His illustrations crystalizes the contrast between two different worlds in his life, the world with his parents which is full of sense of duty, responsibility, regret, and unhappiness, and the world with his own family which is full of new life and new start. The world with, his parents revolves around the dark, semi-basement floor of their place or hospitals crowded with people and medical equipment, and this is contrasted with his new house which is a traditional Korean house with a yard whose Korean word for it is Madang.