Jinchalo

By Matthew Forsythe. Published by Drawn & Quarterly.

Softcover, 120 pages, Two Colour Illustrations, 2012. 

From the author of Ojingogo, another tale of enchantment and adventure

Jinchalo is Korean for "Really?" and that question (formulated variously as "What is and what isn't?" "What is real?" and "What is imagined?") is at the heart of this book. A companion to Matthew Forsythe's vastly successful Ojingogo, Jinchalo stars the same little girl as its heroine. When the mischievous shape-shifter Jinchalo hatches from a mysterious egg, he starts our heroine adventuring anew. Magical troubles drag the pair out of the safety of her home, through the small village where she resides, up, up, and away. In the course of their flight, they visit a robot garden, follow a vine into the clouds, and leave the village far behind.

These comics are firmly rooted in Korean folktales and stylistic conventions, with a playful, joyous drawn line. Jinchalo welcomes readers back into Forsythe's Miyazaki-tinged dreamscape where spotted octopi fly and bears give piggyback rides, where hummingbirds are larger than people and a sad furry monster wearing a bowler hat lurks around every corner. Forsythe uses page space innovatively in this wordless, panel-less book, and his storytelling is compelling for all ages, both simple and intricately detailed.