Vietnamese comics

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Viet comics (Vietnamese: Truyện tranh Việt), also known as mạn họa (Sino-Vietnamese for manhua, Chinese: 漫畫), are comics or graphic novels originating from Vietnam. The term Viet comics was created by “Floral Age Bimonthly” (Bán nguyệt san Tuổi Hoa) magazine in 1960.^[1]

Before the 1990s, mạn họa weren't used for entertaining purposes. Instead, because of the long-standing influence of Chinese Confucianism, it was necessary for a Vietnamese comic at the time to offer educational contents and moral lessons. This, however, had prevented them from reaching a broad readership due to the storylines remaining unchanged.^[2]

In 1992, Kim Đồng Publishing House printed the first manga in Vietnam: Doraemon. It became a phenomenon and was quickly followed by other Japanese mangas, such as Sailor Moon and Dragon Ball. And with that, the Vietnamese comics were defeated right at their doorstep. It wasn't until 2002, when Thần đồng Đất Việt was published, that a truyện tranh managed to gain popularity.