In the sea of 125,000 fans who attended the recent San Diego Comic-Con convention, manwha-ga Jae-Hwan Kim stands apart. With his boldly dyed blonde hair pulled back and lightly tinted sunglasses on even in doors, the Korean born artist is remarkably cool for this, his first time in the United States.

Born in Taegu, Korea in 1971, Jae-Hwan Kim first entered the art world as an assistant to manwha-ga Mr. Sun in 1989 while in high school. Less than a year later, he was enlisted in the South Korean Army. In his two years there, he worked as a graphic designer and illustrator.

"I studied Taekwondo while in the army. I use that with some inspiration from movies to plot out the fight scenes in my work," explained Jae-Hwan. "I was in the army for a year and four months. I did layouts for the army, like a graphic designer, but all by hand."

After leaving the army the early 90s, Jae-Hwan Kim started his first original project called Dew Kai. More quickly followed with Rainbow and Combat Metal HeMoSoo, but it was his work on King of Hell which garnered him the post attention, both in Korea and abroad. Written by Ra In-Soo, The 14-volume series follows Majeh, a great swordsman from Hell who is tasked with reigning in escaped souls from his homeland. It features a mixture of both eastern and western mythology

After finishing King of Hell, Jae-Hwan partnered with TOKYOPOP to produce a three volume series based on the popular WarCraft MMORPG. Partnering with New York Times bestselling writer Richard A. Knaak, the first volume of WarCraft: The Sunwell Trilogy was released in 2005 and has gone through four printings, and the second volume was released in the spring of '06. Jae-Hwan recently finished the third and final volume of the series, but when asked what he's working on next, he was shady.

"I can't really say what it is yet, but I am working on it directly for TOKYOPOP," said Jae-Hwan in a panel at the recent San Diego Comic-Con. "What I can say is that in the book is there are two good and evil people. And you never know who the good guy is really and who the bad guy is." The book was informally dubbed "Jae Hwan's Secret Project" by fellow panelist and TOKYOPOP editor Lillian-Diaz Przybyl, and more details on the book are promised in the coming months.

Looking at Jae-Hwan's work in King of Hell and WarCraft: Sunwell Trilogy, both works show a more detailed type of artwork than what is normally seen in world manga. As opposed to most manga-ka and manwha-ga, Jae-Hwan's work his highly detailed for both characters and setting, while still making room for the occasional super-deformed gags for humor. Another key feature of his work is the well-thought out battle scenes, which are energetic and evocative without being overzealous.

"My favorite part of being a professional artist is working freelance, and being able to make my own schedule," explained Jae-Hwan. "But the worst thing is getting along with other people. Everyone has different ideas and goals, and it's hard to get everyone on the same track towards a common destination."

Outside of manwha, Jae-Hwan Kim has also dabbled in film work. In 2002, he did the mechanical and character concept designs for American rock band Aerosmith's Fly Away From Here music video. "I'm very interested in doing any movie or music video projects, but comics are still my main focus," he said.

Although he came to the United States and San Diego Comic-Con as a featured guest courtesy of TOKYOPOP, when asked if he'd had a chance to go anywhere besides the airport, hotel and convention, he immediately brought up his visit to Sea World. When asked how he was taking in the San Diego Comic-Con as a fan of comics himself, he said he liked the "girls in the costumes" and wanted to see about getting some original artwork while he was there.

Born and raised in Korea, Jae-Hwan now calls Thailand home. "I originally went to Thailand on a vacation, and loved it so much that I moved here five years ago," said the Korean. "In Korea I always felt like I should be inside working, while in Thailand I felt more relaxed and was able to work and enjoy the nature there." Jae-Hwan loves to travel, and has visited Tibet, Hawaii and Bangkok.

When asked who his favorite comic creators are, he immediately pointed to the work of Hayao Miyazaki, Priest creator Min-Woo Hyun and Katsuhiro Otomo's work on Akira. Jae-Hwan's own ideas of who his work is written for are around the "13 – 21" range he said, but he said someday he does want to do a children's book. "But that probably won't be until I'm 50 or 60," said Jae-Hwan.

Even though he is well established and successful today as an artist, even employing 6 assistants, the early days were trying for both him and his parents. "My parents were really against me doing this when I was starting out, but now that I'm successful they're both really supportive," said Jae-Hwan.  Now married with three children, he said he'd encourage his children if one of them decided to follow in his footsteps, but he does have one word of advice: "Go outside more. Work out.