J. Torres discusses ‘Love As A Foreign Language’

Welcome to the True North Country Comics Podcast — dedicated to celebrate Canadian comic book and graphic novel creators and supporters.

On this episode, I chat with J. Torres about the graphic novel Love As A Foreign Language published by Oni Press.

J. Torres is an award-winning Filipino Canadian writer currently residing in Whitby, Ontario. Torres was born in Manila and raised in Montreal where he was educated at McGill University. Perhaps best known for his work on comics such as Teen Titans Go, Batman: Knightwatch, and Adventure Comics (for the DC Kids YouTube channel), he is also the writer of the graphic novels Stealing Home (Forest of Reading Honour Book and Hackmatack Award winner), Brobots (Kids’ Choice and Parents’ Choice award winner), How to Spot a Sasquatch (Junior Library Guild and Little Maverick title), and Lola: A Ghost Story (recipient of an Aesop’s Accolade from the American Folklore Society). His other credits include the Chirp and Friends comic found in every issue of Chirp Magazine. Plus, he translates the popular Korean manhwa and light novels Solo Leveling and Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint with his wife Hye Young Im. In addition to writing comics, he has also written for animation and television, most notably the ‘Degrassi: The Next Generation Minis’.  When he’s not writing, he enjoys traveling, going to the movies, and cheering for the Toronto Raptors. And although he didn’t win, his book with artist Mike Deas, Paisley & Peck : Jurassic Farm, was nominated for a Doug Wright Award in The Egghead (Best Kids’ Book) category.

Now celebrating its 20th anniversary, Love as a Foreign Language, published by Oni Press, written by J. Torres and illustrated by Eric Kim, this seminal work, collected for the first time in one deluxe hardcover edition, is remastered with new colours and letters, and features brand-new cover art and exclusive bonus content. The story goes like this: “Joel hates Korea. When he agreed to teach there in an effort to pay off his student loans faster, he had no idea how much he’d hate it. But Joel’s life is about to go from dark dreams to cotton-candy kisses, and it’s all because of Hana, the new school secretary.”

You can discover more about J. Torres online at JTorresComics.com and on Instagram at @jtorrescomics

You can discover Love As A Foreign Language published by Oni Press in major book stores starting July 7.

Listen to a previous chat with J. Torres here.

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