Webtoons (), are a type of
digital comic
Digital comics (also known as electronic comics,Ian Hague, ''Comics and the Senses: A Multisensory Approach to Comics and Graphic Novels'', Routledge, 2014, ch. 2: "Sight, or, the Ideal Perspective and the Physicality of Seeing". eComics, e-comi ...
that originated in
South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...
usually meant to be read on
smartphones
A smartphone is a portable computer device that combines mobile telephone and computing functions into one unit. They are distinguished from feature phones by their stronger hardware capabilities and extensive mobile operating systems, which ...
.
While webtoons were mostly unknown outside of Korea during their inception, there has been a surge in popularity internationally thanks in great part to the rise in popularity of
manhwa
(; ) is the general Korean language, Korean term for comics and print cartoons. Outside Korea, the term usually refers to South Korea, South Korean comics. is greatly influenced by Japanese Manga comics. Modern Manhwa has extended its rea ...
and the fact that most manhwa are released as webtoons.
In the country, as digital manhwa have emerged as a popular medium, print publication of manhwa has decreased. The amount of material published in webtoon form has now reached an equal amount as that published offline.
Format
usually feature a few of common traits: each episode is published on one long,
vertical
Vertical is a geometric term of location which may refer to:
* Vertical direction, the direction aligned with the direction of the force of gravity, up or down
* Vertical (angles), a pair of angles opposite each other, formed by two intersecting s ...
strip (making use of an
infinite canvas
The infinite canvas refers to the potentially limitless space that is available to webcomics presented on the World Wide Web. The term was introduced by Scott McCloud in his 2000 book '' Reinventing Comics'', in which he suggested that webcomic cre ...
rather than multiple pages so that it is easier to read on a
smartphone
A smartphone is a portable computer device that combines mobile telephone and computing functions into one unit. They are distinguished from feature phones by their stronger hardware capabilities and extensive mobile operating systems, whic ...
or
computer
A computer is a machine that can be programmed to Execution (computing), carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (computation) automatically. Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic sets of operations known as C ...
); some feature music and animations that play during each chapter; and unlike the majority of East Asian comics, they are usually in color instead of black-and-white since they are published digitally on a website or app rather than physically in a magazine. In the case of South Korea, there are also different censorship laws for materials published online than in print which has led to more manhwa that is erotic and sexually explicit being produced and published as webtoons.
Revenue model
Like other online publications, there are a variety of payment models used for webtoons. Some offer a limited set of chapters for free and charge for the rest. Others allow only a certain number of chapters to be read per day without payment.
Creators of webtoons can earn money from ads displayed on their series. Until 2019, amateur creators could earn money from the credit that was given by their fans. The money that the pro and amateur creators receive depends on the page view.
Origins and history
While there has been webcomics uploaded and hosted by individual creators since the mid-to-late 1990s, the advent of the webtoon model dates back to 2000, when Lycos Korea, the Korean version of the American search engine
Lycos
Lycos, Inc., is a web search engine and web portal established in 1994, spun out of Carnegie Mellon University. Lycos also encompasses a network of email, web hosting, social networking, and entertainment websites. The company is based in Walth ...
, launched the ''Manwha Bang'' section in their portal site.
Yahoo! Korea
Yahoo! (, styled yahoo''!'' in its logo) is an American web services provider. It is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California and operated by the namesake company Yahoo Inc., which is 90% owned by investment funds managed by Apollo Global Manage ...
followed suit with a similar service called ''Cartoon Sesang'' two years later. By the year of 2002, based on the Cultural Industry Promoting Law, the predecessor of the
Korea Creative Content Agency
The Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA) is a South Korean government agency which is affiliated with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and is charged with governing cultural content. As part of its partnership the Export-Import Bank ...
was established and started to support the manwha and related industries as a whole.
The Korean web portal
Daum created a webtoon service known as
Daum Webtoon
Kakao Webtoon (Hangul: 카카오 웹툰) is a webtoon platform operated by Kakao.
History
The service originally launched in 2003 by Daum, a popular web portal in Korea, as Daum Webtoon making it the first official webtoon platform in the worl ...
in 2003 and was later followed by
Naver
Naver (Hangul: 네이버) is a South Korean online platform operated by the Naver Corporation. It was launched in 1999 as the first web portal in South Korea to develop and use its own search engine. It was also the world's first operator to in ...
with the launch of
Naver Webtoon
Webtoon (stylized in all caps) is a South Korean webtoon platform launched in 2004 by Naver Corporation. As the name suggests, it is a platform for posting webtoons, compact digital comics in South Korea.
The platform first launched in Korea as ...
in 2004. These services regularly release webtoons that are available for free. According to David Welsh of
Bloomberg Bloomberg may refer to:
People
* Daniel J. Bloomberg (1905–1984), audio engineer
* Georgina Bloomberg (born 1983), professional equestrian
* Michael Bloomberg (born 1942), American businessman and founder of Bloomberg L.P.; politician and ma ...
, comics account for a quarter of all book sales in South Korea, while more than 3 million Korean users paid to access online
manhwa
(; ) is the general Korean language, Korean term for comics and print cartoons. Outside Korea, the term usually refers to South Korea, South Korean comics. is greatly influenced by Japanese Manga comics. Modern Manhwa has extended its rea ...
and 10 million users read free webtoons.
South Korea's first webtoon is 《Uninhabited Island》 () by Han Hee-jak in 1996.
, Naver had published 520 webtoons while Daum had published 434. Since the early 2010s, services such as TappyToon and
Spottoon
Spottoon is a webtoon
Webtoons (), are a type of digital comic that originated in South Korea usually meant to be read on smartphones.
While webtoons were mostly unknown outside of Korea during their inception, there has been a surge in po ...
have begun to officially translate webtoons into English while some Korean publishers like
Lezhin
Lezhin Comics is a webtoon portal that was founded by South Korean blogger Han Hee-sung in 2013. It is based in South Korea and its services are offered in Korean, Japanese and English.
History
Han Hee-sung, a Korean blogger, launched Lezhin Comi ...
, Toomics, and TopToon have begun to self translate their works.
Examples of popular webtoons that have been translated into English are ''
Lookism'', ''Untouchable'', ''
Yumi's Cells
''Yumi's Cells'' () is a 2021 South Korean television series directed by Lee Sang-yeob and starring Kim Go-eun, Ahn Bo-hyun, Jinyoung, Lee Yu-bi, and Park Ji-hyun. Based on the eponymous webtoon, it is a cell-based psychological romance that ...
'', ''
The Sound of Heart
''The Sound of Your Heart'' (; also known as ''The Sound of Your heart'', ''Sound of Heart'') is a South Korean webtoon series written and illustrated by Jo Seok. The webtoon was first released on the Naver WEBTOON internet portal in 2006. In 200 ...
'', ''
Tales of the Unusual
is a 2000 Japanese horror anthology film directed by Mamoru Hoshi, Masayuki Ochiai, Hisao Ogura and Masayuki Suzuki. Each story is of a different genre - "One Snowy Night" (horror), "Samurai Cellular" (comedy-drama), "Chess" (thriller) and ...
'', ''
The Gamer
The Gamer (Korean: 더 게이머, RR: ''Deo Geimeo'') is a South Korean webtoon hosted by Naver WEBTOON. The webtoon is loosely influenced by fantasy RPGs, ''Dungeons & Dragons'', and comic fantasy book series ''Discworld'' but set in contempo ...
'', ''
The God of High School
''The God of High School'' () is a South Korean manhwa released as a webtoon written and illustrated by Yongje Park. It has been serialized in Naver Corporation's webtoon platform Naver Webtoon since April 2011, with the individual chapters colle ...
'', ''
Girls of the Wild's
A girl is a young female human, usually a child or an adolescent. When a girl becomes an adult, she is accurately described as a ''woman''. However, the term ''girl'' is also used for other meanings, including ''young woman'',Dictionary ...
'', ''
Noblesse
The concept of the Scottish Noblesse, a class of nobles of either peerage or non-peerage rank, was prominently advocated for by Sir Thomas Innes of Learney during his tenure as an officer of arms. Innes of Learney believed that Scottish armige ...
'', and ''
Tower of God
''Tower of God'' () is a South Korean manhwa released as a webtoon written and illustrated by S.I.U. It has been serialized in Naver Corporation's webtoon platform Naver Webtoon since June 2010, with the individual chapters collected and publish ...
''. In recent years, these webtoons have been gaining popularity in Western markets, rivalling Japanese
manga
Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...
.
In the past, it was divided into two ratings: All (webtoon suitable for all ages) and 18 (No one under 18 is allowed to read this webtoon). From May 2019, the webtoon rating system was implemented. It is said that 10 platforms including Naver and Daum will participate. The ratings are expected to be △ All △ 12 years or older △ 15 years or older △ 19 years old (18 years old) or older.
Generation Zero
![Webtoon Zeroth generation](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/62/Webtoon_Zeroth_generation.png)
The earliest webtoons were scanned original comics uploaded onto the
Internet
The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...
, usually formatted on a one-page layout.
First generation
With the development of technology, authors were able to utilize flash animation effects.
Second generation
![Webtoon second generation](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5a/Webtoon_second_generation.png)
Enhanced preloading enabled later authors to adopt a vertical layout with scrolling. In contrast to comics with a dense panel composition, scrolling brings new panels into view. This makes webtoons suitable for
gradual and continuous representation, allowing webtoon reading to become more fluid.
Third generation
With the advent of the smartphone and tablet, webtoons have also migrated to new platforms such as apps. There have also been sounds introduced to imply further expressions and tones, as well as interactive motions to create excitement and bring attention to certain objects for the viewers.
Prior to 2014, most webtoons were only available in English through unofficial
fan translation
Fan translation (or user-generated translation) refers to the unofficial translation of various forms of written or multimedia products made by fans (fan labor), often into a language in which an official translated version is not yet available ...
s. In July 2014,
Naver
Naver (Hangul: 네이버) is a South Korean online platform operated by the Naver Corporation. It was launched in 1999 as the first web portal in South Korea to develop and use its own search engine. It was also the world's first operator to in ...
subsidiary
Line began publication of translations of popular webtoons to English via the
Webtoon
Webtoons (), are a type of digital comic that originated in South Korea usually meant to be read on smartphones.
While webtoons were mostly unknown outside of Korea during their inception, there has been a surge in popularity internationally ...
service.
Market
The market for webtoons and their derivatives is currently valued at around KR₩420 billion (US$368 million).
Although digital comics are increasingly popular, print publication remains the primary means of comic retail. Some publishers offer online content and print content simultaneously.
Webtoons have been taken as source material by a number of different mediums, including film and television; one of the earliest examples of this was
Tazza'', a 2006 film based on the comic by
Huh Young-man
Huh Young-man (born June 26, 1947) is a South Korean manhwa artist.
Early life
Huh Young-man was born Heo Hyeong-man in present-day Yeosu, a far southern coastal city of what is now South Jeolla Province, South Korea in 1947. He was the third ch ...
. This work was serialized in the
Sports Chosun
''The Chosun Ilbo'' (, ) is a daily newspaper in South Korea and the oldest daily newspaper in the country. With a daily circulation of more than 1,800,000, the ''Chosun Ilbo'' has been audited annually since the Audit Bureau of Circulations w ...
and garnered over 100 million homepage views, later being adapted into two films. (
Tazza: The High Rollers,
Tazza: The Hidden Card), and one television series (
Tazza (TV series)
''Tazza'' () is a 2008 South Korean television series starring Jang Hyuk, Han Ye-seul, Kim Min-jun, Kang Sung-yeon, Son Hyun-joo and Kim Kap-soo. It aired on SBS from September 16 to November 25, 2008 on Mondays and Tuesdays at 21:55 for 18 e ...
). Another of Huh's works, ''
Sikgaek (
Le Grand Chef
''Le Grand Chef'' () is a 2007 South Korean film starring Kim Kang-woo, Im Won-hee and Lee Ha-na. Produced by ShowEast and distributed by CJ Entertainment, it was released on November 1, 2007 with the length of 114 minutes.
Based on the popular ma ...
)'', was published in the
Dong-a Ilbo
The ''Dong-A Ilbo'' (, literally ''East Asia Daily'') is a newspaper of record in Korea since 1920 with a daily circulation of more than 1.2 million and opinion leaders as its main readers. ''The Dong-A Ilbo'' is the parent company of Dong-A ...
for five years and sold 540,000 copies in paperback version.
Naver
Naver (Hangul: 네이버) is a South Korean online platform operated by the Naver Corporation. It was launched in 1999 as the first web portal in South Korea to develop and use its own search engine. It was also the world's first operator to in ...
's
Webtoon
Webtoons (), are a type of digital comic that originated in South Korea usually meant to be read on smartphones.
While webtoons were mostly unknown outside of Korea during their inception, there has been a surge in popularity internationally ...
service, launched in 2014, is now the biggest webtoon platform in Korea. According to Naver, it reaches over 6.2 million daily users. The free WEBTOON translation service has allowed webtoons to form part of the global
Korean Wave.
They also collaborate with movies.
Outside of South Korea
The webtoon format has also expanded to other countries with many different distributors offering original and translated webtoons for users to read as well as offering platforms for anyone to upload their own webtoons.
Mainland China and Taiwan
In mainland China and Taiwan, webtoons along with
web manhua
() are Chinese-language comics produced in China and Taiwan. Whilst Chinese comics and narrated illustrations have existed in China in some shape or form throughout its imperial history, the term first appeared in 1904 in a comic titled ' ...
have seen an increase in production and popularity since they are rarely published and just like in South Korea, have resulted in a resurgence and interest in the
manhua
() are Chinese-language comics produced in China and Taiwan. Whilst Chinese comics and narrated illustrations have existed in China in some shape or form throughout its imperial history, the term first appeared in 1904 in a comic titled ''Cu ...
industry as more content is consumed digitally. Almost all of the big webtoon portals in China are offered by the big internet companies in the country while in Taiwan the bigger webtoon publishers outside of the country like
Comico, Toomics, and
Webtoon
Webtoons (), are a type of digital comic that originated in South Korea usually meant to be read on smartphones.
While webtoons were mostly unknown outside of Korea during their inception, there has been a surge in popularity internationally ...
are more popular since their services are available there.
Japan
Webtoons in Japan were slow to catch on as well as in other countries mainly due to the traditional
manga
Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...
industry still being the main way in which manga gets released and published. Even
web manga
Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...
, which have seen a recent rise in popularity, are often in black-and-white instead of color, as is common in their Korean and Chinese counterparts, despite being released digitally. Despite this, there have been some strides to penetrate the Japanese market and slowly more
mangaka
A is a comic artist who writes and/or illustrates manga. As of 2006, about 3,000 professional manga artists were working in Japan.
Most manga artists study at an art college or manga school or take on an apprenticeship with another artist bef ...
are trying out the webtoon format to release their titles. Lezhin, Comico, Naver, Line, and Kakao offer webtoon portals with translated works for Japanese readers. Comico, one of the biggest webtoon publishers in the world, was created by the Japanese subsidiary of
NHN Entertainment
NHN Corp. () is a Korean IT company that started its business as a game company called Hangame in 1999. Currently its main businesses can be categorized as Cloud, Fin-Tech (cross-border e-commerce, payment), Entertainment (game, webtoon, musi ...
,
NHN Japan
NHN Japan Corporation is the Japanese subsidiary of NHN Entertainment Corporation.
NHN Comico
NHN Comico operates Comico, a webtoon portal that is available in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand.
NHN PlayArt
NHN PlayArt is video game ...
. To date, there are only two webtoon portals that offer original Japanese webtoons, Comico and Naver (under the name XOY 2017–2018 to 2019). All XOY webtoons have been integrated onto
Line Manga
is an online manga and webtoon platform and smartphone app operated by Line Corporation. It originally launched with just licensed manga titles but soon expanded to include original webtoons.
Overview
Line first launched its manga service in 201 ...
a Japanese Manga service while XOY was up until its demise in January 2019. Kakao has also had success in the Japanese market by offering both licensed manga and translated Korean webtoons with their service,
Piccoma
Piccoma ( ja, ピッコマ, Pikkoma) is a Japanese webtoon subscription service that is available on smartphones, tablets, and personal computers. It was developed and released by Kakao piccoma Corp., the Japanese subsidiary of Kakao.
Service ...
. This has been credited to the webtoon pay model that the service implements where some chapters are offered for free for a short period of time.
Kakao Japan
Kakao ( ko, 카카오) is a South Korean internet company that was established in 2010. It formed as a result of a merger between Daum Communications and the original Kakao Inc. In 2014, the company was renamed Daum Kakao. The company rebrande ...
has announced that it will start offering original Japanese, Korean, and Chinese webtoons for Piccoma in the Summer of 2018. 2021 saw a great deal of tracking for webtoon in Japan with investment from traditional Japanese manga publishers like
Shueisha
(lit. "Gathering of Intellect Publishing Co., Ltd.") is a Japanese company headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. The company was established in 1925 as the entertainment-related publishing division of Japanese publisher Shogakukan. The foll ...
and
Shogakukan
is a Japanese publisher of dictionaries, literature, comics (manga), non-fiction, DVDs, and other media in Japan.
Shogakukan founded Shueisha, which also founded Hakusensha. These are three separate companies, but are together called the Hit ...
.
CELSYS
Clip Studio Paint (previously marketed as Manga Studio in North America), informally known in Japan as ,A clipping of the Japanese pronunciation of its name, ''Kurippu Sutajio Peinto''. is a family of software applications developed by Japanese ...
announced on that they will support webtoon in their CLIP STUDIO READER platform from February 2022.
India
In India, webtoons have grown into popularity.
With the global launch of
LINE Webtoon
Webtoon (stylized in all caps) is a South Korean webtoon platform launched in 2004 by Naver Corporation. As the name suggests, it is a platform for posting webtoons, compact digital comics in South Korea.
The platform first launched in Korea as ...
by
NAVER Corporation
The Naver Corporation is a South Korean internet conglomerate headquartered in Seongnam that operates the search engine Naver. Naver established itself as an early pioneer in the use of user-generated content through the creation of the onlin ...
in 2014, it became the first go to app that introduced webtoons in India. Kross Komics launched the first dedicated Indian webtoon portal in 2020 targeting domestic audience and offering 40 translated South Korean titles in English,
Hindi
Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...
and
Telugu
Telugu may refer to:
* Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India
*Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India
* Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language
** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode
S ...
. It is also planning to introduce content from the Chinese and Japanese markets.
After its official mobile app release on 7 December 2019, it was downloaded over 200,000 times on
Google Play
Google Play, also known as the Google Play Store and formerly the Android Market, is a digital distribution service operated and developed by Google. It serves as the official app store for certified devices running on the Android (operating sys ...
.
As of July 2021, it registered 1.1 million monthly active uses and 3.5 million app downloads. Webtoon dramatization further helped increase readership.
Kross Komics, founded in May 2019, is headquartered in
Seoul
Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...
with additional offices in
Mumbai
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...
and
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
. It mainly targets the 15-24 age group, especially females, and supports both Korean and Indian webtoon content creators. Popularity of digital comics is now encouraging Indian publishers such as Graphic India to launch their own service called Toonsutra in the market. In 2021,
Kakao Entertainment
Kakao Entertainment Corp. (), stylized as kakao ENTERTAINMENT, is a South Korean entertainment, mass media, and publishing company founded in 2021. A subsidiary of the internet company Kakao, it was established subsequent to the merger of the la ...
was planning to enter the Indian market after its acquisition of Kross Komics in 2020. From Q3 2022, Kakao Entertainment will provide webtoon content and customer support for Kross Komics.
Southeast Asia
Indonesia and Thailand have become big markets for the webtoon industry with both Naver (under WEBTOON) and Comico offering both original webtoons and fully translated titles. Some webtoons made in Indonesia and Thailand, such as ''Teen Mom'' and ''Eggnoid,'' have even been translated and published outside the countries . Vietnam launched its first webtoon portal, Vinatoon, which offers translated titles from Daum Webtoon and Mr. Blue with the intention of opening up another market.
Western countries
Many webtoon publishers have had success in penetrating markets outside of Asia with the biggeat successes being the United States and other English speaking countries.
Lezhin, Toomics, Manta, and Naver are the only big publishers who translate their own titles rather than licensing them out and Naver (under the Line brand) even offers the ability for fan translations to be offered in different languages. TopToon's TopToonPlus service, launched in July 2021, was another global launch by a Korean webtoon company for their global fans. In its first month of service, it gained over 200,000 subscribers.
Spottoon
Spottoon is a webtoon
Webtoons (), are a type of digital comic that originated in South Korea usually meant to be read on smartphones.
While webtoons were mostly unknown outside of Korea during their inception, there has been a surge in po ...
and TappyToon offer translated licensed works from various publishers including KToon, Bomtoon, Foxtoon, and many more. Besides just the consumption of translated works, there has also been a rise in the creation of original non-Asian webtoons thanks in part to sites like
Tapas
A tapa () is an appetizer or snack in Spanish cuisine. Tapas can be combined to make a full meal, and can be cold (such as mixed olives and cheese) or hot (such as ''chopitos'', which are battered, fried baby squid, or patatas bravas). In so ...
and WEBTOON offering the ability for anyone to submit their own work. In the beginning, many of the webtoons created outside of Asia tended to just be webcomics released in the webtoon format but over time, more artists have released more titles that are full-fledged comics rather than reformatted webcomics.
Delitoon
Delitoon is a French webtoon service established by Didier Borg in 2011. Initially solely a Casterman product, Delitoon has since been partly acquired by Daou Technology Inc. and has partnered with Sina Weibo. Delitoon offers a large variety of bo ...
is another platform only for French and people based in France, providing translated licensed works mainly from Korean content providers. To better serve US market and increase the intellectual property value chain, Kakao Enetertainment in 2022 merged with Tapas Media and Radish Media to form a single entity.
See also
*
Korean wave
References
External links
WEBTOON mobile websiteWebtoon Translate desktop website
{{Comics
Comics formats
Electronic publishing
South Korean manhwa