South Korea, a country with media that has been coming in a wave. But this page isn’t going to talk about dancing pretty boys or horse riders. Let alone the dramas that made their way online. It is about the battle of comic formats, Manhwa vs Webtoons.
Printed Manhwa of Korea
Korean print comics are Manhwa. Manhwa is almost indistinguishable from its Japanese equivalent Manga including the right-to-left reading and the black and white artwork. Unlike regular shonen manga, manhwa has a much more diverse form of artwork and execution.
The creative process of manhwa is almost an inversion of manga; being more shaped by the creator than any editor. This prevents editorial mandate for new redundant story arcs. But also means creators meander with the many story tangents. The writer and artist duo is also brought up more unlike the writer-only creator schemes in other comics.
Notable examples of Manhwa stateside includes Bride of the Water God, which has a live-action drama adaptation. And then there’s Witch Hunter a story about a gunslinger who wants to save evil witches rather than destroy them. Finally, there is the ever famous Blade of the Phantom Master. It is a story about a Jushin empire warrior who can conjure phantoms. Unfortunately, only a few manhwa gain notoriety in comparison to manga. Heck publishing company “Daewon Media”‘s magazines usually publishes manga with manhwa.
Webtoons: Korea taking the Virtual World by Storm
This brings up Korean Webtoons. Not web animation, but Korea’s Webtoons mean webcomics. Compared to Western Webcomics, they focus on a single formatted scroll with colored pictures decorating the canvas. These make the comics easy to read on mobile devices. With South Korea’s stance on free wi-fi, this helped boost influence.
And that’s just one part of Manhwa vs Webtoons.
Print publishers have subjects they would like to avoid for fear of scandals. For these more subversive creatives they go online. Most of them get their funds from the dynamic system on host sites like Naver and Kakao. Think of it like Google Ads on YouTube videos. Naver alone makes more than Korea’s national newspapers. Westerners also pick up interest in webtoons and are able to access them through apps like Webtoon. It became so influential, that printed editions of content became little more than advertisement.
Featured Webtoons
With so many notable webtoons it’s not hard to see why. Noblesse, Tower of God, and God of High School have all gotten adaptations to compete and compare with Shonen Jump. Probably because of all of the stylish action scenes and repetitive formulaic plots. But with all of the quirky characters and heart that they show, it’s hard not to get on board.
One of my personal favorites includes The Gamer, the adventures of a gaming addict dealing with the new dangerous world he finds himself in. Unlike the above two, this series is more self-reflective and focuses on character development.
Other Platforms
There are other webtoon services with a few of them on apps like Tapas or Lezhin. Each possess their own content for their respective audiences all but serving as a YouTube for Comics. But not everybody can compete with ad revenue to Naver’s Webtoon. So they have to use features like waiting systems that release chapters after a certain amount of days. Or in the adult-oriented Lezhin and Toomics, implements this along with their own pay-for systems.
Manhwa vs Webtoons Results
So is this really Manhwa vs Webtoons? Because the biggest publishers in Korea like Daewon CI have moved most of their investments towards Webtoons. The only print that still exists is translated manga or manhwa that exists for nostalgia’s sake. Otherwise print only exists as mass market advertisement.
Which is not a bad thing, TV shows alone are not great advertisement. I mean, until recently these were usually Live-Action over animation. So you can imagine that the more outlandish manhwa isn’t around. Webtoons however serves as an example for other publishers to follow. In fact the webtoon formula is so successful that companies in Japan, China, France, and the USA create their own platforms for smart phones.
But is the fall of print’s prominence tragic? Not really. Manhwa’s time was spent trying to copy and catch up to Manga. Webtoons is the result of forward thinking minds taking advantage of their country’s unique niche. It’s culture manifesting at its finest.
Thanks for coming and as always remember to look between the panels.