'Lore Olympus' grabs another win at Ringo Awards

A contemporary retelling of Greek mythology, “Lore Olympus” has notched another win with the Mike Wieringo Comic Book Industry Awards on Saturday. During the fifth annual edition of the awards, held at Baltimore Comic-Con, “Lore Olympus” was selected as the winner of the best web comic, according to the awards’ official Twitter account Sunday. Known colloquially as the Ringo Awards, the annual prizes were created in honor of Mike Wieringo, a cartoonist known for his

Oct. 31, 2022

KOMACON to promote webtoons to global readers

Korean webtoons are out to make a splash in New York later this month. "Bang! K-webtoon," an exhibition of Korean webtoons, will be held at Gallery Korea of the Korean Cultural Center New York, from Oct. 31 to Dec. 16, the Korea Manhwa Contents Agency, or KOMACON, said Friday. Organized by KOMACON and Korean Cultural Center New York, the exhibit will feature three webtoons popular both at home abroad: “Navillera: Like a Butterfly,” “True Beauty” and “The R

Oct. 21, 2022

Cartoon, animation groups protest Culture Ministry's sponsorship withdrawal

Korea's cartoon and animation community warned the Culture Ministry Friday that it was violating academic and artistic freedom protected by the Constitution of the Republic of Korea. A statement issued by the Cartoon and Animation Society in Korea (Urimana) and several other groups called for an end to censorship of comics and webtoon artists. The statement also said that freedom of expression must be protected and that the unjust pressure against the Korea Manhwa Contents Agency must stop.

Oct. 7, 2022

[Herald Interview] ‘We Are the Zombies’ creator offers fresh twist on zombie apocalypse

BUCHEON, Gyeonggi Province -- From the webtoon series “All of Us Are Dead” (2009), “Dead Life” (2018) and horror thriller “Train to Busan” (2016) to the Netflix series “Kingdom” (2019), South Korea’s zombie content have become popular for their bone-breaking portrayals of the undead, thrilling action sequences and desperate survival stories. Author Lee Myeong-jae, however, impressed viewers around the world by presenting a new twist to the

Oct. 5, 2022

High school student’s cartoon ignites debate on freedom of expression

A cartoon featuring a figure resembling the well-known British comic book character Thomas the Tank Engine, an anthropomorphic blue steam locomotive in the children’s television series “Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends,” found itself at the center of controversy over freedom of expression Tuesday after the Culture Ministry said it would look into how the work was selected for the top prize in a recent contest. Titled “Yoon Suk-yeol-cha,” the cartoon by a high

Oct. 4, 2022

[Herald Interview] ‘Atomic Bomb’ writers delighted by their graphic novel’s international recognition

BUCHEON, Gyeonggi Province -- Writing about one of the most lethal weapon ever invented, Didier Alcante and Laurent-Frederic Bollee, the authors of “Atomic Bomb,” never expected to visit South Korea -- much less to win an award. “This was our first time to win an award outside of our respective countries. We won a prize in Belgium, Canada and France. It is very nice to get international recognition,” Belgian author Alcante said in an interview with The Korea Herald at

Oct. 4, 2022

New multi-sensory webtoon experience with 4DX film ‘Moon You’

Vertically scrolling comics on smartphones are being brought to the big screen by CJ 4DPLEX, a tech subsidiary of CJ CGV, and Naver Webtoon. While retaining the webtoon format, including the typography, speech bubbles and cartoon layout, “4DX Moon You,” which opens in theaters Oct. 12, is "told" with motion seat action and environmental special effects, including wind, fog, snow and more. The result is a fully immersive experience for the upcoming 4DX webtoon’s audien

Oct. 3, 2022

Netflix animation series ‘Lookism’ to start in November

One of the best known Naver Webtoon IPs is being adapted as an animation. Global streaming service Netflix announced on Sunday that a new webtoon-based series “Lookism” is scheduled to be premiere Nov. 4. Unlike the service’s previous webtoon-based titles -- “D.P.,” “Hellbound,” “All of Us Are Dead” and “The Sound of Magic,” “Lookism” makes its debut on Netflix as an animation. According to the company, the series, bas

Sept. 26, 2022

BICOF seeks to entertain comics, webtoon lovers with returned offline festival

Bucheon International Comics Festival is scheduled to kick off its four-day event from Sept. 30 to Oct. 3 at the Korea Manhwa Museum in Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province. The festival returned after a two-year break as South Korea removed its major COVID-19 social distancing restrictions earlier this year. The theme of this year’s festival is “Another universe,” highlighting the ideas from fantasy and imagination. Dividing the world into real and virtual, offline and online, digital

Sept. 14, 2022

[Feature] Korean webtoons expand globally with different strategies

A leading power in the new era of the Korean Wave, or Hallyu, webtoons are expanding their global presence and being adapted into different formats: TV dramas, variety shows, films and K-pop. Vertically scrolling comics on smartphones have captured readers' attention with innovative approaches such as animation effects, background music and their own soundtracks. Though Korean webtoon companies began global businesses in 2014, it is only in the last few years that the companies have been

Sept. 5, 2022

20 years on, K-webtoons have become first movers

In August 2002, the online portal site Daum created a category called “Webtoon” on its platform. Following Daum, South Korea’s largest online portal and search engine Naver launched a similar platform in 2005. Twenty years after their conception, webtoons have become a veritable industry of their own. South Korean webtoons have emerged as a strong multiuse source that create enormous economic value not only in Korea, but also globally. Domestically, it raked in 1.053 trillion

Aug. 13, 2022

Marvel’s Korean superheroes assemble in ‘Tiger Division’

Marvel Comics’ Korean superhero squad will take center stage in their first solo series, “Tiger Division,” set to be released on Nov. 3. Marvel announced a five-issue limited series for “Tiger Division” last week at San Diego Comic-Con. The seven Korean superheroes are: Taeguekgi, the powerful patriot with a heart of gold; White Fox, a character based on the nine-tailed fox legend; K-pop star Luna Snow; mysterious sorceress Lady Bright; street-brawling demigod Mr

July 29, 2022

[Interactive] Illegal scanlation is ruining the webtoon industry

July 21, 2022

Pinkfong to expand IP-based NFTs

Pinkfong, the company behind the hit YouTube “Baby Shark Dance,” is set to sell shark family-related non-fungible tokens on the digital art platform and marketplace MakersPlace in the third quarter of the year. According to the company, a total of 10,000 generative art NFTs, including the members of shark family -- Mommy Shark, Daddy Shark, Grandma Shark, Alec (the grandfather shark) and Ollie, the Little Baby Shark -- and background images, will be produced for the upcoming projec

July 15, 2022

ENA’s ‘Extraordinary Attorney Woo’ to become webtoon series

Television channel ENA’s courtroom series “Extraordinary Attorney Woo” will be adapted into a webtoon, media content company Astory announced Tuesday, unveiling a cartoon image of the lead character Woo Young-woo. According to the production company, the webtoon “Extraordinary Attorney Woo” will be serialized in 60 episodes, drawn by illustrator HwaUmJo and written by Yuil. The webtoon will be serviced in four languages -- Korean, English, Japanese and Chinese, t

July 6, 2022

Kakao Entertainment’s webtoon ‘Solo Leveling’ to make jump to animation

Kakao Entertainment announced the animated adaptation of its popular webtoon series “Solo Leveling” on Monday. According to the company, the action-fantasy will be co-produced by Kakao Entertainment and Japan’s renowned animation studio A-1 Pictures, the company behind many successful animated adaptations such as “Sword Art Online,” “The Seven Deadly Sins,” “Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day, Erased” and “Your Lie in April.”

July 4, 2022

Thai soldiers in the Korean war remembered in Kakao Entertainment webtoon

Kakao Entertainment and the Korean Cultural Center Thailand will present a webtoon about Thai veterans who participated in the Korean War. The webtoon has been created to inform the younger generation about the history of the Korean War. Titled “One Day, My Beloved Idol Group‘s Leader Disappeared!” it will be launched in September in Thailand. The story begins when the leader of the famous K-pop boy band Little Tiger disappears, even from people’s memory. The main charac

June 28, 2022

Kakao Entertainment’s ‘The Gift’ coming to TV

Kakao Entertainment’s popular sports webtoon “The Gift” is coming to the small screen. “The Gift,” a webtoon series written and drawn by author J1212, centers around baseball coach Jung Min-yong who has a supernatural power to rate the level and ability of baseball players. Min-yong starts coaching at a high school and scouts Tae-hoon as a first team pitcher, seeing in him potential to become a great player. The story develops as the players show their dissatisfa

June 27, 2022

DC Comics’ ‘Red Hood: Outlaws,’ ‘Zatanna & the Ripper’ to arrive on Naver Webtoon

Naver Webtoon, South Korean tech giant Naver’s web-based cartoon platform, and DC Comics revealed the release date for their latest titles, “Red Hood: Outlaws” and “Zatanna and the Ripper.” During a discussion about the future of comics at the Collision Conference, Marie Javins, DC Comics editor-in-chief, and Naver Webtoon head of content David Lee said their upcoming series will be available on July 11 and Aug. 14, respectively, according to Naver Webtoon’s

June 27, 2022

Kakao Entertainment to hold webtoon competition

Kakao Entertainment on Thursday announced the hosting of the webtoon competition “Global Raid Kakao Webtoon Contest.” The webtoon showdown, which will receive applications from Aug. 1-7, is aimed at discovering popular webtoon-IP targeting both local and global readers. The upcoming contest seeks to find creative projects in action fantasy, school action, noir, sports and martial arts genres. Both rookie and veteran creators can participate the contest individually or as a team.

June 2, 2022