The Korea Herald

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Naver Webtoon drops surprise ‘Eternals’ webcomic

By Lee Si-jin

Published : Nov. 1, 2021 - 15:15

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Cover image of Naver Webtoon’s “Eternals” (Naver Webtoon) Cover image of Naver Webtoon’s “Eternals” (Naver Webtoon)

Just days ahead of the theater release of Marvel Studio’s “Eternals,” Naver Webtoon unveiled the movie’s Korean webtoon version Sunday.

The first two episodes, titled “Intelligent Design 1“ and ”Intelligent Design 2,” have a 9.26 rating on the Naver platform as of Monday.

Celebrating the release of the film, the first four episodes are available free of charge, Naver Webtoon said.

The webtoon, based on the Marvel Comics series of the same title published in 2007, centers around members of an immortal alien race, the Eternals, fighting against their enemy, the Deviants, to protect Earth.

The comic is widely recognized for author Neil Gaiman and comic artist John Romita Jr.’s splendid reinterpretation of the Eternals universe, originally created by the legendary American comic book artist Jack Kirby.

“Because a lot of Korean Marvel fans are anticipating the film ‘Eternals’ and looking forward to watching actor Ma Dong-seok, or Don Lee, as ‘Gilgamesh,’ we hope that the webtoon version will also be enjoyed by many readers,” Naver Webtoon said in a press release Monday.

The 11-part webtoon series will be updated twice a week, on Monday and Friday.

The “Eternals” webtoon series is the third part of the company’s “Marvel Webtoon Project,” after “Black Widow” and “Shang-Chi.” The series is a collaboration between Marvel Comics, Naver Webtoon and Sigongsa, the official Korean publisher for Marvel.

Having switched from the original horizontal comic format to the vertical scrollable version on mobile devices and online browsers, “Marvel Webtoon Project” is the first to change printed comic books into mobile-friendly webcomics.

In addition to the previously released series, more original Marvel comics, including “Spider-Man” and “Avengers” will be available on the Naver Webtoon platform.

The “Eternals” webtoon series is available on Naver Webtoon’s mobile app and website.

By Lee Si-jin (sj_lee@heraldcorp.com)