Korean Studies: Webtoon

These are the guidelines by which materials are purchased for the Korean Studies collection of the UW Libraries (Seattle Campus).

What is Webtoon?

Webtoon is basically a compound word of Web and cartoon.

K-Manhwa (Korean cartoons) has a history of nearly 100 years, but paper magazines and comic books gradually disappeared. Ever since the introduction of the internet in the 90s, there has been a webtoon serialization service available on portal sites. Web-based cartoons have gained huge popularity, even previously published comic books in print format have been reversely digitized. Afterward, more specialized webtoon platforms started to appear and now some platforms offer services for overseas audience. A typical feature of webtoons is that they are published in one long, vertical strip. It uses the way of scrolling down the screen not multiple pages so that it is easier to read on a smartphone. Originally webtoon is based on online platform but some popular webtoons are published also in print format. Now the term of Manhwa means webtoons rather than traditional print comic books.

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Check Awesome Webtoon Platforms for overseas