webtoon
noun
| WEB-toon
A digital comic scrolled vertically
What does webtoon mean?
A webtoon is a type of digital comic published online, formatted vertically, and released in episodes. It is also the proprietary name for a leading digital comics publishing platform.
Examples of webtoon
Unlike the typical superhero fare commonly associated with comics in the U.S., webtoon genres run the gamut from fantasy to romance to horror and everything in between.
—Regina Kim, Forbes, 7 Jul. 2024
Webtoons are cheap to produce—a single artist can create one using a tablet—which can make popular comics very profitable.
—I'm making a new Webtoon and episodes are scheduled to publish in two days. Check it out if you want a fun contemporary retelling of Chinese folklore!
—
Where does webtoon come from?
Webtoon combines web, referring to the Internet, and toon, a shortened form of cartoon. It dates back to the 1990s. Digital comics are also known as webcomics, another word that dates back to the 1990s. Early Korean webcomics were called, in Romanized script of Korean, weptun, itself based on the English words web and toon, and in use as early as 1994.
Webtoons emerge as a distinct type of digital comic in South Korea in the 2000s. Unlike traditional printed comics and many early internet comics, webtoons are designed in a vertical format, optimized for reading by scrolling top to bottom on smartphones and other mobile devices. They are released serially, often on a weekly basis in what are called episodes, and span many genres, (although romance, drama, and fantasy stories featuring teenagers and illustrated in the style of East Asian comics are popular). Webtoons spread in the 2010s globally as part of the so-called Korean Wave, which brought forms of Korean popular culture, such as K-pop and K-drama, to international audiences. Many successful webtoons become adapted into movies, novels, games, and other forms of entertainment, and vice versa.
One of the most successful companies for webtoons is commonly referred to as Webtoon, an Internet platform for reading, creating, publishing, and monetizing webtoons and other webcomics. It operates under the domain webtoon.com. Founded in South Korea in the 2000s, the platform helped popularize webtoons, as a word and phenomenon, around the world.
How is webtoon used?
Webtoon is used to refer to any web-based comic published vertically and episodically. Both the word and type of digital comic are closely associated with Korean-style internet comics, called manhwa. Due to the size and success of the platform Webtoon, some people specifically use the word to refer to a webcomic published exclusively on its website or app. The name of the Webtoon platform is a registered trademark stylized as WEBTOON™.
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