What's a Webtoon?

shatterjure 2016-07-28 23:17:10 UTC #1

I've seen all these posts about Webtoons and here i am still not knowing what Webtoons are xD

carloswebcomic 2016-07-28 23:20:54 UTC #2

I think it's the new term that all the cool kids are using when talking about webcomics. Kind of like when emoticons became emojis.

I don't want to live in this world anymore.

shatterjure 2016-07-28 23:21:53 UTC #3

Oh, so it's just another term for webcomic...
I'M OOOLD

nessiefynn 2016-07-28 23:24:53 UTC #4

It's in reference to Line Webtoons, another webcomic site similar to Tapastic.

shatterjure 2016-07-28 23:25:10 UTC #5

so we got competition?
hmmmm

shazzbaa 2016-07-28 23:31:09 UTC #6

We don't have competition, but Tapastic does! We can publish our comics on both sites at the same time if we want to. : >

Here's the site! Their team up with patreon looks pretty cool.

bakasama25 2016-07-29 00:24:16 UTC #7

Webtoons? You talking about the website or South Korean webcomics?

Kayke 2016-07-29 00:27:22 UTC #8

When people say Webtoons they're generally referring to the Line Webtoons website... but I've also seen people say "webtoons format" to mean a comic that's long vertical scrolling instead of set up like a traditional comic page or strip.

bakasama25 2016-07-29 00:34:11 UTC #9

Yeah, but I've reading webtoons years before LINE Webtoons was a thing. I run a wiki for webtoons and it just sounds like a Naver marketing ploy to make LINE Webtoons = webtoons but to me it's just means South Korean webcomics. Eh, it's just my opinion.

heterodont 2016-07-29 01:03:10 UTC #10

It's honestly just linguistics - just how Photoshop technically refers to Adobe Photoshop but everyone gradually adopted it to refer to any post-processing editing done to photography, for example.

scythe 2016-07-29 01:42:55 UTC #11

Exactly, it's a branding thing. Rollerblades are actually inline skates. Rollerblade is a company. Windsurfing is a brand. Sailboarding is the sport. Google is a search engine, yet googling now means essentially means to look online. Line Webtoons is trying to make webcomics synonymous with their company. Very smart.

keii4ii 2016-07-29 04:22:28 UTC #12

It's not even a branding thing; or at least, it didn't begin that way, though it might end up achieving that effect on the English speaking side of the internet. In Korea, the term webtoon is used by multiple brands to refer to any and all webcomics.

69Michi 2016-07-29 04:30:17 UTC #13

Webtoon is a vertical scrolling style of Korean manga, which is slowly killing its brother Manhwa as far as I know LMFAO But yea most of the time people also refers to the website LINE Webtoon as Webtoon, so there is that. (Some others also call it LINE, I don't care either way)

bakasama25 2016-07-29 06:07:42 UTC #14

Uh, last time I checked, it was piracy that's killing print comics plus low readership. The manhwa industry is pretty small when compared to the manga industry. Webtoons, on the other hand, dwarf Japanese webcomics in readership. I dare say Korea might one of largest markets for webcomics.

69Michi 2016-07-29 14:08:09 UTC #15

I wasn't exactly talking about online comic vs printing comic, it was more or less a comparison between Webtoon vs Manhwa, which are both Korean's comic. In many occasion I just lumped both Webtoon and Manhwa together, making Webtoon into an extensive branch of Manhwa, but many people would disagree with me and say they are not the same.

With that said, Webtoon is super popular in Korea (or the entire world) right now, sort of dominating over Manhwa. (There is still Manhwa being published online) And yeah, I do agree Webtoon is taking over the webcomic industry, but what do we expect? It's created with online and mobile readers in mind after all, unlike Manga which is preferably read in a printed format.

Zanreo 2016-07-31 19:32:13 UTC #16

Wait, so... is "webtoon" is specifically referring to webcomics printed in the vertical, "mobile-friendly" format while manhwa are Korean comics in the "standard" comic page format, whether printed or online webcomic? Or are traditional-format Korean webcomics considered both mahnwa and webtoon?

69Michi 2016-07-31 19:42:25 UTC #17

Yes, Webtoon is the vertical format of comic, and Manhwa is simply just Korean comic in the printed format like your good old friend. They are very much different format-wise.

keii4ii 2016-07-31 20:00:14 UTC #18

It depends. When you're talking in Korean, "webtoon" = ANY AND ALL WEBCOMICS. Doesn't have to be vertical. "Manhwa" is even broader. It's 'comic,' both print and web. Origin doesn't matter. Format doesn't matter. Garfield is a manhwa in Korean. Unsounded is a webtoon in Korean.

But in English? Ehhh.

It's kind of like the Japanese word "manga." In Japanese, it's just a word for comic, but in English it's come to specifically mean comics that have distinct traits that are common in Japanese comics. Webtoon/manhwa aren't as widely established in English yet, but it may be a matter of time before all vertical webcomics are called webtoons. (Which makes me weep because I personally really hate the term, but that's neither here nor there.)