Some of the most popular Korean soap operas and movies were inspired by online comic strips, known in Korean as "webtoons." Such webtoons are now expanding across other Asian markets.
In Korea, comic strips and comic books have long been beloved, and their popularity has even further grown as some of the dramas and films based on them have made it big. Among such successful cartoon-based movies is 1986's “Lee Chang-ho’s Baseball Team” film, inspired by cartoonist Lee Hyun-se’s 1983 work “A Daunting Team.”
Twenty-eight years later, the well-known online comic strip “Misaeng” by Yoon Tae-ho was remade in 2014 into a soap opera of the same name. Airing on the tvN cable network, the drama has become a national sensation.
These so-called “K-comics” are growing in popularity beyond Korea and across Asia, not just because they are so fun, but because they have good stories. A series of contracts for the publishing rights of some of the most-loved webtoons have been signed across Asia by producers who want to turn the works into soaps operas or movies.
On March 14, Huace Media (華策), a Chinese film and media company, purchased the rights on four Korean webtoons: “Girl in the Mirror" (거울아씨전), “The Helping Breakup Ghost" (부탁해요 이별귀), “Just One Shot" (저스트원샷) and “Cashero" (캐셔로). All these cartoons are published via Daum, one of Korea’s biggest web portals. The Chinese company will base movies and soap operas on these comic strips.
Naver, another domestic portal, too has sold the publishing rights to its webtoon “Gigi Goegoe" (기기괴괴) to a Chinese movie-maker in October last year. A total of 24 online cartoons published serially on Naver's webtoon platform LINE Webtoon have been exported to China since 2013. The portal now publishes online comic strips in other languages, too, including simplified Chinese, English, Indonesian and Thai.
NHN Entertainment, an online game provider, launched its webtoon platform Comico in Japan in 2013, in Taiwan in 2014 and then in Thailand earlier this year. Among the hundreds of comics available there, there are comics that have enjoyed a large readership at home, such as “Knuckle Girl" (너클걸) and “Divorce Me, Please" (나 이혼시켜줘).
Comico's Japanese site has had about 1.2 million webtoon downloads since its debut, ranking first in the market. The Taiwanese site, meanwhile, has hit a record of more than 2.5 million downloads since its launch, topping the cartoon chart at the Google Play Store.
“The Comico webtoon channel has become a successful model for global content services, providing online comic strips made both at home and abroad to a wider audience from around the world,” said an official from NHN Entertainment. “The platform offers only sound content whose quality and value has already been verified at the receiving end in each country. We aim to further expand our business beyond the Asian continent to potential markets all around the world.”
By Sohn JiAe
Korea.net Staff Writer
Photos: NAVER, NHN Entertainment
jiae5853@korea.kr
In Korea, comic strips and comic books have long been beloved, and their popularity has even further grown as some of the dramas and films based on them have made it big. Among such successful cartoon-based movies is 1986's “Lee Chang-ho’s Baseball Team” film, inspired by cartoonist Lee Hyun-se’s 1983 work “A Daunting Team.”
Twenty-eight years later, the well-known online comic strip “Misaeng” by Yoon Tae-ho was remade in 2014 into a soap opera of the same name. Airing on the tvN cable network, the drama has become a national sensation.
The online comic strip platform LINE Webtoon was launched by the website Naver and offers more than one hundred cartoon strips in simplified Chinese.
These so-called “K-comics” are growing in popularity beyond Korea and across Asia, not just because they are so fun, but because they have good stories. A series of contracts for the publishing rights of some of the most-loved webtoons have been signed across Asia by producers who want to turn the works into soaps operas or movies.
On March 14, Huace Media (華策), a Chinese film and media company, purchased the rights on four Korean webtoons: “Girl in the Mirror" (거울아씨전), “The Helping Breakup Ghost" (부탁해요 이별귀), “Just One Shot" (저스트원샷) and “Cashero" (캐셔로). All these cartoons are published via Daum, one of Korea’s biggest web portals. The Chinese company will base movies and soap operas on these comic strips.
Naver, another domestic portal, too has sold the publishing rights to its webtoon “Gigi Goegoe" (기기괴괴) to a Chinese movie-maker in October last year. A total of 24 online cartoons published serially on Naver's webtoon platform LINE Webtoon have been exported to China since 2013. The portal now publishes online comic strips in other languages, too, including simplified Chinese, English, Indonesian and Thai.
The webtoon platform Comico, run by the online game provider NHN Entertainment, started this year to offer Korean comics online in Thai.
NHN Entertainment, an online game provider, launched its webtoon platform Comico in Japan in 2013, in Taiwan in 2014 and then in Thailand earlier this year. Among the hundreds of comics available there, there are comics that have enjoyed a large readership at home, such as “Knuckle Girl" (너클걸) and “Divorce Me, Please" (나 이혼시켜줘).
Comico's Japanese site has had about 1.2 million webtoon downloads since its debut, ranking first in the market. The Taiwanese site, meanwhile, has hit a record of more than 2.5 million downloads since its launch, topping the cartoon chart at the Google Play Store.
“The Comico webtoon channel has become a successful model for global content services, providing online comic strips made both at home and abroad to a wider audience from around the world,” said an official from NHN Entertainment. “The platform offers only sound content whose quality and value has already been verified at the receiving end in each country. We aim to further expand our business beyond the Asian continent to potential markets all around the world.”
By Sohn JiAe
Korea.net Staff Writer
Photos: NAVER, NHN Entertainment
jiae5853@korea.kr
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