Manhwa
Manhwa is the Korean word for comics; today most manhwa is published as full-colour vertical-scroll webtoons and later collected in print.
Where the word comes from
Korean 만화, written with the same Chinese characters as Japanese manga and Chinese manhua.
In depth
Manhwa means comics in Korean. Printed manhwa magazines and books were the main form through the twentieth century; since the early 2000s Korean comics have moved online, and the vertical-scroll webtoon is now the dominant format.
How manhwa differs from manga
Manhwa reads left to right and top to bottom, like English. Webtoon-born manhwa is usually in full colour and paced for the scroll, with a lot of space between images. Popular genres include action fantasy with game-like levels, romance fantasy and modern drama.
In print
Successful webtoons are collected into printed volumes, re-laid from the vertical strip onto pages. English publishers release them alongside manga, and bookshops usually shelve them together.
Genres readers search for
English-language manhwa is especially strong in a few genres: action fantasy with game systems and levels, romance fantasy (often featuring a heroine reborn into a novel or a noble family), and contemporary drama and romance. Many of these come from Korean web novels.
Reading manhwa in print
Print volumes of webtoons are usually in colour on heavier paper, so they cost more per page than black-and-white manga. Numbering follows the Korean print volumes, which do not always correspond to a fixed number of online episodes.
Where it appears
Solo Leveling. action manhwa that became an international bestseller
Tower of God by SIU. long-running fantasy webtoon
What it means today
Many popular manhwa in English began as Korean web novels, became webtoons, and then reached print — check which version a volume collects.
