Webtoon
A webtoon is a digital comic designed to be read on a phone by scrolling vertically, usually in full colour and published in weekly episodes; the form originated in South Korea.
Where the word comes from
A blend of "web" and "cartoon", coined in South Korea in the early 2000s when Korean portals began publishing comics online.
In depth
A webtoon is a comic made for screens. Instead of pages divided into panels, it runs as one long vertical strip that the reader scrolls through, with space between images doing the work of the gutter. Episodes are released weekly, usually in colour, on platforms such as Naver Webtoon and Kakao.
From screen to shelf
Successful webtoons are adapted into print editions, collected into volumes like any other comic. Because the original is a vertical strip, the panels are re-laid onto pages for the book. Many popular Korean series, including Tower of God and Solo Leveling, reached English-speaking readers first as webtoons and later in print.
Webtoon and manhwa
Manhwa is the general Korean word for comics; webtoon is the digital, vertical-scroll form that now dominates Korean comics. Most manhwa in English-language bookshops today began as webtoons.
Where it appears
Tower of God by SIU. one of the early Korean webtoons to find a large English readership
Solo Leveling. webtoon adaptation of a Korean web novel, now collected in print
What it means today
Print editions of webtoons read left to right and are often in colour, unlike Japanese manga. If a reader asks why a "manga" opens the other way round, it is usually a manhwa.
