Manhwa

The first woodcut Template:Lang, published in 1908

Template:Lang (Template:Korean; Template:IPA) is the general Korean term for comics and print cartoons. Outside Korea, the term usually refers to Korean comics. Template:Lang is directly influenced by Japanese Manga comics. Modern Manhwa has extended its reach to many other countries. These comics have branched outside of Korea by access to Webtoons and have created an impact that has resulted in some movie, drama and television show adaptations.

Characteristics

The author or artist of a Template:Lang is called a Template:Lang (Template:Korean). They take on the task of creating a comic that fits a certain format. Template:Lang is read in the same direction as English books, horizontally and from left to right, because Korean is normally written and read horizontally. It can also be written and read vertically from right to left, top to bottom. Webtoons tend to be structured differently in the way they are meant for scrolling where manga is meant to be looked at page by page. Template:Lang, unlike their manga counterpart, is often in color when posted on the internet, but in black & white when in a printed format.

Template:Lang art differs from manga and manhua as well with its distinct features. The bodies of characters are often realistically proportioned, while the faces remain unrealistic. Template:Lang also often have very detailed clothing on their characters as well as intricate backgrounds. Webtoons use vertical scrolling to their advantage to demonstrate movement or the passage of time. Template:Lang webtoons are also recognized for having simplified dialogue compared to print.

Etymology and influence

Linguistically, Template:Lang, manga (Template:Lang) and Template:Lang (Template:Lang) all mean 'comics' in Korean, Japanese and Chinese respectively. Manga comes from the Japanese word 漫画, (katakana: Template:Lang; hiragana: Template:Lang) which is composed of two kanji 漫 (man) meaning 'whimsical or impromptu' and 画 (ga) meaning 'pictures'. The same term is the root of the Korean word for comics, 'manhwa', and the Chinese word 'manhua'. The Korean Template:Lang, the Japanese manga and the Chinese phrase Template:Lang are cognates (Template:Translation) and their histories and influences intertwine with each other.

Originally the term manhua in Chinese vocabulary was an 18th-century term used in Chinese literati painting. The term manga (Template:Lang) was used in Japan to mean "comics" in the late 19th century, when it became popular. Since then, manhua (Template:Lang) and manhwa (Template:Korean) have also come to mean 'comics' in Chinese and Korean respectively.

The current usage of the terms Template:Lang and Template:Lang in English is largely explained by the international success of Japanese manga. Although in a traditional sense, the terms manga/Template:Lang/Template:Lang had a similar meaning of comical drawing broadly, in English the terms Template:Lang and Template:Lang generally designate the manga-inspired comic strips. Manga influenced Template:Lang from the medium's beginnings during the Japanese occupation of Korea and continued to exert a powerful influence as the manga industry became a major force within Japanese culture and began to export comics abroad. Template:Lang were not culturally isolated, and the influx of manga into the Korean comics market had a strong effect on the art and content of many artists' Template:Lang.

History

A collection of manhwa covers from the 1960s in Korea Manhwa Museum, Bucheon

Korea was a part of the Japanese Empire from 1910 to 1945, and during this time the elements of Japanese language and culture were incorporated into Korean society. The term Template:Lang came into popular use in Korea during the 1920s, when it was applied to cartoons. By the mid 1920s, most newspapers were shut down, and political and social cartoons were abandoned, replaced by humorous illustrations and cartoons geared towards children.

Political cartoon slowly reemerged following the establishment of the Republic of Korea (commonly known as South Korea) in 1948. During the early years of Japanese occupation, newspaper comics featured a great deal of social criticism. Popular artist Kim Yong-hwan started Korea's first comic magazine, Manhwa Haengjin, in 1948, but it was quickly shut down because the authorities disapproved of the cover.

During the Korean war, Manhwa was used with the aim of boosting the morale of the public. The popularity of comics rose during the 1950s and 1960s, creating diversity of styles and subject matter which led to the construction of new genres such as sunjeong (or soonjung), stories containing romance that are aimed at young women (equivalent to the Japanese genre shoujo). Also around this time another more humorous genre, myeongnyang or happy comics had become popular in order to counteract gritty ones. Manhwabang (lit. comics room), comics cafés and stores that allowed readers to pay a set rate to sit and read comics were also introduced to the public, creating a positive atmosphere around the comics. In response to the increasing publication of comics, as well as social and political changes within South Korea, the government began to enforce censorship laws and, by the mid-1960s, created a comics distribution monopoly that further censored Template:Lang.

In the 1990s, the ban on Japanese media was lifted, which helped to influence the present-day art and styles of contemporary Manhwa. Around this time was when Manhwa had come up in North Korea as well. Then in the early 2000s, the majority of Manhwa was transferred to online sources due to economic collapse that South Korea had experienced at the end of the millennium. because of its transfer to online sources, its popularity overseas has risen. This led to the South Korean search portal to launch LINE Webtoon, a platform for distributing online Manhwa.

Webtoons

The term "Webtoon" (Template:Korean) is a portmanteau of the Korean words 웹 meaning web and 카툰 meaning cartoon. The term was first coined on 8 August 2000, by Chollian, one of South Korea's oldest and now discontinued internet service engines. Webtoons are the digital form of Template:Lang that first came into popularity in the early 2000s due to their free access and availability on the internet. It was also beneficial to creators because it helped them get around strict South Korean censorship laws. Webtoons encourage amateur writers to publish their own stories for others to read. Since their creation, webtoons have gained popularity around the globe and have even been adopted outside of Korea as another form of comic publication. This is credited to their unique format and pay model.

In 2014 WEBTOON's global website and mobile app were launched, revolutionizing the comic world's way of reading for entertainment. Also, around this time JunKoo Kim, the person that started LINE Webtoon, had reported that Webtoon was used in 60 countries, had 55 million monthly users, and 100 billion annual views.

Template:Lang outside of Korea

Template:Lang has reached all over the world now. With websites such as TopToon, a webtoon company from Korea that also has a global service in TopToonPlus, people are able to access a wide variety of comics from their phones. There are also places like WEBTOON that not only allow people to read original comics, but make them as well, opening up this aspect of Korean culture for everyone to take part in.

But despite that, the relative obscurity of Korean culture in the Western world has caused the word Template:Lang to remain somewhat unknown in the English-speaking countries. English translations of Template:Lang have achieved success by targeting the manga and anime community, to the extent that Template:Lang were marketed as manga by the American publisher Tokyopop.

United States

Sanho Kim was the first Template:Lang artist working in the States. During the 1960s and 1970s, he worked for publishers Charlton Comics, Warren Publishing, Iron Horse Publishing, Skywald Publications, DC Comics, and Marvel Comics.

According to journalist Paul Gravett, in 1987 Eastern Comics published the first original Template:Lang in the United States.

Due to the explosion of manga's popularity in the Americas, many of the licensed titles acquired for the American market seek to emulate the popular elements of other successful series. Recently, long-running webtoons serialized via Internet portal sites (e.g. by Daum Media), like Lezhin Comics and personal homepages have become both the creative and popular destination among the younger generation in Korea. With manga proving to be both popular and commercially successful in Europe and the United States, a number of publishers imported and translated Template:Lang titles in the hope of reaching the same audience. The readability and left-to-right orientation of Template:Lang contributed to its growing popularity, as did the realism of the characters and the combination of Eastern and Western styles and mythologies.

Media franchise

Template:See also Animations based on Korean comics are still relatively rare (though there were several major hits in the late 1980s and early 90s with titles such as Dooly the Little Dinosaur and Fly! Superboard). However, live-action drama series and movie adaptations of Template:Lang have occurred more frequently in recent years. Full House in 2004 and Goong ("Palace" or "Princess Hours") in 2006 are prominent examples. Below is a list of manhwa titles adapted into television series, web series, films, etc. Not to be confused to another adapted works of adapted from Webtoons.

Title	Author	Format	Premiere	Notes	Reference
Meongteong-guli Heotmulkyeogi (Template:Korean)	Lee Sang-hyeop and Ahn Jae-hong and Noh Soo-hyun	Film	1926
Gobau (Template:Korean)	Kim Seonghwan	Film	1958
Walsun Ajimae (Template:Korean)	Jeong Woon-kyung	Film	1963
Geokkuligungwa Jangdaligun (Template:Korean)	Kim Seonghwan	Film	1977
Bridal Mask (Template:Korean)	Huh Young-man	Film	1978
		Animated film	1986
		TV series	30 May 2012	Bridal Mask SPC Pan Entertainment KBS N
Space Black Knight (Template:Korean)	Huh Young-man	Animated film	1979
Alien Baseball Team (Template:Korean)	Lee Hyun-se	Film	2 August 1986
The Last Station (Template:Korean)	Huh Young-man	TV series	14 September 1987	Broadcast on MBC
Dooly the Little Dinosaur (Template:Korean)	Kim Soo-jung	Animation	7 October 1987 – 1989	Daewon Media Broadcast on KBS
		OVA	1995	Tooniverse
		Animated film	24 July 1996	Dooly Nara (Dooly Nation), Seoul Movie
		Animation	8 January 2009	Broadcast on SBS, Tooniverse
The Chameleon's Poem (Template:Korean)	Huh Young-man	TV series	14 May 1988
Yeongsimi (Template:Korean) Young-sim (Template:Korean)	Bae Geum-taek	Film	29 July 1990
		Animation	5 October 1990	Daewon Media Broadcast on KBS
		TV series	15 May 2023	The Great Show, MODT Studio Broadcast on ENA
Mr. Sohn (Template:Korean) Fly! Superboard (Template:Korean)	Huh Young-man	Animation	15 August 1990, 1991, 1992, 1998, 2001	Hanho Heung-Up Co., Ltd. Broadcast on KBS1
Asphalt Man (Template:Korean)	Huh Young-man	TV series	17 May 1995	Broadcast on SBS
48+1	Huh Young-man	Film	4 November 1995
Beat (Template:Korean)	Huh Young-man	Film	3 May 1997
Mr. Q (미스터 Q)	Huh Young-man	TV series	20 May 1998	Broadcast on SBS
Nudlnude (Template:Korean)	Yang Young-soon	OVA	October 1998, 1999	Seoul Movie
We Saw the Bird Lost in the Middle of the Road (Template:Korean)	Hwang Mi-na	TV series	19 April 1999	Broadcast on KBS2
Blade of the Phantom Master (Template:Korean)	Youn In-wan and Yang Kyung-il	Animated film	4 December 2004	Oriental Light and Magic and Character Plan
Full House (Template:Korean)	Won Soo-yeon	TV series	14 July 2004	Kim Jong-hak Production
Hammerboy (Template:Korean)	Huh Young-man	Animated film	6 August 2004
Goong ("Palace" or "Princess Hours") (Template:Korean)	Park So-hee	TV series	11 January 2006	Eight Peaks
Tajja (Template:Korean)	Kim Se-yeong and Huh Young-man	Film	28 September 2006	Sidus FNH
		TV series	16 September 2008	Olive9 and Dong-ah Institute of Media and Arts
War of Money (Template:Korean)	Park In-kwon	TV series	16 May 2007	Victory Production Broadcast on SBS
		TV series	7 March 2008	Broadcast on tvN
		TV series	6 January 2015	Kansai Television Co. Ltd.
Sikgaek Le Grand Chef Gourmet (Template:Korean)	Huh Young-man	Film	1 November 2007	ShowEast Co Ltd
		TV series	17 June 2008	Broadcast on SBS
		Film	28 January 2010	IROOM Pictures
Saranghae (Template:Korean)	Huh Young-man	TV series	7 April 2008	Broadcast on SBS
Priest (Template:Korean)	Hyung Min-woo	Film	13 May 2011	Screen Gems
The 7th Team (Template:Korean) Mr. Go (Template:Korean)	Huh Young-man	Film	17 July 2013 (South Korea) 18 July 2013 (China)	Showbox/Mediaplex (South Korea) Huayi Brothers (China)
Would You Like a Cup of Coffee? (Template:Korean)	Huh Young-man	Web series	24 October 2021	Broadcast on KakaoTV
Acacia (Template:Korean)	Kim Dong-hwa, Han Seung-won	Webtoon	12 May 2023

Korean Template:Lang publishers

Note: select publishers only

• Daewon C.I.
• Haksan Culture Company
• Seoul Cultural Publishers
• Shinwon Agency Corporation

North American Template:Lang imprints

• ADV Manga
• Dark Horse Manhwa
• DramaQueen
• DrMaster Publications
• Manta
• Media Blasters
• Netcomics
• NBM ComicsLit
• Seven Seas Entertainment
• SuperAni
• UDON's Korean Manhwa
• Yen Press's IZE PRESS

See also

• Culture of South Korea
• Korean Wave
• List of manhwa
• Manhwabang
• Myeongnang manhwa
• North Korean animation
• South Korean animation
  • List of Korean animated series
  • List of Korean animated films
• Video gaming in South Korea
• Webtoon

General and cited sources

• Cain, Geoffrey. "Will the Internet Kill the Manhwa Star?" The Far Eastern Economic Review, 6 November 2009
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite web
• Template:Cite web
• Template:Cite web
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite web
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite news
• "Korean Comics in the U.S., Part 1, Comic-Con International 2004", Jade Magazine.com, Sep. 2004
• "Korean Comics in the U.S., Part 2, Manhwa Sampler", Jade Magazine.com, Sep. 2004
• "Sang-Sun Park, Les Bijoux Comic Artist", Sequential Tart.com, Aug. 2004
• Manhwa site for "Siya Ben"
• Manhwa site for "Demon Diary" (Template:Korean)
• "Infinity Studios and Manhwa", Anime Tourist.com, 16 June 2004
• Our Toys, Our Selves: Robot Taekwon V and South Korean Identity