Korean webtoons are a subgenre of manhwa that are published exclusively online as Webcomics, usually on comic hosting sites such as Naver and Daum. Unlike Western Webcomics, this gives them a totally different funding dynamic, as, although they do not have publishers, as such, they are funded through the hosts. Every click still counts, even if the model isn't that of a personally owned project or business variety.
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Their layout is different from standard manhwa — instead of individual pages, webtoons are posted as one long, scrolling page per chapter/ strip, with most being entirely in color. Because they are not bound by publisher requirements as much as their print counterparts, webtoons also tend to be a little more avant garde, with either less conventional story lines or dealing with subjects that aren't usually addressed in mainstream entertainment. Expect much in the way of Genre-Busting and Deconstruction within the medium as standard.
Although the readership of these webtoons were once restricted to the Korean speaking population, the popularity of series such as Trace, Noblesse and Tower of God has recently generated a solid western fanbase for the medium, to the point that multiple websites have started publishing licensed English translations of various series and offering English-language apps available for Kindle, Android and iOS. The popularity of this format also resulted in other international comics artists beginning to use the Webtoon format and in the West making a Webtoon-like hosting site of their own, Tapas Media.
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Website publishers of English-translated Webtoons: CIAYO Comics
Examples — Do note that ALL of these belong in the Webcomic namespace if they were Web First.
- 50 Tea Recipes from the Duchess
- 7FATES: CHAKHO
- The Abandoned Empress
- Abide in the Wind
- Ability
- About Death
- Adonis
- The Advanced Player of the Tutorial Tower
- A Fairytale For Villains
- Aisopos
- Americano Exodus
- Annarasumanara
- The Antagonists Pet
- Appetite
- Apocalyptic Horseplay
- A Stepmother's Marchen
- As You Wish, Prince
- Athena Complex
- Baby Finger
- Bastard (2014)
- Beware Of The Brothers
- Beware the Villainess!
- A Bittersweet Life (2014)
- Black Behemoth
- Black Haze
- Black Wind
- Blood Bank
- Bloody Sweet
- Blow Eagle Of Laftal
- The Bongcheon-Dong Ghost
- Builder
- Burning Effect
- Cactus And Radio
- Can't See Can't Hear But Love
- Castor
- The Cat Lives
- Chaos Attack
- Cheese in the Trap
- Cherry Boy, That Girl
- The Childrens Teacher Mr Kwon
- Chitra
- City of Dead Sorcerer
- Crepuscule
- Daily JoJo
- Dark Heaven
- Days Of Hana
- Dead Days
- Denma The Quanx
- The Devil King Is Bored
- DICE: The Cube That Changes Everything
- Distant Sky
- Divine Bells
- Doctor Elise
- Dokgo
- Dogfight
- Doom Breaker
- Dr. Frost
- Dungeons And Artifacts
- Dungeon Reset
- Duty After School
- Eleceed
- Ensemble
- Escape Devildom
- A Fairytale for the Demon Lord
- flOw
- Flight Highschool
- Fluttering Feelings
- Forbidden Days
- 4 Cut Hero
- Four God Ranger
- The Friendly Winter
- From A Knight To A Lady
- The Gamer
- Get Schooled
- Ghost Teller
- Ghost Theater
- Girls of the Wild's
- The God of High School
- Gosu
- The Greatest Estate Developer
- The Great Merchant Kim Manduk
- Gyon Woo And Jik Nyu
- Hardcore Leveling Warrior
- Harmonia
- Her Hero
- Homesick
- HIVE
- House of Dolls
- Hungry City
- I Belong To House Castiello
- I Don't Want This Kind of Hero
- If Ai Ruled The World
- I'm All Out Of Health
- Im The Tyrants Secretary
- Infinite Leveling Murim
- In Full Bloom
- Insos Law
- It Would Be Great if You Didn't Exist
- Jack: The American Ghost
- Jungle Juice
- Killing Stalking
- #Killstagram
- King's Maker
- Kiss Wood
- Knight Run
- Kubera
- Layers
- The Lazy Lord Masters The Sword
- Lessa
- Legend of Asura – The Venom Dragon
- Like Wind On A Dry Branch
- Locker And Opener
- Look At Me
- Lookism
- Lout of Count's Family - adaptation of the web novel Trash of the Count's Family
- Magical 12th Graders
- Magician
- The Makeup Remover
- Marine Blues
- Melo Holic
- Miss Guillotine
- Mom, I'm Sorry
- The Monstrous Duke's Adopted Daughter
- My Fiancée Is a Vampire Hunter!
- My Life As An Internet Novel
- My Heart Is Beating
- My Secret Brother
- My Young Cat My Old Dog
- Nano List
- Nano Machine
- Neon Revenge
- The Night When The Crow Caws
- Nineteen, Twenty-One
- Noblesse
- NoNamed
- Nowhere Boy
- Oh! Holy
- Oh my God!
- Omniscient Reader
- On Or Off
- Orange Marmalade
- Paladin
- Papi Nyang
- Pink Lady
- Pinnochio
- The Pizza Delivery Man and the Gold Palace
- Positively Yours
- Protect The Knight
- Psycho
- The Rabbit Hole
- Red Storm
- Reflets d'Acidenote Originally an audioplay webseries, Reflets d'Acide received an official comic book adaptation which abruptly ended at issue 10 long before the actual ending of the series. The webtoon is a continuation of said adaptation, starting where the comic books ended
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