Now, while it is not often these days that stories are printed in this fashion, a new storytelling style has emerged in the digital realm. I am here to tell you about today’s equivalent: Webtoon. My first dip into the Webtoon waters involved reading about a Greek goddess with bright pink skin and the power to create blossoms. She meets a blue Greek god with the power to rule the underworld, and suddenly all hell breaks loose (no pun intended). Rachel Smythe’s Lore Olympus caught my eye — and my heart — for a multitude of reasons. From the vibrant characters, to the stunning illustrations, to the weekly updates, I could not look away. I did not grow up reading many graphic novels, so it was a delight to discover a new way to read young adult stories. Whether you’re an avid Webtoon reader or you are simply wondering what on Earth has people so captivated, let’s explore it all. The Webtoon site specifically entered the scene a bit later in Korea in 2004. The webcomics site — developed by Naver Corporation — was Webtoon founder JunKoo Kim’s hope to reignite an interest in comics. A lack of public interest was due to a severe dip in comics publishing and the strong idea prevalent in the 1990s that comics needed to be censored by the Korean government. “Kim wanted to initially reach teens by focusing on content he described as ‘casual, light, and cool,’” writes Kirsten Acuna in Business Insider. “He thought it wouldn’t make sense to just appeal to traditional comic fans who already had ‘a defined taste of what they like.’ Kim came up with launching scroll comics online, an idea which came about because of an astute observation about human behavior.” And Kim’s idea has taken off. Nearly 20 years later, statistics site Similar Web records that Webtoon received over 52.9 million monthly visits in July 2022 alone. Many webcomics have made their ways into the hands of publishers and then onto bookshelves. Looking for more Webtoons to read? Check out 9 slice-of-life webcomics you can read right now. “In the online world of webcomics,” writes Oseman in an article for Goodreads, “stories of all genres with marginalized leads, often created by marginalized authors and artists, find the space to shine, and it’s so important for teenagers in particular to see and read these stories.” The genre is so popular, in fact, that beloved YA books that were written in the traditional, unillustrated fashion are now being turned into webcomics, such as Rot and Ruin by Jonathan Maberry and The Weight of Our Sky by Hanna Alkaf. If you’re into romance, fantasy, and classic literature retellings, you may enjoy The Wrath & The Dawn by Renée Ahdieh and Silvester Vitale. (You might know this title since it was originally published as a YA book in 2015.) Shahrzad is a teen girl who volunteers herself to marry a seemingly bloodthirsty king. Her goal? To be the one queen — in a string of many — to survive beyond her wedding night. This is a retelling of One Thousand and One Nights. I’d be remiss in not also reminding you to read the webcomic of all webcomics: Lore Olympus! Meet Persephone, Hades, Hera, Apollo, and a whole cast of reimagined Greek gods. There’s love, hate, drama, and very cute pet dogs.
