Here again as a precaution
PARIS (awp / afp) – It was a format designed for phone screens, it is now a full segment of comics in bookstores: the “webtoon”, born in South Korea, shakes the guns of the kind.
The English name for this phenomenon is a contraction of “web”, the other name for the internet, and “cartoon”. These comics are read from top to bottom, scrolling through the boxes like their Facebook or Twitter feed.
“The Koreans started from zero in comics. Before arriving at what we know today, they experimented: animated comic boxes for example. The + webtoon + was the perfect medium for innovation”, explains Pascal Lafine , which launched Kbooks, Delcourt’s label in the “webtoon”.
That a publishing house of this caliber adds the genre to its catalog shows the potential.
Born in the digital world, the “webtoon” is in the process of successfully migrating to paper, while Franco-Belgian comics or American comics have never succeeded in breaking into electronic books.
He did not remain confined to his birthplace, the Korean peninsula, either.
The publisher Hugo BD published in early January volume 1 of the greatest success in the history of the Webtoon platform, “Lore Olympus”, by New Zealander Rachel Smythe.
Little is known about this discreet thirty-something illustrator about her private life.
Adapting her saga on paper was not easy, she confided in July to the American weekly Publishers Weekly. “I would love to go back and redraw everything. (…) But it’s also nice to have decided to leave it as it is”, she explained.
Her “success story” is somewhat reminiscent of that of the American novelist Anna Todd. This young woman had written her romantic sequel “After” on the Wattpad application, by typing on her cell phone, before selling millions of printed copies, in about thirty languages.
Cosplay on TikTok
Naver, the owner of Webtoon, the South Korean platform chosen by Rachel Smythe, has just bought the Canadian Wattpad in 2021.
“Although their histories and trajectories are very different, people like Rachel and Anna have shown that they can build global fan communities,” said Ashleigh Gardner, director of publishing at Wattpad.
Hugo BD wanted to bring the New Zealander to Paris during a launch party but could not, due to the health crisis. The invitation was maintained for the fans, almost exclusively girls.
The publisher boasts in “Lore Olympus” a “phenomenon series with more than 5 million readers”. The success of this adaptation of Greek myths at the time of Instagram is also measured by the number of “cosplays” (disguises inspired by fiction) on TikTok, the preferred network of target readers.
But it will have to be confirmed in bookstores. Hugo BD, a young publishing house bought in 2021 by Glénat, relies heavily on this series in 188 episodes, for which it won the rights in front of Delcourt.
As for Korean series, the successes in French are called “Solo Leveling” (originally novels) and “True Beauty” at Kbooks, or even “Bastard” at Ki-oon editions.
“Solo Leveling volume 1, it is more than 170,000 copies. Volume 2, more than 100,000”, welcomes Pascal Lafine.
Behind, there is a carefully thought out layout.
“Everything is calculated, whether in the + webtoon + version or on paper. White spaces create pauses. There are specialists who measure this: never put too much text in an episode or on a page, so as not to force you to stop for a long time, but put in enough so that it does not appear too hollow “, according to this editor.
hh / mch / mpm