Best Korean webtoons (manhwa)?
I'm addicted to Korean webtoons right now, and I want some more. I'm currently reading Noblesse and it's amazing; however, it's starting to get a little repetitive at around chapter 200, so I was thinking of picking up another. Please remember that I want WEBTOONS, which are usually colored and published in long strips. Could you give me your opinions on these: Tower of God God of Highschool Kubera and if you know any others please speak up ^.^ thanks!
Why are there so much empty space on webtoons?
It is very immersion breaking for me while I'm trying to get into the story of a webtoon *scroll scroll scroll* to read maybe 3~ actual images/panels. You never know how many actual panels with actual drawing on a page that takes 10 scrolls~ to get to the bottom. Sometimes there is only one with some words... I get some people say "it's to develop suspense and mood" if it happens only on some pages, but, wow, every single page.. The webtoons in question are Tower of God and Kubera, especially on the former which finally broke my tolerance. I'm trying to give it a good shot since everybody is raving about how brilliant it is, but come on my index finger's going to break off from all the scrolling through white space before I even get anywhere. This is not a problem with all webtoons as I think Girls the Wild's and DICE are acceptable since I never noticed them. So my question is ... is there an ACTUAL purpose to why there are so much blank space on a lot of webtoons? or it's admitted to be bad but there is a technical reason it has to stay that way? P.S. Is anyone else bothered by them?
What is the difference between a korean Webtoon and a Manhwa?
They come from the same place I believe. A webcomic is often cartoonish (style of drawing) and colored. They are usually updated once a week. A mahwa is somewhat like a manga (comic without color). A mahwa is read different from a manga, left to right (as with the webcomic).
Are there any comics or webtoons that deal with some real heavy-hitting issues?
Lookism deals with all sorts of real world problems, like body image, bullying, and even heavier topics like being homeless, murder, abuse... it's a good read, but I didn't like it till about chapter 20 so if you don't like it right away, trust me, give it at least 20 chapters.Odd Girl Out is similar to Lookism, but primarily with female characters. It also deals with body image and bullying and later, other things too. I recommend this a lot.Family Man is a MUST READ. It's about a man with a family he hardly gets to see because of work and also due to an accident that permanently damaged his face, so he dresses up as a superhero so he can interact with his kids without scaring them and also take out bad guys (robbers, kidnappers, etc) at the same time. It gets pretty sad at the end though.Lore Olympus is probably far from realistic, since it is based off of Greek mythology, however, it gets pretty heavy, as the topics of rape and sexual abuse/harassment come up later.Save Me is more of a thriller story, but it does deal with bullying, disability, and mental illness.And finally, there's Bastard. I don't want to spoil the story. I find it's a lot more enjoyable if you read the description and then read the webtoon. It's one of those stories that you wish when you wanted to reread it, you could just forget everything to get the same feeling you got the first time. It's amazing. Trust me.
Where can you find good comic reading websites?
I would highly recommend Line Webtoon. It is probably the only website/app with free comics that have good art and plot. Line Webtoon has 2 parts: official webtoons, which are webtoons that update on a fixed schedule and the authors get paid for, and discover webtoons, which are webtoons that anyone can publish. They do not have to update on a fixed schedule, and you can choose to become a patreon to fund the comic. Discover webtoons can become official webtoons if they gain enough exposure. If you do decide to read Line Webtoon, here are my recommendations for each genre.FANTASYTower of God, UnOrdinary, Refund High School, Winter Moon, The Steam Dragon Express, Kubera, NoblesseROMANCEI Love Yoo, Let’s Play, Super Secret, My Dear Cold-Blooded King, Siren’s Lament, Eggnoid, Boyfriend of the Dead, Age MattersSLICE OF LIFEMy Giant Nerd Boyfriend, Murrz, Adventures of GodCOMPLETED WEBTOONSFlow(fantasy), For the Sake of Sita (fantasy/romance), Nightmare Factory (fantasy/comedy)DISCOVER WEBTOONSSubZero (Romance), :Rebirth (Read this one first, it is becoming an official webtoon soon so all the discover episodes will be deleted, fantasy/apocalypse), The Curse of 9 Lives (fantasy), Glacias (fantasy), and Books of Adam (comedy)
Why is the webtoon format so popular in Korea?
One possible perspective is that the success of webtoon is not due to its format, but its revenue model.Before webtoon became popular in South Korea, manga (or manhwa) books were there. The problem was that mostly nobody paid for it. Instead, there were several rental shops, and people usually paid for these shops.The phenomenon had demotivated domestic manhwa artists since they were badly paid so that they couldn't maintain their daily lives, and finally imported manga books were only left.The second generation of webtoon was by these domestic manhwa artists. The first generation was not that skilled, and the market was not that scaled yet at that time. Several portal websites like Yahoo, Naver, and Daum had started to gain more visitors than they expected, and it made them to publish more webtoons.Domestic manhwa artists went to the market. The market standard soon became higher. Many skilled manhwa artists fastly adopted to the new format, and lots of works started to compete. They became relatively well paid than before, the manhwa industry became a blackhole. The whitehole connected from it was of course the webtoon industry.Today, there is no manhwa anymore. Even rental shops got disappeared. There are only Japanese mangas. The manga industry is maintained by few enthusiastic otakus (like me), and for the most part Koreans usually enjoy webtoons which are freely available. From the earliest period, Koreans tend to not pay for comics. About $3 to $4 USD for each book has been too expensive for the most Koreans (I disagree though), and free webtoons are the best fit for them.