This Week in Webtoon-ish, June 21st
Not the best week for the webtoon industry.
Welcome to this week in Webtoon-ish where I’ll be breaking down and summarizing the news of the week.
This week, we’ve got one of Japan’s biggest publishers pulling out of the international webtoon market, a massive government crackdown on “obscene” material, and a partnership between an influential webtoon studio and one of Korea’s largest broadcast companies.
NHN Comico announces the shutdown of Korean, French, and North American webtoon platforms
The Pocket Comics platforms in France and North America along with the Comico platform in Korea will be shutting down this October. Instead, they’ll be focusing on their Japanese platform, also named Comico, as well as licensing and distribution in the aforementioned markets. This follows a long pattern of platform closures that is increasingly worrying for the webtoon industry.
Source: MoneyS
Podo Comics announces shut down in China
Podo Comics, a joint venture between Kakao and Tencent, has announced their closure in July. The platform has been operational since 2021, but the platform will be shutting down on July 1st.
Source: Business Korea
Police arrest scores of BL authors in China
Female authors in China are being arrested for posting and distributing BL romance stories online in China. If convicted, these authors are subject to detention, financial penalties and even prison sentences.
Source: ABC AU
‘Teenage Mercenary’ anime announced
Naver announced that Line Digital Frontier is developing an anime adaptation of Teenage Mercenary. Currently available in 10 languages, Teenage Mercenary is one of two massively popular action titles on the WEBTOON platform, the other being Omniscient Reader.
Souce: Deadline
‘Omniscient Reader: The Prophet’ release date set for July 23
This week saw the cast and crew of ‘Omniscient Reader: The Prophet’ appear together for a press junket as well as the release of a new trailer. More importantly, the film’s release date was finally revealed as July 23rd for Korean audiences.
While it will undoubtedly see a release on international streaming platforms, no details regarding an international release have been released.
Souce: Yonhap News
Frankfurt Book Fair open to webtoon exhibitors
The Frankfurt Book Fair will be operating a webtoon area next to the Comics Business Center this year. There are still slots available for companies looking to reserve a space, but the deadline will close soon.
Contact Sebastien (sebastien@whitedragon.fr) for more details.
Jaedam Media partners with MBC
Jaedam Media signed a partnership agreement with Korean broadcast company MBC. This will allow the two companies to share IPs in order to create adaptations of live-action dramas into webtoons and vice versa.
Source: Newspim
“Global Toptoon” webtoon platform goes subscription
TOPCO Media, the company that owns and operates Daycomics, has announced that the Daycomics platform will be going subscription. The prices are already set on the platform and currently available.
Daycomics is now the third webtoon platform to offer a subscription plan behind Manta and Toomics.
Source: Newsis
‘King’s Maker’ creators will be at Anime NYC
The writer and artist behind the international BL hit, King’s Maker, will be making an appearance at Anime NYC on August 23rd. The original King’s Maker launched on Lezhin in Korea in 2017 with the English version launching the same year. The sequel, King’s Maker Triple Crown, was published in 2020 with the English version appearing on Tappytoon.
Source: K-Comics Beat