[HanSpot Ep.9] WEBTOONs, Korea's Vertical Art // 독특한 한국 문화: 웹툰!

An Undervalued Craft

When is the last time you read a comic book? Did you read it in the Sunday newspaper? At the gas station? Dilbert? Garfield? Wonderwoman? The Avengers?

한국어 포스팅은 스크롤을 내려주세요!

Apart from the big box productions we see far too often in theaters these days, we as a global society don’t have much direct access to the comic world (and probably never did in regards to mainstream culture). But I’ll have you know, in Korea the comic industry is alive and thriving.

Thought not in the way you would expect with comic books or “manga” in print form. Korea has taken to digital medium of the smartphone for their illustrated arts.

Today, we look at the phenomenon of WEB TOONS in our latest production of HanSpot! Scroll down towards the bottom for the podcast!

New Tech, New Art

WEBTOON (웹툰) is transliterated shortening of WEB (as in the interwebs/internet) and TOON (cartoon). Pretty simple this week. ;)

You may be saying to yourself, “so what, it’s just a digitized comic.” Well, that is true technically but the real magic is in how Koreans have adapted the comic form with this relatively new handheld technology.

Webtoons are illustrated vertically so that they can read fully in one load and just by scrolling downwards. A very long vertical timeline. The nuances are what makes this “art form” so unique and it strangely gives the whole experience of reading almost a “scroll-like” feel, harking back to the dynastic times of South Korea.

This seemingly small adjustment in format and proportions has made comic readership so accessible to the general public of South Korea. Finally, something entertaining that doesn’t take extreme bandwidths to pressure while commuting or bored in class.

Recognizing an Art Form

Comics have traditionally, in most if not all countries, never been fully considered a form of high art. Despite the incredible amount of talent and man-hours that go into them, we rarely see comics in gallery or museum form; they rarely ever penetrate into other methods of presentation.

For Korea, it isn’t just a little art form enabled by a bit of tech. In a country where mainstream media so overwhelmingly dominant - Kpop, Kdramas, Korean cinema, news broadcasting - and so heavily controlled, there are actually very few ways that an average citizen can really express their views or start a broader discussion.

Webtoons have become just that, a vehicle that transports marginalized discussion to national stage. Many of the comics that I follow are no child-friendly at all, often dealing with verbal taboos like suicide, rape, life-fulfillment, and so on. In my years of consuming and studying Korean media, I have never seen a medium so liberated and uncensored as Korean Webtoons.

So there you have it! What do you think of this kind of production? Do you have any personal experiences with unique comics? I didn’t really cover the amount of serious innovation in the western world but I do know first hand that comic media deals with much more than just superheroes in tights. Let me know your thoughts below!

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웹툰! 여러분들 웹툰 좋아하시나요? 스크롤을 내리며 읽을 수 있는 한컷 만화! 이번 한스팟/韓spot 팟캐스트에서는 한국의 웹툰 문화에 대해 소개했습니다. 사운드 링크 클릭!(영어)

2년전 와이프 추천으로 기기괴괴의 "성형수"를 읽으며 웹툰 문화를 처음 접했습니다. 그리고 저의 만화 세상은 바뀌었습니다.

지하철에서, 집에서, 어느곳이든 이제 스마트폰만 있으면 읽을 수 있는 웹툰은 정말 당연스러운 우리 일상의 일부이죠. 하지만 웹툰이야말로 다른 곳에서는 절대 찾을 수 없는 정말 한국적인 독특한 문화입니다.

“코믹”은 전통적으로 사회를 풍자하기위해 만들어진 장르죠. 나라마다 코믹을 보면 그 사회의 문제를 볼 수 있다 합니다. 우리나라에서는 “웹툰”의 역활이 그러지 않나 싶습니다. 일상에서 비롯된 내용들부터 우리가 평소에 이야기 하지 않는 사회 문제를 만화에 반영해 그린다는 점이 상당히 독특합니다.

매우 일상적임을 배경으로 만들어지는 내용이 좋아 우리는 웹툰을 쉽게 쉽게 읽고, 또 이것이 우리의 일상에 스며들었나봅니다. 인터넷이 빠르고 스마트폰의 사용도가 높은 우리나라에서 빠르게 대중화 될 수 밖에 없던 만화의 포맷이 아닌가 싶습니다.

웹툰, 우리 사회의 문제를 창의적인 소통방법으로 채널하는 아트 아닐까요?

Be sure to comment, resteem, and

and check out my design collective @hitheryon