What’s the Difference Between Webtoons and Comics?

The world is constantly evolving with time and that’s a fact. From technology to the entertainment industry, things are moving to the upper level of innovation and revolution. From comics all the way up to webtoons, we’re seeing a whole new face of the entertainment industry. So if you’re confused about the difference between webtoons and comics, do not worry because we’ve got you covered.

Let’s take both art forms one by one and crack the difference between what makes each of them unique and whether one is better than the other.

What are Comics?

The word “Comics” is often misjudged due to its normalization in the entertainment industry. However, staying true to our point, Comics is just a medium of art that is used to show ideas, stories, and incidents, all with the use of images and text. A comic usually takes the form of a sequence of images (mostly black and white) along with texts written in speech balloons or captions to portray a story to the reader.

Comics got super popular after cartoons were combined with them and that’s where comic strips, gag cartoons, and comic books came into being. So where did it all begin? Let’s understand the history of comics before we move on to webtoons.

Origins of Comics

In the mid-20th century, comics became super popular in the United States and other European countries like Belgium, and France. Books like The Adventures of Tintin became super popular till the superhero aspect was added with comics. This is where Superman became a big hit, not only breaking records and becoming a culture for both kids and adult audiences.

Comics Now

Both American and Japanese comics became popular with time. However, Japanese comics are now known as Manga. Comics like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are still relevant to this date. They have cool-looking art with a good amount of detail and most comics nowadays resort to using colors as well.

Comics have a unique sign language along with a “Z-like” pattern where you read from left to right. It just starts making sense as you make your way down through the page. Another thing about comics is that they are usually read from top to bottom.

What are Webtoons?

Webtoons are digital comics that are from South Korea. They’ve been quite unpopular for a big chunk of time but finally got some good exposure thanks to webtoons like Solo Leveling. Webtoons are digital Manhwa and if you don’t know what Manhwa is, it is a comic originating from South Korea.

As you can see from the webtoon named in/habitants in the image above, it contains infinite scrolling without the user having to turn a page. If you want to experience how reading a webtoon feels like, you can read in/habitants with the link by clicking here HERE.

Nowadays, there’s a huge variety of webtoons and they’ve expanded over the whole world. So let’s talk a bit of history about webtoons and how they rose to fame.

Origins of Webtoons

The first ever webtoon was launched in 2003 on a platform called Daum Webtoons. The website is in the South Korean language and it offers many other perks like shopping, news, emails, and forums too. In 2004, Naver launched its Webtoon service called LINE Webtoon app. And from there the rise eventually happened after webtoons like Solo Leveling, Tower of God, and more blew up.

Webtoons Now

Webtoon is a word that means comics but digitally. They are often read on computers and smartphones and are usually created by Korean creators. They’re well-optimized for mobile phones and usually focused on the art heavily. Moreover, the chapters in webtoons are long and you have to endlessly scroll them to finish a chapter. This means that webtoons aren’t divided into pages.

It’s important to know the difference between webtoons and comics because it is too significant. Firstly, comics are natively known for being read on hard paper, in a booked form. Meanwhile, webtoons are digital and are known to support devices like smartphones. Secondly, comics are mostly black and white while webtoons are mostly colored with impeccable art.

Comics have pages that you have to turn and look into other panels but webtoons tend to go infinite scrolling till the chapter is over. There are fundamental differences between webtoons and comics, however, they both have one job and that is to tell a story.

Conclusion

Webtoons and comics have a lot more in common than most people think. However, the core differences make them quite opposite yet the same too. Webtoons are literally a digital form of comics but since they’re digital and they’re usually from South Korea, the approach is different compared to comics.

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