Note: To avoid redundancy, this page should not be credited to all issues published by publishers from Korea (which are listed below) but specifically to all comic material that was uniquely first published in Korea, translated or otherwise. For an editable and easily organizable list of comics published in Korea, click here.

Definition

Not to be confused with the similarly spelled manhua (Chinese) or similarly marketed manga (Japanese), manhwa is the word for comics in Korea. Although the Korean relation to webtoons is relevant to this page, digital varieties of comics are categorized uniquely in the wiki and webtoon crediting to individual issues belongs on its own page. But due to a number of factors, a growing amount of popular Korean comics over the years have become webtoons over manhwa.

History

Although the history of Korean comics can be traced back earlier, due to a number of government-related suppressions of manhwa over the decades since the Korean War there isn't a very long contiguous history. For being one of the comic-producing countries that gets translated and distributed into the most comic-consuming countries, Korea achieved that success in a relatively short timeframe with most of their major modern industry only tracing back to the 90's or later.

There were English-language manhwa being published in America alongside the first major manga boom of the late 80's (see: Eastern Comics), but these comics and authors are obscure enough that it is unclear if they were based on Korean originals.

In the digital era of the 00's and beyond, Korea was at the forefront of the webtoon format (with them coining the word) and the significant success of this format has in some fashion overshadowed manhwa. Webtoons are distinct from standard digital comics in that they are designed for a digital experience and must be reformatted to be published physically, which is why even the popular examples often are not or take quite some time to be collected.

However, manhwa and limited webtoons are often translated and published abroad (including in Japan), usually by the same publishers that translate manga. Though some of them do create manhwa specific imprints like Ize Press.

Notable Creators and Series

Since the 00's especially, a number of successful Korean creators had their work published in Japanese manga anthologies, at times being simultaneously published in Korea which can confuse the manhwa/manga distinction. Collaborators Youn In-wan and Yang Kyung-Il were a successful example who published in both markets. Boichi on the other hand shifted over fully to the manga market despite getting his start in Korean publishing. Dall-Young Lim published different works simultaneously in both markets. Popular Korean originals that are not strictly manhwa but also webtoons include Breaker, Priest, Na Honjaman Level-Up, Model and Sin-ui Tap.

Translation Industry

Korea translates popular Japanese manga as well as American comics, they are one of a small handful of territories that has had long-lasting anthologies of translated manga that rival the length of many popular Japanese manga magazines themselves. However, original manhwa are mixed in to the anthologies and regularly get the promotional focus (see: Comic Champ).

List of Publishers

• Daewon C.I.
• Haksan
• Seju Munhwasa
• Seoul Munhwasa
• Sigongsa
• Somy Media
• Young Com