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By Kwak Yeon-soo
Korean dramas adapted from celebrated webcomics, also known as "webtoons" in Korea, have become the new recipe for success as directors and screenwriters seek binge-worthy storylines for the small screen in genres including family drama, comedy, romance, action, thriller and horror.
Some of the most highly talked about K-dramas this year, including Netflix original series "D.P.," "Hellbound" as well as tvN's "Yumi's Cells," started as webtoons.
Producing dramas based on webtoons became possible thanks to rich storylines and original content. Buoyed by the growing popularity of such dramas, directors have teased audiences with the potential for second seasons. This speculation has also seen webtoons increase even more in popularity.
While the production of films and series using webtoons is nothing new, there have conversely been increasing attempts to create webtoons inspired by popular TV dramas.
TvN's "Happiness" and SBS's "Our Beloved Summer" are two of the latest examples where webtoons were released just weeks after their related shows went to air on TV. Although webtoon versions typically have the same title, setting and characters, they are often spinoffs that focus on a completely different storyline or center on characters' past experiences.
The webtoon version of "Happiness," a zombie horror drama that follows two residents forced to fend off the walking dead in their apartment block during a government quarantine, is a spin-off of the original content. Unlike the drama, the webtoon presumes that Sae-bom (played in the on-screen version by Han Hyo-joo) carries the virus inside her body.
Drama-based webtoons are making a splash because K-dramas cover a spectrum of genres, such as romance, fantasy, horror, crime thrillers and everything in between. So, the production company, Studio Dragon, decided to develop a webtoon that aligns with the typical structure and form of a drama.
"A distinguishing feature of recent K-dramas is that they cover a wide array of genres and have intense and engrossing storylines. Moreover, K-dramas often depict a mix of different genres, which makes them appeal more to a wider audience across the world. Those changes were fueled by webtoon- and web-novel- based IP," a staffer at the company said.
The webtoon version of "Our Beloved Summer" is a prequel to the drama. Whereas the romantic comedy drama revolves around former high school sweethearts Choi Ung and Kook Yeon-su who are forced back into each other's lives when a documentary they filmed in high school goes viral, the webtoons version though, focuses on them when they were in high school.
The production team explained that since webtoons about high school romance are popular, they can target a different audience.
Popular melodramas of the past, including KBS2's "Discovery of Love" (2014), "Fight for My Way" (2017), JTBC's "Be Melodramatic" (2019), will also be adapted into webtoons. Meanwhile, "Princess Hours," a period drama based on a comic book, will be recreated as a webtoon that feels modern in its approach.
Industry officials say these romantic comedy dramas are suitable for webtoon formats as their stories and genres target young consumers. Also having successful intellectual property (IP) in one content format that can be expanded into other forms, referred to as "one source, multi-use," is likely to push webtoon's global popularity to a new level while assuring profit.
"Creator-owned webtoons are great, but webtoons inspired by dramas guarantee a certain level of readership among drama fans. Making relevant use of already existing content can also lead to the increase of IP-based earnings," said an official at Jaedam Media, a webtoon and web novel production studio.
The growth of the webtoon content market also contributed to this phenomenon. Until recently, webtoons were unable to reach global audiences unlike dramas that are available across the world thanks to streaming services.
However, Naver Webtoon and Kakao Page, the two largest online webtoon platform providers, have successfully made inroads in Southeast Asia, the U.S. and Europe with their content, and as a result, the readership of webtoons themselves has become increasingly global.
In addition, Korea's webtoon industry saw combined sales top 1 trillion won ($842 million) for the first time last year. The total sales of the local webtoon-based comic market amounted to 1.05 trillion won in 2020, up 64.6 percent from a year earlier, according to data from the Korea Creative Content Agency.
Experts say original dramas can attract audiences to the webtoon market.
"Whenever webtoon-based dramas or films get released, audiences like to compare them with the original content. The same applies to the reverse situation when drama-based webtoons are unveiled," Jang Min-gi, a professor of media communications at Kyungnam University, wrote in Hallyu White Paper 2020.
"The utilization of webtoon IP has become a major strategy to achieve popularity and creative freedom. Just like Marvel Comics or DC Comics that use the concept of a 'multi-universe,' webtoons have the potential to become part of the content franchise industry."
