What is Webtoon? Webtoon is a a web-based cartoon, first popularized in Korea in 2007. Naver Webtoon is the most popular Webtoon platform in Korea. In 2010, Naver Webtoon launched Line Webtoon, global Webtoon platform that relies on readers to translate Webtoons from all over the world.
What do Webtoon`s precedents such as comics, manga, and manhwa have in common? They are print-based cartoons formatted in grids, panels, and gutters.
As McClound explains, the organization of panels decided the flow of order in print-based comics.
Whereas we flipped pages in cartoons to advance from one grid to the next,Webtoons, allow us to scroll through panels to advance the story.
This is the first panel of Tower of God, one of the most popular Line Webtoons.
A simple scroll-down will land you with the second panel.
Basically, there is no such thing as grid in Webtoons.
In addition to increasing accessibility through an online platform, Webtoon has introduced new possibilities of reader interaction.
The transition from flipping through pages to scrolling down a monitor screen has given more freedom to readers in terms of story tempo and flow. Absence of grid freed the genre of cartoon from the limitations of layout and gave authors more space to experiment with each panel.
