Wattpad Webtoon Studios will publish print editions of the several popular webtoons and manhwa, including SIU's popular Tower of God series.
The new releases will be the first titles to come out of Wattpad Webtoon Studios' new imprint, Webtoon Unscrolled. The new division of the popular digital comics company will adapt its titles, many of which were originally designed around the online platform's scrolling webpage format, to the medium of graphic novels. The new imprint is part of Webtoon's push to expand their content to other mediums, which has also included TV and movie adaptations of the company's properties, including the new Netflix drama Nevertheless and the upcoming horror movie GremoryLand.
"WEBTOON has transformed the comics landscape, helping creators find new fans all over the world," said Ken Kim, CEO of Webtoon Entertainment, U.S. "As the global leader in digital comics and IP, WEBTOON’s storytelling technology and creators are fueling a Literary Creator Economy, ushering in a new era of publishing and entertainment. With WEBTOON Unscrolled, we’ll bring some of the biggest names and undiscovered talent from WEBTOON to bookshelves."
The imprint's initial slate of six titles includes True Beauty, a manhwa by Yaongyi that boosts an astounding 6 million subscribers and has been read over 5 billion times online, and Doom Breaker, a new fantasy-action series by Blue-Deep that has become of Webtoon's newest hits. Webtoon Unscrolled will also publish print editions of Cursed Princess Club by LambCat, Boyfriends. by Refrainbrow and Everything is Fine by Mike Birchall. Webtoon plans on publishing an additional 12 titles per year.
Of the six titles announced, Tower of Gods is probably the one that's most familiar to Western audiences. The series began publication in 2010 and was created by author SIU, also known as Lee Jong Hui. The manhwa tells the story of young man named Bam, as he begins his journey into the titular tower, a massive structure that contains continent-sized floors and a variety of biomes. The tower is said to grant the wishes of anyone who can scale it, and when Bam's life-long friend Rachel disappears within it, he goes in to find her. An anime series based on SIU's work was released in 2020 and was produced by Telecom Animation Film, the studio behind the romantic comedy series Don't Toy With Me, Miss Nagatoro and the upcoming anime adaptation of Sega's classic video game series, Shenmue. The Tower of God anime was originally streamed internationally by Crunchyroll, and will be released on DVD and Blu-ray by VIZ Media in January. A mobile game based on the series was also released for Android devices in 2013.
Source: Webtoon
