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WEBTOON Partners with Disney to Bring Marvel, Star Wars, More to Vertical-Scroll Format
posted on by Wonhee Cho
WEBTOON Entertainment announced on Tuesday a global partnership with Disney to adapt and distribute around 100 comics from Disney, Marvel, 20th Century Studios, and Star Wars in WEBTOON's mobile vertical-scroll format.
The collaboration will launch with a dedicated section on the English-language WEBTOON app, offering both reformatted comics and brand-new original webcomic series based on Disney's most popular properties.
At launch, readers will be able to access vertical-scroll editions of:
- Amazing Spider-Man (2022–present)
- Avengers (2012)
- Star Wars (2015)
- Alien (2021)
- Disney As Old As Time: A Twisted Tale
Episodes will follow WEBTOON's established model, with a selection of free chapters available and additional installments unlockable using WEBTOON Coins.
In addition to reformatting published comics, original webcomics are already in development.
Yongsoo Kim, WEBTOON's Chief Strategy Officer and Head of Global, highlighted the significance of the collaboration:
“The Disney, Marvel, 20th Century, and Star Wars brands are among the most legendary, creative, and successful in the industry. Together, we're bringing this legendary storytelling to a new generation of mobile-native comic fans, while giving existing fans a new way to experience series and characters they love.”
WEBTOON has also recently partnered with IDW Publishing to bring several of the publisher's popular titles to its English-language platform. In addition, WEBTOON added Hiromu Arakawa's Fullmetal Alchemist manga on May 7. The service also announced a partnership with Dark Horse Comics in June to bring a slate of popular IPs — including Cyberpunk 2077, Critical Role: The Mighty Nein Origins, The Witcher, The Legend of Korra, and Plants vs. Zombies™ — to its English-language platform in vertical-scroll format. Most recently WEBTOON Entertainment announced a new partnership with Saturday AM, the inclusive comics brand known for championing BIPOC creators. The collaboration will bring a slate of Saturday AM's top series to WEBTOON's English-language platform beginning this fall.
Source: WEBTOON's press release
