Last month, Webtoon announced a major new deal with Disney to bring a litany of original licensed stories and past comics from across Marvel’s library to the scrolling format that has made Webtoon a significant force in the comics space. Today, however, the two companies confirmed that those plans are actually much, much bigger.
Today Webtoon Entertainment confirmed that Disney would be acquiring a 2% equity interest in the company as part of a non-binding term sheet that will also see the two companies develop a brand new digital comics platform that will be home to “current comic book runs and include decades of past comics from across Disney’s portfolio, including Marvel, Star Wars, 20th Century Studios, and more,” according to a press release.
The new, currently unnamed platform will host over 35,000 comics and is framed in the announcement as “an expansion upon Marvel Unlimited.” It’s currently unclear whether or not the new platform, which will be operated by Webtoon, will be set up to replace Marvel Unlimited, the publisher’s digital comics platform and subscription service that first launched in 2007. That said, further information provided by the companies says that the new platform will “provide decades of iconic comics for current Marvel Unlimited subscribers and bring in even more fans to experience storytelling from across the Disney portfolio along with a selection of Webtoon Original stories,” suggesting that the Unlimited subscription will continue to exist in some capacity alongside the new platform.
Subscribers to Disney+ will also be able to read a curated selection of comics in the new app as part of the streaming service’s perks program, and the new app is described as including “a mix of vertical and traditional formats” across its library of archived comics, current runs, and original content made by Disney and Webtoon, similar to how Marvel Unlimited currently includes scrolling-format exclusive series as part of its Infinity Comics line as well as standard digital comic formats. The new platform will also feature select translations of material for Korean and Japanese audiences.
The news comes in the wake of last August’s announcement that Webtoon will bring a selection of recent Marvel Comics output to its own service in the next few years, including the latest volume of Amazing Spider-Man, the 2015 revival of Marvel’s Star Wars ongoing, Jonathan Hickman’s 2012 Avengers run, and the 2021 Alien series, alongside a new adaptation of the 2016 Liz Braswell novel, As Old As Time: A Twisted Tale.
“With a new platform that will combine our product and technical expertise with Disney’s full comic catalog, we’re giving new and longtime fans all over the world a new way to discover these legendary characters and stories,” Junkoo Kim, Webtoon Entertainment’s CEO, said in a provided statement. “Disney’s extraordinary storytelling legacy is second to none, and we’re honored to work with them to build the future of digital comics. This is a powerful next step for our growing global business, and a strong foundation for even greater collaboration with Disney in the years ahead.”
The news of Disney and Webtoon’s partnership comes at an interesting time for digital comics, as the industry has seen a collapse into siloed, publisher-specific services in the wake of Amazon’s disastrous handling of Comixology, leading to the marketplace’s shuttering and folding into the retailer’s Kindle service in 2023. The union between one of the biggest studios in the world and one of the biggest digital comics platforms around will certainly raise some eyebrows.
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