[Exclusive SACC Special] Webtoons: The Reinvention of Comics with Park Chang-ha

Park Chang-ha is a Korean webtoon artist, author of the thriller 999 and creator of Blue, a project set in Florence developed with Accademia Nemo. In his SACC intermediate workshop Webtoon: The Reinvention of Comics, he shows how the vertical scroll reshapes composition and engagement. He delved into the topic with us.

The vertical scroll has fundamentally changed the way we read and experience comics. It gives creators new ways to control pacing, while also bringing comics closer to the language of animation and other visual media. As an artist, how has this format changed the way you tell stories?

Working on webtoons has made me think more deeply about the difference between showing readers a scene and letting them discover it. Even when the event itself is the same, the tension changes depending on what readers already know and what they do not yet know as they move into the next scene. So deciding what not to reveal yet has become just as important a storytelling choice as deciding what to show. This distinction was especially important in my debut webtoon, the thriller 999.

For example, if I show a character’s shocked expression first, readers wonder what that character has seen. If, on the other hand, I reveal the danger first and delay the moment the character notices it, readers worry about that character as they wait to see what happens next. The event is the same, but the difference lies in whether I create curiosity first or begin by building a sense of dread. These techniques also exist in page-based comics, but vertical scrolling allows me to shape that moment of discovery through the space between panels and the scenes still hidden below the visible screen. Looking ahead, I believe webtoons will continue to expand not only the ways stories are presented, but also the ways readers spend time within them. For example, I could convey a character walking down a long corridor in just a few panels. But I could also stretch that space out, allowing readers to share the character’s unease as they scroll through it. Even when the event is the same, the way readers move through it can create a completely different experience.

South Korea has played a central role in the development of the modern webtoon. What do you think was distinctive about Korea’s cultural and technological environment that allowed webtoons to develop into such an influential form of storytelling?

I believe the growth of webtoons in Korea came from the interplay between technology, everyday habits, and creative culture. High-speed internet and web portals laid the groundwork for people to discover and read comics easily online. Later, the spread of smartphones helped turn reading webtoons into an everyday habit. What mattered was not simply that comics had moved onto digital devices, but that they had entered the spaces where people were already spending their time.

Culturally, I think the close connection between creators and readers was also important. Even new artists can publish their work online and find an audience, while readers can share their reactions and interpretations through comments. Beyond publishing and reading a work, the conversation around it continues in that same space. I see this culture of participation as one of the factors that helped webtoons become more deeply embedded in readers’ daily lives.

Webtoons can be deeply rooted in Korean culture, but still finding audiences and fans everywhere around the world. What in your storytelling must stay culturally specific, and what do you make universal? Has any international response to your work surprised you?

I do not see Korean cultural specificity and universality as opposites. A character’s name, the way they speak, the spaces they live in, and the way they relate to family and society are all important parts of showing what kind of life that person has lived. So I do not want to change those details simply to make the character feel more familiar to international readers. In fact, I believe that the more specific a character’s life feels, the easier it is for readers from another culture to see that character as a real person.

One response from an international audience that stayed with me happened when we screened the first episode of Blue at the Nemoland 20th Anniversary Awards. Blue is a project I am developing together with Accademia Nemo in Italy, and what surprised me was that the audience was interested not only in the story, but also in the way the webtoon itself was read. Because Blue is set in Florence, the local audience also responded warmly when they recognized familiar places and landscapes. The webtoon format, which feels very familiar to me, became something new for them, while the cityscape they already knew helped them feel closer to the story. I found it fascinating that even when people are looking at the same work, what feels unfamiliar and what feels familiar can be completely different from one reader to another. That experience made me realize that we do not need to erase cultural differences in order to connect with readers. Rather than trying to create stories that feel familiar to everyone, I want to create stories where readers can enter an unfamiliar world and still find something within it that connects to their own memories and emotions.