At first, many different terms were used to refer to these digital comics published on websites in Korea. What is a webtoon, then? A webtoon is a combination of web and cartoon, and was coined in Korea to refer to webcomics. Second, this web graphic narrative, developed in Korea specifically to utilize some of the potential that the digital platform offers, is a new mass media form that links to multiple media technologies and to contemporary mass media. First, “webtoon” is neither an equivalent general term like “webcomics,” nor is it a genre of comics rather, the webtoon is a complex system created by the distinctive combination of two media (comics and the digital)-one that has brought about a discrete set of interlinked, mutually implicated changes in comics form and aesthetics, production process, and reading practice, and in the concepts and boundaries of authorship and readership, distribution, and consumption of cultural capital. In this article, I examine the differences between print comics and Korean webcomics, or webtoons, and the effects and implications that those differences generate in terms of the aesthetics of webcomics as a new medium, and also discuss the place of Korean webcomics from a comparative perspective. Despite this, as I discuss in detail below, the webcomic has been constantly evolving, in a process that involves challenging its own limits and inventing not only new artistic forms but new cultural practices, such as different types of distribution and consumption, transmedial creation, and reader-writer interactions. For instance, screen size and shape limit the way in which a creator produces comic panels and also the way the reader accesses them. McCloud’s claim about the virtually endless page of the webcomic can be questioned, however, since it does not provide an infinite canvas in practice, despite its conceptual potential. He uses the term “infinite canvas” to characterize the virtually endless page of webcomics (or digital comics) compared to the print page of paper comics ( Reinventing Comics 222).

Theorist and creator of webcomics Scott McCloud emphasizes the importance of digital creation-how things change when a creator purposely sets out to create a work for a digital platform-over the effects of digital distribution and circulation.

The term “webcomics” is often used interchangeably with terms such as “digital comics,” “online comics,” and “internet comics” although “digital comics” is sometimes used as an umbrella term that refers to all different digitally produced and distributed forms, including CD-ROM comics and mobile comics. But more strictly it refers to comics that are specifically created for and published/released on a computer platform. “Webcomics” generally means comics published on a website. Various forms and different kinds of content make categories provisional, and the way terms are used changes over time. It is always difficult to define terms, and this remains true for the many forms of graphic narrative. Var $wrapper = $self.closest('.Features The Webtoon: A New Form for Graphic Narrative

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