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    K-Content Draws Crowds at New York Comic Con

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    Visitors line up to try out content at the Naver Webtoon booth at New York Comic Con, held at the Javits Center in Manhattan, New York, on Oct. 9 local time. New York — Yoon Kyung-hwan, Correspondent

    NEW YORK — At the Javits Center in Manhattan on the 9th, where New York Comic Con, the largest comic content festival in the United States, was under way, people dressed as globally famous comic characters such as Thor and Wolverine were a constant sight inside and outside the building. They were not staff in costume for the event. Most were ordinary comic fans who had come to Comic Con already made up that way from home. Among the costumed fans were not only young people but also a considerable number who appeared to be middle-aged. As the massive crowd filled the vast hall to capacity, the presence of so-called K-content also stood out. In particular, a long line formed at NAVER WEBTOON’s large booth in the center of the exhibition floor, designed around the Korean webtoon “FOG LAND,” as American fans of Korean works waited their turn. Ginny Cho, English Webtoon Service Marketing Leader at Webtoon Entertainment, the U.S. headquarters of NAVER (035420) WEBTOON, said at the venue that awareness of NAVER WEBTOON at Comic Con is quite high. She added that the booth was prepared with close attention to detail so that Americans could feel as if they had stepped inside the story of “FOG LAND.”

    Crowds gather at New York Comic Con, held at the Javits Center in Manhattan, New York, on Oct. 9 local time. New York — Yoon Kyung-hwan, Correspondent - Seoul Economic Daily International News from South Korea
    Crowds gather at New York Comic Con, held at the Javits Center in Manhattan, New York, on Oct. 9 local time. New York — Yoon Kyung-hwan, Correspondent
    Crowds gather at New York Comic Con, held at the Javits Center in Manhattan, New York, on Oct. 9 local time. New York — Yoon Kyung-hwan, Correspondent - Seoul Economic Daily International News from South Korea
    Crowds gather at New York Comic Con, held at the Javits Center in Manhattan, New York, on Oct. 9 local time. New York — Yoon Kyung-hwan, Correspondent

    New York Comic Con, held from the 8th to the 11th, marks its 20th anniversary this year. It is considered a mega-event in the pop culture industry, drawing 250,000 visitors over four days last year and generating 81.8 billion media impressions. Exhibited content is mostly dominated by works from U.S. and Japanese companies, the two powerhouses of comics.

    NAVER WEBTOON is the only Korean content company taking part in Comic Con, now for a third year since 2024. This year, for the first time, NAVER WEBTOON built its booth around a single title, “FOG LAND,” and expanded its size from previous years. With Webtoon Entertainment, its U.S. headquarters, having listed on the Nasdaq in June 2024, the move also reflects an aim to broaden its base in the local market. POGO, the creator of “FOG LAND,” said in an interview that day that what people find fun in Korea, people abroad find fun as well. It was the creator’s first visit to the United States, which POGO described as a rare opportunity.

    Beyond its own booth, NAVER WEBTOON also set up a separate booth for an app it developed at the request of Marvel Comics. The app is a paid service offering digital access to more than 35,000 pieces of Marvel content and will be formally released on the 16th of next month.

    Crowds gather at New York Comic Con, held at the Javits Center in Manhattan, New York, on Oct. 9 local time. New York — Yoon Kyung-hwan, Correspondent - Seoul Economic Daily International News from South Korea
    Crowds gather at New York Comic Con, held at the Javits Center in Manhattan, New York, on Oct. 9 local time. New York — Yoon Kyung-hwan, Correspondent
    Visitors dressed as comic book characters attend New York Comic Con at the Javits Center in Manhattan, New York, on Oct. 9 local time. New York — Yoon Kyung-hwan, Correspondent - Seoul Economic Daily International News from South Korea
    Visitors dressed as comic book characters attend New York Comic Con at the Javits Center in Manhattan, New York, on Oct. 9 local time. New York — Yoon Kyung-hwan, Correspondent

    On the 8th, NAVER WEBTOON also signed a partnership to co-produce webtoon-based animation with Japanese animation studio HAYATE and global animation streaming platform Crunchyroll, through Webtoon Entertainment’s Japanese subsidiary LINE Digital Frontier. The partners agreed to cooperate from the development stage on about 15 webtoon titles with potential for animation.

    NAVER WEBTOON also newly unveiled “The Remarried Empress” and “The Boxer” as titles slated for animation production. The company presented new video and character images for three titles, including “Mercenary Enrollment,” whose production plans had been announced earlier. “The Remarried Empress” is a webtoon based on a web novel and has drawn 3 billion cumulative views globally. A drama series of the same name, starring actors Shin Min-a and Ju Ji-hoon, will also be released next month. POGO stressed that having the webtoon made into an animation is a dream.

    POGO, the creator of "Fogland," speaks with Seoul Economic Daily at New York Comic Con at the Javits Center in Manhattan, New York, on Oct. 9 local time. New York — Yoon Kyung-hwan, Correspondent - Seoul Economic Daily International News from South Korea
    POGO, the creator of “Fogland,” speaks with Seoul Economic Daily at New York Comic Con at the Javits Center in Manhattan, New York, on Oct. 9 local time. New York — Yoon Kyung-hwan, Correspondent

    A Korea joint pavilion operated by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Creative Content Agency was also set up at this year’s Comic Con. Four small and mid-sized Korean game companies — Team Tetrapod, Soul X, Hyper Cent and Take One Company — took part in the pavilion. An official at the agency said this was the first time only game companies had been invited, and that the local response had been extremely strong, with more than 50 business leads generated.

    The Korea joint pavilion booth at New York Comic Con, held at the Javits Center in Manhattan, New York, on Oct. 9 local time. New York — Yoon Kyung-hwan, Correspondent - Seoul Economic Daily International News from South Korea
    The Korea joint pavilion booth at New York Comic Con, held at the Javits Center in Manhattan, New York, on Oct. 9 local time. New York — Yoon Kyung-hwan, Correspondent

    #NaverWebtoon#NYCC#FogLand#KContent#Webtoon#Crunchyroll

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    Original reporting by Yoon Kyoung-hwan for Seoul Economic Daily.

    AI-translated from Korean. Quotes from foreignxact original wording

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