Everyone knows what manga is, right. Manga took over the west and in parts of Europe. Japan made it popular and many people have come to love it more than American style comic books. Read the article, Manga is outselling comic books.
While manga is well known, there are similar works that have been rising over the past decade or so. Other works of art that many people either have never heard about or simply ignore because they are isolated in the world of manga not that there is anything wrong with that.
If you have never heard of Manhwa or Manhua then do not worry because it seems as though it is not as popular in the west as it is in Asia. However, there is a rise and some Japanese publishers are worried about the manga market. With about 100 years of manga history, some Japanese publishers are considering changing the style of manga reading from horizontal panels to vertical. Personally as a long time anime and manga reader, no I dont think they should change so that they can be like the Korean WebToons. Manga is very unique and so many artist have gotten inspiration from manga the same way that artist in Asian have gotten inspiration from American superhero comics.
So before I get into further details lets break down the differences between manga, manhwa and manhua.
Differences between Manga, Manhwa and Manhua
If you are reading this article I am going to assume that you already know what manga is. Of course, manga came first. So lets move on to Manhwa and Manhua
What is manhwa?
Manhwa is the Korean term for manga or korean comic books and cartoons. A manga artist is called a mangaka but a korean manhwa artist is called a manhwaga. Manhwa is commonly in color while manga is black and white and sometimes will have a few colored pages in the beginning.
The image below shows a few manhwa titles.
What is Manhua?
As you can probably guess, manhua is the Chinese term for comic books and cartoons. Someone who creates manhua is referred to as manhuajia. Much like korean comics, manhua is usually in full color.
Here are some popular manhua titles
So what is the difference?
Manhwa and manhua are very similar in the sense that they are both in color and manga is usually black and white. The style of drawing is similar to anime. I mean anime characters are meant to look like Asian people therefore it makes sense that Chinese and Korean comics drawing style is similar.
Now personally I have not read much Manhua but I have seen some “Chinese anime.” The main complain about Chinese manhua or Chinese anime is the story. There tends to be bad writing in the Chinese manhua market. However, the manhwa and Korean story telling gets good feedback.
The main differences is what country does the art come from. You really cannot tell the difference int he art style. If a manhwa title was published in Japan, readers would not be able to tell if it was made in Japan or South Korea (or usually one can tell by the author name).
The same way that many manga take place somewhere in Japan (Tokyo), is the same way that many manhwa take place in Korea (Seoul). Same goes for Manhua in China.
Which One Is More Popular?
The chart you see above is from Google Trends. You can see that the blue line is for manga. The red is for Manhwa and the yellow is for manhua (no racism intended). As you can see as far as world wide searches go, Manga is still way ahead of the game because…well…they started the game and Manhwa and manhua have a lot of catching up to do. The world still mainly knows about manga but soon that will change and manhwa will start to catch up in popularity in the west. Not so sure about Manhua. When it comes to releasing manhua to the west it gets complicated.
Manga still takes the lead but the problem with manga is that it relies on paperback sales and lacks much digital presence, although Viz Media is trying to change that now with the shonen jump manga reading app.
As far as the popularity of Manhwa and Manhua in the west (America), the problem is that there aren’t many titles. There are some Manhwa title on amazon.com but for Manhua, you can only find good manhua online. In order words, there is a huge lack of distribution on Manhua and Manhwa in the west…mainly manhua.
Why The West Does Not Know About Chinese Manhua
Many Chinese artist are trying to find ways to make money from their comic books, manhua. However, there is political oppression in China, that is, the mainly land China. The main city where manhua is booming in China is called Guangzhou. According to Nick Stember who is a translator of Chinese comics, the top comic-animation-video game convention in Guangzhou has about 700,000 attendees. That is a HUGE number, then again, China has a gigantic population. Despite of that many manhua artist struggle in China(mostly because of political oppression). Also it is difficult for them to published their work in English and distribute to Europe and North America. They don’t have many popular titles that they can push to the American and European market.
However, Hong Kong (which broke away from China) seems to have a market for manhua.
Now another reason why manhua is not popular in the west or European countries is because…they suck. Sorry to say but yeah they suck. Many people complain that many Chinese fiction pretty much have the same story where the main character is trying dealing with some demon or some ancient artifact but in a different setting or place with a different character. It gets boring. That does not seem to be the problem with Manhwa. Korean comics on the other hand seem to have good entertaining stories.
Lets look at what people are saying on Quora.
Is Manga Going To Lose Sales To Manhwa and Manhua
Pfffft, NO!
You kidding me. The west got manga before manhwa or manhua was a thing. The west only knows manga and by the time manhwa or manhua reach the west they might get some attention but not as much attention as manga.
Manga is not going to lose sales however, with something like WebToons, manga is facing a challenge of having more of a platform for reading manga on mobile devices.
While WebToons is getting so much attention online and many mobile readers, manga mainly focuses on selling paperbacks. However, Japanese media companies need to change their game to go up against WebToons and other vertical style comic books.
Japan prides itself for providing the world with manga and anime (big economy), while manga sells tens, if not, hundreds of millions of copies every year, manga needs to have more of a web presences for reading and good news, its already happening.
WebToons are starting to compete with manga but there is a problem. WebToons has several weaknesses. First weakness is how they pay the artist. At least manga artist can make millions if their manga becomes a bestseller and if it does not have much success, manga artist can still make a good living. WebToons on the other hand, only pays artist who have reach a certain amount of views or has attracted a certain number of people in their audience.
Income of Webtoon artist
9.9% ~ $10,00019.7% $10,000 ~ $20,00023.5% $20,000 ~ $30,00023.8% $30,000 ~ $40,000
23.1% $50,000 ~
