From Comics to Webtoons, Games, and Dramas... The Evolving 'Island'

1997 Manhwa, 2016 Webtoon
2021 Game, 2022 Drama & Single Volume

[Asia Economy Reporter Seomideum] Amid the spread of 'OSMU' (one source multi-use), where a single content transforms into various branches, the recently released drama 'Island' is gaining attention.

'Island' is a fantasy action work featuring ‘Ban’, ‘Won Miho’, and ‘Yohan’, who protect people from numerous yokai in Jeju Island. It first appeared as a black-and-white comic in 1997. The story, which combines Korean traditional folklore and religion, was praised for its splendid artwork.

The work has achieved diversification through IP expansion. Starting with the serialization of Part 1 on Naver Webtoon in 2016, Part 2, which covers the story after Part 1, was released as a color webtoon in the same year. It also received positive responses overseas in North America, China, Taiwan, Japan, and more.

In 2021, a mobile game titled ‘IslandM’, utilizing the content and concept of Island, was launched. The original author, Yang Kyung-il, directly participated in the development, attracting attention by surpassing 600,000 pre-registrations. On December 20 last year, Part 1 of ‘Island’ was republished as a standalone volume in Japan, and in the same month, collector’s editions of Parts 1 and 2 were released domestically.

Following that, on December 30 last year, the drama 'Island' premiered as a TVING original series. Actors Kim Nam-gil, Lee Da-hee, Cha Eun-woo, and Sung Joon reinterpreted the work’s unique worldview and characters. Shortly after its release, it entered the top 10 on the overseas OTT platform ‘Amazon Prime Video’, drawing attention. It ranked in the top 10 in 32 countries, reached the top 3 in 10 countries including Cambodia, Hong Kong, and Indonesia, and ranked number 1 in 6 countries including Vietnam, Thailand, Taiwan, and Singapore.

Yoon In-wan, founder of YLAB who oversaw the expansion of the ‘Island’ content and the original author of ‘Island’, stated, “The Island IP possesses a solid story, three-dimensional character settings, and fantasy success elements that anyone can be interested in. These IP elements have proven strong competitiveness in the content market as a powerful value chain IP through not only the original comics but also webtoons, expandable games, dramas, and standalone volumes.” He added, “Although webtoon IPs are recently diversifying their value chain strategies, YLAB aims to create the most interesting IP first through the essential story and content composition of webtoons rather than works for IP expansion, bringing it closer to readers.”