The Era of Marvel Fades as 'Vertical Scroll' Rises... K-Webtoons Take Over the U.S. Comics Market

Capturing Generation Z and Female Readers to Target a $12 Billion Market

Genre Diversification and Localization Are Keys to Long-Term Survival

Naver Webtoon met fans by operating an official booth at the "2025 New York Comic Con" held at the Javits Center in New York last October.

The balance of power in the U.S. comics market is shifting. The century-long dominance of paper comic books is rapidly giving way to smartphone-based webtoons.

According to data from Grand View Research, the U.S. webtoon market is expected to reach approximately $1.9806 billion (about KRW 2.9034 trillion) in 2024. This market is projected to expand to around $8.7217 billion (about KRW 12.7974 trillion) by 2033, growing at an average annual rate of 16.5%.

In contrast, the traditional print comics market is mired in stagnation. Distribution networks are being shaken by inventory burdens and rising rents at offline specialty comic book stores. Without an influx of new readers, the market has become solidified as a collectors’ arena for hardcore enthusiasts who value ownership, revealing the limits of its growth.

The complete proliferation of mobile devices and innovative user experience (UX) rooted in cognitive psychology have disrupted the market’s foundations. The smartphone ownership rate among U.S. adults has surpassed 90%. For those aged 18 to 29, it is close to 100%. With average daily screen time exceeding 9 hours, virtually all entertainment consumption occurs via mobile devices.

Naver Webtoon and Warner Bros. are developing the animation "Swordmaster Embracing the Stars."

According to "Changes in the U.S. Comics and Webtoon Market Due to Increased Mobile Content Consumption," published by the Korea Creative Content Agency LA Business Center in December 2025, webtoons precisely target these consumption habits. For Generation Z (born 1997–2011), who are accustomed to short-form content under a minute, webtoons offer rapid plot development and dense storytelling, absorbing the demand for snack culture.

The technical format differences also determine the outcome. Comics require readers to scan entire pages and move their gaze in a "Z-shaped" pattern. On smartphones, this leads to frequent zooming in and out, creating unnecessary cognitive load. In contrast, webtoons use a "vertical scroll" format that can be read with a single finger, fixing the reader's gaze from top to bottom and facilitating uninterrupted immersion.

The generational shift in the core readership is also noteworthy. The U.S. comics market has become stagnant and dominated by men in their 30s to 50s, largely because of the high barrier to entry posed by the complex universes built by Marvel and DC. However, webtoons feature independent worlds that enable immediate immersion from the very first episode.

Kakao Entertainment's "Solo Leveling," which gained great popularity in the United States.

In fact, more than 75% of Naver Webtoon's 15 million monthly active users (MAU) in North America are Generation Z, aged 24 or younger. Tapas has also attracted a significant number of female readers in their teens and twenties—previously overlooked in the comics market—by focusing on romance, fantasy, and BL genres.

Korean companies, having secured the foundation for future consumer power, must now accelerate efforts to dominate the U.S. market. Byungho Park, head of the LA Business Center, emphasized, "Romance and fantasy are driving growth, but to scale up further, it is necessary to expand into genres like action, hero, and horror to attract more male readers." He added, "In the long run, survival will depend on introducing 'transcreation'—adapting dialogue to fit American readers’ sensibilities and memes—as well as building a self-sustaining ecosystem for original intellectual property (IP) through the participation of local creators."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.