U.S. publisher releases comics based on ‘A Business Proposal’

Kakao Entertainment has collaborated with U.S. publisher Yen Press to release a series of comic books based on the Korean company’s globally popular media franchise, “A Business Proposal.”

The first volume of the 10-part series was released Tuesday at bookstores in North America such as Amazon, Barnes and Noble and Kinokuniya.

The release dates of the remaining nine volumes have yet to be announced.

Initially published as a web novel (2017-18) and webtoon (2018-2022), on Kakao Page, the two formats accumulated a total of 560 million views.

The office rom-com revolves around the relationship between a handsome workaholic CEO and his employee, who meet each other by chance on a blind date.

The intellectual property (IP) was adapted as a TV series (2022) that became a huge global hit on Netflix, topping the streaming service’s Global Top 10 list for weeks.

Yen Press is a large publisher known for its publication of English-translated Japanese manga and light novels. Last year, the publisher opened a new publishing division, Ize Press, which specializes in the publication of English translations of Korean web novels and webtoons.

Kakao Entertainment’s Tapas Entertainment, a webtoon and web novel-based service, IP’s webtoonist Narak and Yen Press collaborated for 10 months to create the comic book series.

“The release of a comic book using Kakao Entertainment’s IP in the North American publishing market shows the competitive edge that the company has and a case which shows the growing influence of Korean webtoons in the market,” said Park Jong-chul, the head of Kakao Entertainment’s global business unit. “Centering around Tapas Entertainment, we will continue to expand into the webtoon market in North America and carry out various business projects that can create synergy with our webtoon IPs.”

BY LEE JAE-LIM [lee.jaelim@joongang.co.kr]