Popular webtoons give TV dramas much needed boost

• Published May 30, 2016 2:05 PM KST
• Updated May 30, 2016 2:05 PM KST

By Kang Hyun-kyung

The dark days for KBS dramas came to an end with the success of the online comic-based TV series “My Lawyer, Mr. Jo” starring acting legend Park Shin-yang.

Park plays the title character, the heroic lawyer Jo Deul-ho, who fights social ills and economic injustice for underprivileged clients. The show’s ratings have remained in the double digits since it first aired in March.

In recent years, dramas with such ratings are not common because of the production glut that began in 2011 when the cable networks began to see the drama market as a cash cow. Before Mr. Jo, KBS dramas that aired on Mondays and Tuesdays struggled to increase their market share, with ratings hovering at only 2 to 3 percent.

Mr. Jo, the final episode of which is to air on Tuesday, topped the list in a recent Gallup survey of Koreans’ favorite TV series. The polling agency conducted the survey of over 1,000 people in May to ask for their favorite TV programs that were airing.

Another thing that makes the Mr. Jo series special, according to Kim Yang-soo, the author of the online comic, is its realism, which helps draw sympathy from the viewers, who are ordinary citizens.

“I know some drama fans are sick and tired of the soap operas dealing with unrealistic stories,” he said. “Such dramas failed to convince viewers. I think my comic was able to captivate them because it raises fresh, ongoing issues directly affecting their lives.”

In the show, lawyer Jo Deul-ho brings a greedy businessman known as Chairman Chung to justice for his corrupt business practices. Chairman Chung lobbied influential politicians and key judiciary figures to advance his business’s interests at the expense of the public.

Kim, 35, believes that webtoons, a term for Korean online comics, can innovate TV dramas, which have been stuck in the all-consuming ratings competition that eventually led to the dramas’ decline. Compared to dramas, the cartoonist said, online comics are innovative, creative and inspiring, and the genre, which began in 2003 on the popular Korean Internet portal Daum, has played on these strengths within a relatively short period of time. Since then, online comics have been growing rapidly owing to the rising popularity of web-based content.

Today, the $170-million webtoon market has over 5,000 online comics, some of which are available via subscription.

With their creativity and realism, online comics are a breath of fresh air in the saturated TV drama market. Some webtoon-based TV dramas, such as cable network tvN’s “Misaeng” or “An Incomplete Life” (2014) have become huge successes. The popular comic on which the show is based tells the story of a young college graduate as he struggles with underemployment and job insecurity in a precarious labor market.

Competition among TV and cable networks has become tougher since the latter joined the drama market in a bid to increase profits. Until 2010, the number of TV series released yearly was only around 70 or so, but since then, the figure has risen to over 100 with the release of several cable network-produced dramas.

And the more intense competition has prompted television and cable networks to focus on producing profitable content, that is, content that is expected to have sufficient viewer ratings to cover the high production costs. Experts say the production of each episode costs some 300 to 350 million won ($300,000). The “makjang,” a drama style that has gone too far, and the Cinderella style dramas, have been dominating the drama market until recently. In the makjang drama, the main characters are portrayed as people who are greedy, corrupt and will do anything to get what they want in their careers or lives; most of the time, their actions come at the expense of others’ wellbeing. These characters often face tragic ends near the end of the dramas.

A TV series only has to follow one of the two formulas to succeed, with success measured by profits large enough for the TV and cable networks to cover the high production costs. A number of dramas with similar story lines have been released as a result.

Kim said the tough market makes it more difficult for TV series writers to produce creative stories.

“I understand that the production of dramas requires an enormous budget and thus, the financial risks become very high when they fail to garner high viewer ratings,” he said. “We cartoonists are fortunate because unlike TV drama writers who have to work in the high-risk environment of drama productions, we can work freely. We don’t need a huge budget to produce an online comic. This means even though our comic projects fail, the losses that we have to absorb are not that huge. So for us cartoonists, it is easier to try new topics and explore whatever we want. I think this helps us create online comics that appeal to the readers.”

Kim, who majored in graphic design in college, said he spent a year researching law and the courtroom before he debuted as a cartoonist in 2013. He frequently visited a small courtroom in his hometown of Gyeongju for three months to sharpen his understanding of legal cases.

One day, Kim was approached by a judge, whom he didn’t name; curious about the young man who always showed up in the courtroom, the judge asked what he did for a living. “When I told him that I was an aspiring cartoonist, he seemed a little disappointed,” Kim said. Kim also recruited a legal expert who could give him pieces of advice as he worked on his drafts. Lawyer Park Jin-hee saw the aspiring cartoonist’s message on an Internet forum for lawyers and volunteered to share her expertise in intellectual property rights.

Some say the stunning performance of actor Park, who had taken a five-year hiatus after his last appearance on the TV crime thriller “Sign” played a role in My Lawyer, Mr. Jo’s success and broad appeal.

Author Kim agreed, lauding the great actor’s talent and dedication. “When I first heard last year that he was shortlisted for the male lead, I thought he was an excellent candidate because I know he is a great actor,” he said. “He has done a fantastic job since the first episode was aired. The way he interpreted the character was exactly what I had in mind when I worked on the online comic.”

Mr. Jo is Kim’s first webtoon released by the nation’s largest internet portal, Naver.

Since the comic was released in 2013, it has received reviews by over 15,000 users, over 90 percent of whom gave it a score of 9.9 out of 10. Some of Kim’s fans are lawyers and other legal professionals. The success of the comic’s first season has motivated Kim to work on the second season.