Digital comics is getting a major new player as Disney prepares to invest in the webcomics platform.
Last month, Webtoon announced a major new deal with Disney to bring a litany of original licensed stories and past comics from across Marvel’s library to the scrolling format that has made Webtoon a significant force in the comics space. Today, however, the two companies confirmed that those plans are actually much, much bigger.
Today Webtoon Entertainment confirmed that Disney would be acquiring a 2% equity interest in the company as part of a non-binding term sheet that will also see the two companies develop a brand new digital comics platform that will be home to “current comic book runs and include decades of past comics from across Disney’s portfolio, including Marvel, Star Wars, 20th Century Studios, and more,” according to a press release.
The new, currently unnamed platform will host over 35,000 comics and is framed in the announcement as “an expansion upon Marvel Unlimited.” It’s currently unclear whether or not the new platform, which will be operated by Webtoon, will be set up to replace Marvel Unlimited, the publisher’s digital comics platform and subscription service that first launched in 2007.
