Rachel Smythe’s Global WEBTOON Phenomenon “Lore Olympus” Wins Third Consecutive Eisner Award For Best Webcomic
27 Julio 2024 - 11:04AM
Business Wire
“Lore Olympus” celebrated its landmark series
finale in May, with billions of global views across 280 episodes on
WEBTOON, multiple No. 1 New York Times bestselling print
adaptations, and an animated series in development
WEBTOON Entertainment, a leading global entertainment
company and home to some of the world’s largest storytelling
platforms, is celebrating Rachel Smythe’s landmark third
consecutive Eisner Award win for her hit webcomic “Lore Olympus.”
The series was honored with the award for Best Webcomic during the
2024 Eisner Awards ceremony at San Diego Comic-Con on Friday night,
marking the first time a series has won the category for three
consecutive years.
A modern retelling of Persephone and Hades’ mythological love
story, the series is critically acclaimed and loved by fans. Since
its debut on WEBTOON in 2018, “Lore Olympus” has become a global
sensation, accumulating more than 1.7 billion cumulative views (as
of March 31, 2024) on WEBTOON across seven available languages.
The series’ 2024 Eisner Award win follows back-to-back sweeps
for Smythe and “Lore Olympus” in the industry’s most prestigious
awards. From 2021 - 2023 “Lore Olympus” won three consecutive
Harvey Awards for Digital Book of the Year, and also earned
back-to-back Ringo Awards for Best Webcomic in 2022 and 2023. The
series has also been recognized with France’s Prix Babelio - Bande
Dessinée in 2022, the 2021 Goodreads Choice Award for Best Graphic
Novel, and was noted as one of NPR’s critics’ recommendations in
2021.
“Lore Olympus” has been a hit online and in print, with multiple
volumes of the published edition from Penguin Random House
(Inklore) reaching #1 on the New York Times bestseller list. The
project is also in development as an animated series from Wattpad
WEBTOON Studios and The Jim Henson Company. Fans can find Lore
Olympus merchandise in stories at Hot Topic and online at the
official WEBTOON Shop.
“Creating this series has been an exciting, emotional whirlwind
of a journey over the past seven years, and I am beyond honored to
receive this Eisner Award,” said Rachel Smythe. “This series
is so close to my heart, and I can’t thank Lore Olympus’ community
of readers enough for continuing to support it right through to the
end, and am so grateful to my industry peers for this amazing
honor.”
“Lore Olympus is a pop culture phenomenon, and Rachel’s success
is an inspiration for everyone who has a story to tell,” said
Junkoo Kim, Founder & CEO of WEBTOON Entertainment.
“We’ve had the privilege of working with Rachel since she posted
the earliest version of Lore Olympus on the WEBTOON CANVAS
platform. Since that time, she’s become one of the most
accomplished comic creators of our era. Rachel is an immense
talent, and the impact that this series has had on readers globally
has been incredible to witness. We can’t think of a more
appropriate way to celebrate its grand finale this year than with
this Eisner Award honor.”
About WEBTOON
Entertainment
WEBTOON Entertainment is a leading global entertainment company
and home to some of the world's largest storytelling platforms. As
the global leader and pioneer of the mobile web-comic format,
WEBTOON Entertainment has transformed comics and visual
storytelling for fans and creators.
With its CANVAS UGC platform empowering anyone to become a
creator, and a growing roster of superstar WEBTOON Originals
creators and series, WEBTOON Entertainment’s passionate fandoms are
the new face of pop culture. WEBTOON adaptations are available on
Netflix, Prime Video, Crunchyroll, and other screens around the
world, and the company’s content partners include Discord, HYBE and
DC Comics, among many others.
With approximately 170 million monthly active users (as of the
quarter ended March 31, 2024), WEBTOON Entertainment’s IP &
Creator Ecosystem of aligned companies include WEBTOON,
Wattpad--the world’s leading web-novel platform--Wattpad WEBTOON
Studios, Studio N, Studio LICO, WEBTOON Unscrolled, LINE MANGA, and
eBookJapan, among others.
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Beck Media for WEBTOON Entertainment webtoon@beckmedia.com