WEBTOON, the world’s largest digital comics platform, and Atlantic Records today announced “Love Stories,” a webcomic miniseries celebrating LGBTQ+ stories for Pride Month. Available exclusively on WEBTOON, the three-episode anthology will explore deeply personal love stories inspired by songs from trailblazing pop star Hayley Kiyoko, global pop sensation Ava Max, and acclaimed pop singer-songwriter MAY-A.
Inspired by Kiyoko’s “forever (feat. Johnny Rain),” her episode from WEBTOON creators Color_LES and Galatea, will be available June 12 on WEBTOON, with Ava Max’s episode, “Sleepwalker”, from WEBTOON artist Hannah Pattern launching on June 19. MAY-A’s episode from WEBTOON creator Mai Hirschfeld will be available June 26 with the episode inspired by her upcoming new single “Something Familiar.”
“Pride Month is all about celebrating and learning to love yourself,” said Hayley Kiyoko. “A big part of why I’m excited to collaborate with WEBTOON is the opportunity to hopefully inspire people around the world to love themselves in a new way, bringing hope to people who are at different points in their Pride journey.”
“It’s incredibly meaningful when fans reach out and say that they can relate to my music,” said Ava Max. “Pride is a time for everyone to come together, to relate to each other and find community in the shared experience of love. With our WEBTOON Pride Month collaboration, I’m excited to celebrate Pride, the LGBTQ+ community, and the beauty of queer love.”
“I have such a soft spot for telling and sharing queer stories, so being able to see my own inspire a webcomic on WEBTOON is so sick. I hope it helps others within the LGBTQ+ community feel seen,” said MAY-A.
“Providing a platform for creators to tell authentic, personal stories has been at the heart of WEBTOON’s mission since day one,” said WEBTOON’s VP of Content, David Lee. “WEBTOON is home to amazing stories and voices from the across LGBTQ+ community, where artists are bringing new diversity and perspective to comics with their work. We’re incredibly proud to have our creators collaborate with these iconic recording artists to celebrate and elevate the LGBTQ+ community in a new medium during Pride Month.”
With its innovative, mobile vertical scroll format, WEBTOON has transformed the global comic industry, making it possible for anyone to become a creator and share their stories with a global audience. The platform has 900,000 creators around the world publishing webcomics on the platform, including artists and stories celebrating LGBTQ+ communities and experiences all year long.
WEBTOON’s partnership with Atlantic Records and their artists follows a string of recent collaborations to bring the biggest names in pop culture, gaming, and entertainment to webcomics on WEBTOON. Recent partners and projects include Ubisoft for the much-anticipated “Assassin’s Creed: Forgotten Temple” series, Discord, DC, Archie Comics, Marvel, Riot Games’ VALORANT, KRAFTON’s PUBG universe, HYBE, and more.
Source: Press Release