JUNDO: a new frontier in Italian comics

Entering in the Italian publishing world is difficult, especially in the comics field, if you are a rookie. For this reason a young group of writers and artists decided to organize and create a new community “to break the barriers of the comics world”: this community is called JUNDO.

This platform aims to cut the intermediary between artists and readers, giving space to products of any genre, from horror to comedy, from sci-fi to fantasy and slice-of-life. Similar to the format of online publishing services such as the app MANGA PLUS by Shueisha, the works are divided into chapters published over regular intervals of time. Each week there is a new publication, which can be the first chapter of a new series or a new chapter of a series that started earlier!

Page of the series "Carnival Chaos"
from Google Play Store

Since its debut in December 2020 up to date, the JUNDO library features 15 works, with an interesting variety of art styles, narration styles and themes, and this is its strength, the richness of diversity of the contents. Another characteristic of JUNDO is the future possibility of buying a physical copy of the comic you read once its publication will be complete on the platform. The printing of the comics will be funded by the price of the monthly subscription of 1,99 euros, and the subscribers won’t pay the shipping expenses. The profit from the books minus the production costs will belong to the artists, following the spirit of allowing them to keep the rights of their own creations and earn as they deserve. What’s more, new artists can pitch their stories or propose themselves as cartoonists! The team picks the artists, pairing cartoonists and writers, and if you are not chosen you will receive feedback with their reasoning and what you can improve for the future.

Preview of the app
from Google Play Store

You can create a JUNDO account that will allow you to have one month of free trial to read anything you want, and if you are satisfied you can subscribe for 1,99 euros per month. JUNDO is available on its website as well as its mobile app for Android system and on iOS. JUNDO’s staff usually promotes the platform and its development progress on its instagram and facebook pages, where they publish previews of the soon to be published series as well.

Personally I am very happy about this initiative, it’s a new way for artists that struggle to enter the publishing world, and a new channel to express the creativity of whoever wants to tell a story.  

Reading recommendations on LINE WEBTOON

One of the consequences of the current situation is the search for new entertainment material to have a happy and interesting time. For this I decided to share with you a few comic series that I found on LINE WEBTOON TRANSLATE and LINE WEBTOON CANVAS. But what are these?

Well, WEBTOON is a South Korean website that hosts a lot of series by independent authors. The “webtoon” as a comic form was born in the 2000s as digital publication of the manhwa, the Korean comics. At the beginning, manhwa weren’t known outside of South Korea, then their popularity grew at an international level mainly due to the fact that manhwa could be read on your phone. The LINE WEBTOON site allows the publication of manhwa and comics from all over the world. The “official” comics selected by the LW team are manhwa released in their native language and the official English translation. But any artist from all over the globe can submit their own comic on the WEBTOON CANVAS platform. If the comic or manwha gets really popular, it will be available on the WEBTOON TRANSLATE website to be translated on a voluntary basis (in most cases under review).

The following selection of comics and manhwa that I’m going to recommend can be read in English and in Spanish, Italian and other languages as well. I will indicate in each description the availability of the languages for each comic.

Yumi’s cells by Donggeon Lee (manhwa available in English, Spanish, Italian and many other languages on WEBTOON TRANSLATE) Genre: slice of life

The daily story of Yumi, an office worker, and the cells that live in her brain. In the manner of Once Upon a Time... Life and Inside Out, the cells have a personality and live adventures according to the events in Yumi’s life. Very cute and funny, this manhwa features a delightful and adorable graphic style.

Tales of the Unusual by Seongdae Oh (manhwa available in English, Spanish, Italian and many other languages on WEBTOON TRANSLATE) Genre: horror

A series of unusual, weird and mysterious stories, full of suspense. The greyscale coloring contributes to the terrifying atmosphere, and the stories present very interesting plot twists. This series is made of self-contained stories: this means that you can choose any story that appeals to you more and you won’t have continuity issues.

Salty Studio by omyo (manhwa available in English, Spanish, Italian and many other languages on WEBTOON TRANSLATE) Genre: romance

Togeun left his job at his father’s company in order to follow his dream of being an illustrator. At the high school reunion party Togeun begs Sonagi, a great illustrator, to teach him how to draw. They start working in the same apartment, creating the Salty Studio. Being passionate about art and an artist myself, I think this is a very charming manhwa thanks to its story and it’s soft colors.

10th Dimension Boys by Cutbu (manhwa available in English, Spanish, Italian and many other languages on WEBTOON TRANSLATE) Genre: comedy

Quoting author Cutbu’s words: “Short stories of boys in 10th dimensions.” Anthology of nonsense short stories featuring boys Songjo and Ganghan. Caution: the humor can be considered immature, and often references toilet humor, but if this is not a problem you can appreciate the absurd plot twists.

Scoob & Shag by Misterie Krew (comic available up to date only in English) Genre: comedy, horror

A fascinating comic, with a jokey beginning that evolves into a true story full of suspense, including a lot of cartoon characters that fans probably will easily recognize. Over the course of the story, the development of the drawing style is quite impressive, to the point of reminding of action manga pages.

Oddville by Bellatrixian (comic available up to date only in English) Genre: comedy

The daily adventures of Vincent, a freelance artist that moved in a very odd city, with supernatural citizens and an infernal roommate, literally. This is Oddville! It started very recently, but I believe it will become a successful series thanks to its humor.

Emmy the robot by Domcell (comic available up to date only in English) Genre: comedy, sci-fi

The robot nanny Emmy tries to understand how to adapt to the complicated and unpredictable world of humans and robots. Its charming style shares traits with the Disney movies of the 60s (such as One Hundred and One Dalmatians) and the Hanna Barbera cartoons from the same decade. 

Luckily this will become a recurring event on the blog, recommending comic series or even animated series. What do you think? Happy reading!