The manga publisher Seven Seas has announced it will publish print editions of three webtoons currently running on the Lezhin platform (see “Webtoon Company Growing in U.S.”), making them available in book format in English for the first time. All three center on same-sex relationships and are intended for mature audiences.
Killing Stalking, a Boys Love horror story by Koogi, was the most popular webtoon on Lezhin in 2017 and was the grand prize winner of the 2nd Lezhin Comics World Comic Contest. The creator has over 200,000 followers on Twitter. While this is the first English edition, the book has been published in half a dozen other languages, including Korean, Japanese, and European languages, according to Lianne Sentar, Sales & Marketing Manager at Seven Seas. The story follows a college student whose crush on a classmate escalates into obsession when they meet again during military training and then escalates into horror. The first volume will be published on June 21 as a 450-page, full color paperback with an MSRP of $27.99.
Love Is an Illusion, by Fargo, is a BL romcom set in the Omegaverse. It follows an Alpha and an Omega who have furious arguments, followed by unexpected sex, every time they meet. The series was ranked #9 on all of Lezhin in 2020 and the creator has over 500,000 followers on Twitter. Seven Seas is bringing the story into print for the first time, as a 450-page, black and white paperback with color inserts. The first volume will be released on August 23 with an MSRP of $19.99.
Pulse, by Thai creator Ratana Satis, was the top comic on Lezhin in 2016 and won first prize in the 2nd Lezhin Comics World Comic Contest. The creator’s new series, Soul Drifters, was the third most popular Girls Love (yuri) title on the site in 2020. “She’s already quite well known in the English yuri mangasphere for her various series, which is one of the reasons we’re so happy to be putting her story in bookstores next to our other yuri series,” Sentar said. “We think our sizeable readership for yuri manga will love this book, if they don’t already.” Pulse is the story of a stoic, apparently cold-hearted heart surgeon who falls in love with a patient who refuses to get the heart transplant that would save her life. The first volume will be published on July 26 as a 200-page, full color paperback with an MSRP of $19.99. Source: ICv2
