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Webtoonist Joo Dong-geun on bringing horror from page to stage and screen

Published: 03 May. 2025, 07:00

YOON SO-YEON
[email protected]

Naver Webtoon series ″All of Us Are Dead″ (2009-2011) by webtoonist Joo Dong-geun [SCREEN CAPTURE]

Have you ever imagined what it would be like if you were at school and a zombie apocalypse suddenly broke out? What if your parents joined a weird cult that worships aliens?

The scariest details of webtoonist Joo Dong-geun’s stories come from their worldliness — the very realistic traits that stem from people’s everyday lives — that adds the thickest layer to the believability of the stories and makes it impossible for people not to click on a series.

That real-worldly terror drew millions of viewers to the school zombie survival series “All of Us Are Dead,” Joo’s biggest hit, which began as a Naver Webtoon series in 2009 and became one of the most popular Netflix original series upon its screen adaptation in 2022.

“I am the biggest coward that I know,” the webtoonist said, unexpectedly, when asked the secret to his terrifying imaginations.

In fact, Joo turned out to be an easygoing, amicable person with the most innocent smile for a 41-year-old man who just welcomed his first child last February.

Webtoonist Joo Dong-geun [SCREEN CAPTURE]

“People tell me that they expected this dark and creepy guy if they only read my webtoons before meeting me in person,” he continued. “But I’m actually a bright and positive person. I write about the things that I do because to me, they’re the scariest thing I can imagine — things that are different from reality and things I know won’t happen to me. In a way, it’s like someone who went through a war likes fairy tales.”

Born in 1983, Joo studied animation at ChungKang College of Cultural Industries because he “knew” that he couldn’t become a published cartoonist. During the early 2000s when he was in high school, the Korean paper comic industry was a fierce battle with comic book rental shops, which led to a significant decrease in comic book sales, in addition to the rise of the internet culture that was already beginning to turn people away from printed publications.

“Back then, authors were shaving their heads in protests and burning books — it was chaotic,” Joo said. “I had always wanted to be a published author, but I chose elsewhere even though I had my dreams. I thought I would probably starve myself by going down that path, so the realistic option was to learn animation and just get a job at a production studio. But when I had finished my military duty, the world was changing into a different place with the internet.”

Joo indeed made a successful debut as a webtoonist with “All of Us Are Dead.” The web comic series was one of the most popular series on Naver Webtoon, and the Netflix remake hit 125 million hours of viewership on the streaming platform within just three days of its release in February 2022, which trickled down to the original web comic being read 80 times more within a week of the Netflix release, according to Naver Webtoon.

A scene from Netflix original zombie series ″All of Us Are Dead″ (2022) [NETFLIX]

After “All of Us Are Dead,” Joo also released a short horror series titled “Zombie Fuss” (2012-14) — based on the Jiangshi, Asian folklore’s walking dead corpses — and “Ghost Path” (2016), a semi-omnibus series of short horror stories. Then came “Adonai” (2019-2023), a sci-fi horror fiction series surrounding a news reporter who goes undercover in a religious cult that believes in aliens.

“I know the difficulty of people who can’t read or watch scary stuff so well,” Joo said. “But there are people who love this genre, and I’m doing it for them. I’ve had producers contact me to ask about making screen adaptations, but I said no to places that wanted to make it less scary for the viewers. My works have a specific target audience, and I know that well.”

Joo recently signed with a musical production company to turn “All of Us Are Dead” into a musical, and the printed version of the series is going to be published in French, Italian, Spanish and German.

The author sat down with the Korea JoongAng Daily to talk more about his career as a webtoonist, his thoughts on screen adaptations and more. Following are excerpts from the interview, edited for length and clarity.

Naver Webtoon series ″All of Us Are Dead″ (2009-2011) by webtoonist Joo Dong-geun [SCREEN CAPTURE]

Q. Do you remember when you were first offered a screen adaptation of “All of Us Are Dead?” How did it feel?

At very first, I felt like I was dreaming. But then I got like 10 more offers, and I felt that dreams are just dreams. I even had some people tell me all these negative things, like “We can make it, but only with a low budget,” or ask me, “What is a zombie anyway?” There was even a producer who called me and told me they were going to make a zombie series of their own and just wanted to see me because they heard my work was similar.

Then the zombie film “Train to Busan” (2016) came out. I was hoping “All of Us Are Dead” would be the first zombie content in Korea, but “Train to Busan” came out, and it was a massive hit. But fortunately, that opened up the hearts — and wallets — of investors. People came to realize what zombie flicks were, and that led to an opportunity for me to create “All of Us Are Dead” with Netflix.

So, in the end, “All of Us Are Dead” took seven years to actually become a drama series after all the meetings and negotiations. I couldn’t tell anyone about it during all that time. I told some people that I sold the script, but I couldn’t say anything definitively because not all scripts actually get made into films or dramas. It was only when Netflix started making the trailer videos that I started telling people, because that’s when I thought, “O.K., now they really can’t back out.”

Naver Webtoon series ″All of Us Are Dead″ (2009-2011) by webtoonist Joo Dong-geun [SCREEN CAPTURE]

Did you watch the Netflix version? What did you think of it?

It was kind of half and half. I liked the scenes that I didn’t have in the original, and I especially loved that the whole series was quite bloody — like how a zombie series should be. But I did feel a little sad about the things that were taken out from the original, like a lot of scenes with the school archery team.

But overall, the drama was great, and I was really happy with the whole thing. And later on, I told myself that it’s better that the drama series is different from the original, because otherwise people won’t need to go back to the original webtoon series at all. So at the end of the day, they’re different, and they each have their own charms that are good for each format.

A scene from Netflix original zombie series ″All of Us Are Dead″ (2022) [NETFLIX]

Do you think that the increasing trend of making screen adaptations of webtoons is good for the industry or bringing a sense of competition among creators?

I think it’s both: It becomes overcrowded and competitive because it’s a lucrative industry. It’s becoming a red ocean in a way. Back in the past, the term “webtoon” didn’t carry much meaning, and people didn’t think about paying to read webtoons. We were paid for our work, but we didn’t make much. I saw a lot of people look for other jobs because they couldn’t make ends meet. But it’s the people who stuck with it and weathered through it that are making money now.

So, if we think about it, having star webtoonists who make however much money and drive however fancy a car that makes more young people aspire to be a part of the market, and that creates a cycle that grows the industry as a whole. I heard that now, aspiring cartoonists say that they want to become famed webtoonists and have their work turned into a Netflix original series. Their dreams are getting bigger and global because the market is growing.

I, myself, would have given up my dream if it weren’t for webtoons. But thanks to internet culture, I had the opportunity to express and realize my urge to create. I started off thinking that I’d be happy just to find out if my works got read, even if it didn’t make much money. That luckily got a chance at Naver Webtoon.

Naver Webtoon series ″Adonai″ (2019-2023) by webtoonist Joo Dong-geun [SCREEN CAPTURE]

What genres do best when they’re made into videos, do you think?

Horror videos definitely have the upper hand because they also incorporate sound. Sound is a crucial element when it comes to horror stories. There are certain limits with web comics, even though we can try our best. But it’s a whole different level of tension that comes when it’s turned into an audiovisual form of content.

But then there are genres where making real-life videos can actually be more risky, especially like romance. With romance, the casting is really important because the protagonists are usually these beautiful, handsome people, but it’s really hard to find the perfect fit in real life. And if the story has a fairy tale style touch to it, something fantastical and fancy, then it’s hard to bring that into real-life visuals.

But at the end of the day, it would come down to the capabilities of the director and whether they can pull it off.

Webtoonist Joo Dong-geun gives a lecture in London on Oct. 13, 2024 [YONHAP]

Webtoonist Joo Dong-geun in an interview with the Korean Cultural Center to Belgium on Oct. 15, 2024 [KOREAN CULTURAL CENTER TO BELGIUM]

Now that you’ve achieved your dream, as a young man, to have a printed book, what’s your dream now?

It used to be to have a musical adaptation because I love musicals. So when I got the call, I thought I was dreaming again. I used to tell people that I saw the ultimate goal achieved with a musical, and now I got to make that come true. I signed with a production company and to think that will come true feels amazing.

So now, all I have left is to get a movie remake. I don’t know how much longer I can work and keep drawing, but I hope I can get a movie before I retire.

A Halloween zombie event held at Everland, Gyeonggi, in 2024 based on the Netflix series ″All of Us Are Dead″ (2022) [NEWS1]

Are you working on your next project?

Yes, but I have about three to four ideas that I’m going to narrow down. There’s a drama as well as a thriller and horror, of course. I haven’t nailed anything down because I want to talk to the platform producer first.

I know that I perform the best with horror, so my thoughts linger on those, but I also want to try something I haven’t yet. There’s about an 80 percent chance that I’m going to go back to what I do best and a 20 percent chance that I’ll try something entirely new.

But who knows? I could suddenly get caught up on an entirely new theme and start there.

BY YOON SO-YEON [[email protected]]