Rachel Smythe’s Global WEBTOON Phenomenon “Lore Olympus” Wins Third Consecutive Eisner Award For Best Webcomic

By: WEBTOON Entertainment via Business Wire

July 27, 2024 at 12:04 PM EDT

“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.