Naver Ventures, the U.S. investment arm of WEBTOON Entertainment parent company NAVER, disclosed Wednesday that it has taken a strategic stake in Baobab Studios, the ten-time Emmy-winning transmedia animation house behind Namoo, Crow: The Legend and The Witchverse.
The deal also sets up a collaboration on SHINE (working title), a fantasy webcomic from Oscar-nominated director Erick Oh and creator Madeleine Rosca, set in a futuristic Korea where the boundary between the human and spirit worlds has broken down; the story follows a half-human girl tasked with mending that divide to save the country.
Baobab is building SHINE simultaneously as a WEBTOON series and as a print graphic novel through Macmillan imprint First Second Books, while retaining film, television, streaming and gaming rights as the property expands across formats.