(ThyBlackMan.com) Gaming has produced some interesting comics, webtoons, manga, manhwa, and manhua series in the last decade. Whether it’s someone getting powers in the “real world” or isekai—where the main character is reincarnated or teleported to another world—there’s often an element of gaming involved: levels, windows showing items and skills, etc. Here are five comics and manga series for gamers.
The Gamer (story by Sung Sang-Young, art by Sang-Ah)
At the beginning of The Gamer, Han Jihan is a high school student going about his life. He’s since noticed that he gets an online RPG dialogue box that shares information, gains experience points from doing everyday activities and chores.
It isn’t until he starts training and gaining experience in different skills that he begins to see where his ability could do. He is eventually drawn into a world of magic, martial artists, and shady dealings where others have powers as well.
The Gamer is a big three gaming webtoon out of South Korea. Each of them has something the other is lacking. With The Gamer, it has an everyman character and a likeable cast of characters. Also, the world is better defined the other two—which are on the list. It also delivers on adventure and matches the progress of the main character of our next entry.
It’s a series I really enjoy and is definitely worth reading. The Gamer is the most accessible of the webtoons on the list since you can read it via the Line Webtoon app.
Solo Leveling (story by Chu-Gong, art by Hyeon-Gun and Jang Sung-Rak)
Now, this webtoon is incredible. Getting its start as a light novel, once it was adapted into a webtoon, it really started to get a following outside of South Korea. Solo Leveling takes place in a world where people with some magical ability or beyond human physical ability work as hunters. A hunter raids monster dens—given a rank that matches the hunter ranking system—and earn money from doing so.
Our hero, Jin-Woo starts out as an E-ranked hunter who is constantly getting injured. He hunts because he wants to be able take care of his mother who has been in a coma. After an incident where most of the party was left and Jin-Woo was left behind, he experiences what is called “Re-Awakening.”
Now much powerful than he was before, Jin-Woo takes to training and doing increasingly dangerous hunter missions to push his abilities and get the materials needed to heal his mother.
The pacing of Solo Leveling is incredible and it has the best artwork of the three Korean series on the list. What SL has that The Gamer doesn’t is a cool main character and just incredible, epic battles that has you wanting the next episode. The gaming element here is that the world reacts like an online RPG as far as tracking Jin-Woo’s progress.
This element also helps the reader is gauging the main and supporting characters’ strength and progress. Hands down, my favorite on the list and my favorite of the three Korean series here.
The King’s Avatar (story by Butterfly Blue, art by D.LAN)
This one is a pretty straight-forward series about a veteran eSports athlete Ye Xiu who leaves his team after ten years. He facing a demotion of sorts from active player to coach as a means to bring in more entertaining youngblood. In planning his combat and showing his domination as a player, he takes up a job as a worker at a local internet café.
The King’s Avatar follows Ye Xiu in his transition from One Autumn Leaf, the Battle God of the team Excellent Era to Lord Grim, a player without a defined class and tried and true skills. No magic abilities or isekai here. The action takes place in the game with a lot of drama beyond it.
I dig the art and progress of the story here. There’s a nice pace to where it isn’t somewhat slow like our next entry or really fast like Solo Leveling and The Gamer. Also, the story doesn’t bait you along like Solo Leveling. If you’re unable to get your hands on this series, there is a Netflix adaptation you can watch now.
Hardcore Leveling Warrior (story and art by Sehoon Kim)
I’ve gone into Hardcore Leveling Warrior before. Similar to The King’s Avatar, things take place inside of this online game. However, in Hardcore Leveling Warrior’s case, this game is one of the biggest things on the planet and is ran by probably the biggest company in South Korea.
While the first season is a story of the Hardcore Leveling Warrior getting his level back up and getting the top of the players, it’s also about the guy who plays as HLW. Ethan Gong (or Gong Won-Ho) is a young man indebted to the mob. He plays Lucid Adventure which allows you to make real money from in-game commerce, quests, etc as means to repay his debt.
The story really snowballs from there and by the end of season one, the world of Hardcore Leveling Warrior really opens up and is better defined. I’d say this could give The Gamer a run for its money in world building. The characters are alright as well for the most part, there are some standout ones you’ll run into during the first season.
This is another accessible webtoon available on Line Webtoon.
That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime (story by Fuse, art by Taiki Kawakami)
For the manga entry on the list, it was a hard one. There are many series that feature isekai and several of them include a gaming element. We’d seriously need a part two to include them. The one I picked is That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime. In Japanese RPGs, slimes are the lowest enemies you’ll encounter. They’re like rats in Western RPGs.
Our hero is a 37-year old construction office supervisor Satoru Mikami who dies after a stabbing. His last thoughts are translated into abilities for his next life and he is reincarnated in a different world as a slime. The early chapters are about him getting the hang of his abilities and improving—as you would in a video game.
As time goes on, he establishes a village with monster races you’ll find in fantasy novels and video games. The series features some decent battles and adventures. A lot of it is Satoru’s life as a slime as the village’s patron and finding out what his abilities can do. There’s some comedy mixed in as well.
The reason it makes the list is that we have a unique main character here. Normally, we get teen protagonists who have barely lived life. Satoru is guy who is unsatisfied by life but works his job anyway. Also, That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime has a really nice pace to it. It’s not sluggish but it isn’t fast. Or I should say that the pace hasn’t slowed to a crawl or picked up.
If manga doesn’t seem your pace, there’s an anime adaptation of the series as well.
Staff Writer; M. Swift
This talented writer is also a podcast host, and comic book fan who loves all things old school. One may also find him on Twitter at; metalswift.