All of Us Are Dead

All of Us Are Dead, originally titled Now at Our School, was created by Joo Dong-geun and serialized on the Naver Webtoon platform between 2009 and 2011. Emerging during a period when the South Korean webtoon industry was beginning to gain significant international momentum, the series revitalized the zombie genre by confining the chaos to the claustrophobic and socially stratified environment of a high school. Joo Dong-geun utilized a stark, visceral art style to emphasize the grim reality of the survival scenarios his characters faced.

The narrative design focuses on the breakdown of authority and the raw desperation of students facing an outbreak while being failed by the adults around them. Upon its release, the webtoon was recognized for its intense pacing and its unflinching look at bullying and societal pressures within the Korean education system. Its enduring popularity eventually led to its adaptation into a globally successful television series, which introduced the original webtoon’s foundational storytelling to a much wider audience.