Copycat Review: 7.8/10, Carnby Kim's New Horror Thriller

TL;DR: This Copycat review covers Carnby Kim and Youngchan Hwang's newest horror-thriller, the team behind Sweet Home and Bastard, about a killer who stages murders as stolen conceptual art. At 19 episodes in, the premise and craft are strong enough to earn a 7.8/10, with the caveat that the central mystery hasn't paid off yet.

Key Takeaways

• Copycat comes from Carnby Kim (story) and Youngchan Hwang (art), the duo behind Sweet Home and Bastard.
• The premise: a killer called Jahak stages murdered bodies as "self-destruction art" and sells them to wealthy collectors, and failed artist Suchan Kim recognizes the concept as one he originally created.
• Debuted in Korean January 6, 2026; English release started April 14, 2026 on WEBTOON with 10 chapters already up.
• 19 numbered episodes plus a prologue are live as of this review, updating weekly on Wednesdays, with no end date announced.
• Reader reaction since the English launch has been strongly positive, driven largely by the creators' track record.

Copycat review: overview

Copycat is the newest project from Carnby Kim and Youngchan Hwang, the writer-artist pair whose prior work, Sweet Home and Bastard, both built substantial audiences on the strength of grounded horror premises executed with real craft. Copycat continues that pattern: the horror here isn't supernatural, it's about obsession, theft, and the lengths a person will go to for recognition they feel they were denied.

The Korean serialization began January 6, 2026, on Naver Webtoon. The English version launched on WEBTOON on April 14, 2026, front-loaded with 10 chapters at once rather than a slow single-episode rollout, a release strategy that reads like a deliberate bet on the creators' existing fanbase carrying the launch. It worked: reaction across manhwa communities since the debut has been immediate and loud, much of it explicitly tied to the creators' names rather than the premise alone.

That fanbase exists for a real reason. Sweet Home, the pair's prior project, ran 140 chapters plus a prologue on WEBTOON from October 2017 to July 2020 and racked up over 1.3 billion views on the platform. The Netflix adaptation that followed became a genuine hit, hitting No. 1 in eight countries and the Top 10 in more than 40 at its December 2020 launch, and ran three seasons before wrapping. Copycat launching to this much immediate attention isn't hype for hype's sake; it's a fanbase that's watched this exact team deliver before.

Sweet Home itself sits alongside eight other genuinely post-apocalyptic picks in our best apocalypse manhwa after Solo Leveling roundup, for readers who want more of that specific disaster-horror register.

Community reaction backs that up. Threads announcing the WEBTOON release in manhwa-focused communities picked up fast engagement almost entirely centered on the creator credit itself, the kind of response a series earns from reputation rather than a cold pitch. That's a meaningfully different starting position than most new horror-thriller webtoons get.

Worth getting the order right: Bastard was actually Kim and Hwang's first collaboration, running 2014 to 2016, before Sweet Home. Copycat is their third full project together, not their second, and it shows in how confidently the two disciplines, Kim's plotting and Hwang's art, sync up from the opening chapters. There's none of the tonal feeling-out-period a newer creative pairing might need.

Art & Story

The premise centers on Jahak, a killer who stages his victims' bodies as gallery-ready "self-destruction art" and sells the pieces to ultra-wealthy collectors for enormous sums. Suchan Kim, a failed artist whose own conceptual work was laughed out of an exhibition years earlier, recognizes Jahak's staged scenes as his own stolen idea. What starts as horror at the murders curdles into something more uncomfortable: Suchan's hunger to be recognized as the true originator of the concept, even if that recognition comes from proving a serial killer copied him.

That's a genuinely uncomfortable hook, and it's the strongest thing the series has going for it. Most horror manhwa center a protagonist trying to stop a killer out of moral clarity. Copycat centers one whose motivation is tangled up with envy and validation, which makes Suchan a much less comfortable character to root for than a typical thriller lead.

The cover art sets the tone efficiently: a single face split down the middle, one side realistic and bloodied, the other rendered as an unfinished sketch. The Korean title itself, 표절의혹, translates to "plagiarism suspicion," which tells you the series is building its horror around authorship and theft as directly as it is around the murders themselves. It's a smart piece of design that does real thematic work rather than just looking striking.

At 19 episodes plus a prologue, the story is still in its early-to-mid stretch. The weekly Wednesday schedule means this isn't built for a binge; it's a slow-burn release, which matches the tone but will test the patience of readers used to faster-paced system fantasy or action manhwa.

Copycat review: verdict

The Good

• Genuinely original premise: a killer staging bodies as stolen conceptual art
• Carnby Kim and Youngchan Hwang's proven horror-thriller craft (Sweet Home, Bastard)
• Split-face cover and visual motifs tie directly into the plagiarism theme
• Strong, immediate reader reception since its April 2026 English debut

The Cons

• Only 19 episodes plus a prologue in as of this review; too early to judge the mystery's full payoff
• Suchan's obsession-driven protagonist arc risks becoming one-note if it doesn't evolve
• Weekly Wednesday pacing means slow-burn stretches for readers used to binge-friendly system fantasy

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Copycat earns its early buzz. The premise is sharp enough to stand on its own even without the creators' reputation behind it, and the reputation is real: Sweet Home and Bastard weren't flukes. What's not yet knowable, because the series simply hasn't gotten there, is whether the mystery pays off as well as it's been set up. Nineteen episodes in is early enough that judging the full arc would be premature. What's fair to say now is that the craft, the premise, and the reception all point in the same direction.

Rating: 7.8/10

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Copycat by the same creators as Sweet Home? Yes. Copycat is written by Carnby Kim with art by Youngchan Hwang, the same duo behind Sweet Home and Bastard. It's their newest collaboration, debuting in Korean on January 6, 2026.

Is Copycat finished or ongoing? Ongoing. As of this review, 19 numbered episodes plus a prologue have released, with new installments landing weekly on Wednesdays. There's no announced end date.

What is Copycat about? A killer known as Jahak stages murder victims as "self-destruction art" and sells the pieces to wealthy collectors. Suchan Kim, a failed artist, recognizes the concept as one he originally created and had rejected years earlier, and his obsession with proving that becomes the engine of the story.

Where can I read Copycat? Copycat is on WEBTOON. It debuted in Korean on Naver Webtoon January 6, 2026, and the English release began April 14, 2026, launching with 10 chapters already available.

Is Copycat appropriate for all readers? No. WEBTOON flags it for mature themes, and the premise itself, murder staged as art, involves graphic violence and body horror consistent with Carnby Kim's prior work. It's not intended for younger or squeamish readers.

Related Reading

• Best Horror Manhwa
• Best Manhwa for Beginners
• Where to Read Manhwa Legally in 2026

References

• COPYCAT on WEBTOON
• COPYCAT on AniList