Solo Leveling's Next Release Is A Week Away, And It Teases Its Biggest Crossover Ever

Published Jul 25, 2026, 5:30 PM EDT

As a manhwa, the one thing that catapulted the series into popularity was its artwork, which still remains a defining feature. However, even though Solo Leveling is best known for its artwork, the series has yet to capitalize on it, at least until now. Less than a week remains until Solo Leveling launches its official art book, and an epic crossover within just gave fans another reason to want to collect it.

Solo Leveling Drops A Crossover With Its Biggest Rival

Solo Leveling recently announced The Art of Solo Leveling, a 216-page official art book which is set to hit shelves in the first week of August. Pre-orders for the art book just opened across various platforms in Korea, and to commemorate this, D&C Media, the publisher of Solo Leveling, recently shared a new sneak peek at the art book on their official X handle.

Most excitingly, this sneak peek revealed that the Solo Leveling art book will also contain artwork by Sleepy-C, the artist of Omniscient Reader. One such illustration of Jinwoo holding a dagger by Sleepy-C was included in the recent preview, and there's no denying Jinwoo looks amazing in Omniscient Reader's art style.

Despite their rivalry over the years, Omniscient Reader and Solo Leveling are undoubtedly two of the biggest, most popular Korean manhwa, making this quite a fun crossover. And while there may be endless debate about which is better and whether Omniscient Reader will succeed Solo Leveling as the next big anime sensation, at the end of the day, there's plenty to love about both series.

Furthermore, given that Omniscient Reader's webtoon has been on hiatus since the end of Season 1 back in May, it's been a while since fans were treated to Sleepy-C's gorgeous artwork. It's still unclear when Omniscient Reader's webtoon will return, making this crossover quite a treat for fans of the latter as well.

Only Omniscient Reader Can Truly Succeed Solo Leveling

While Solo Leveling certainly wasn't the first webtoon-turned-anime to find success, no other webtoon anime adaptations since have managed to eclipse the series yet, whether that's The Beginning After the End, Tomb Raider King, or even the donghua, Lord of Mysteries. Of course, there are still promising releases such as Eleceed that have yet to throw their hat in the ring.

However, as things stand, Solo Leveling is very much a towering, untouchable giant of mainstream popularity and influence, and perhaps the only series that has a real chance at surpassing it is Omniscient Reader. Not only is Omniscient Reader another one of Redice Studio's biggest hits, but like Solo Leveling, the series is also primed for success by virtue of already having a huge fanbase ahead of its anime debut.

Unfortunately, there has yet to be an update on the Omniscient Reader anime even two whole years after it was first announced, and details such as the animation studio in charge could make or break the adaptation. But, for now, it's still Solo Leveling's best bet for a successor, and the new art book crossover might just be the perfect gateway for Solo Leveling fans to discover Omniscient Reader.