Webcomic

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Webcomics, also known as online comics and web comics, are comics that are available on the Internet. Many are exclusively published online, while some are published in print but maintain a web archive for either commercial or artistic reasons. With the Internet's easy access to an audience, webcomics run the gamut from traditional cartoon strips to graphic novels and beyond.

Webcomics are similar to self-published print comics in that almost anyone can create their own webcomic and publish it on the Web. There are well over 7,000 webcomics currently online.^[1]

Contents 1 Medium 2 History 3 Community 4 Business 5 Awards 6 References 7 See also

[edit] Medium

There are several differences between web and conventional print publishing of comics.

With webcomics, the formal restrictions of the traditional newspaper or magazine format can be lifted, allowing artists to take advantage of the web's unique capabilities. Scott McCloud, one of the first advocates of webcomics, has pioneered the idea of the infinite canvas,^[2] where, rather than being confined to normal print dimensions, artists are free to spread out in any direction indefinitely with their comics, as demian5 has done with his scrolling When I Am King.^[3] Other comic artists, such as Mark Fiore with his Flash-based editorial cartoons, have experimented by incorporating interactivity and animation.^[4]

Still, many if not most webcomics take traditional forms. Some, such as Scott Kurtz's PvP^[5] and Tatsuya Ishida's Sinfest,^[6] appear stylistically similar to black-and-white newspaper comic strips. This gag-a-day format allows for quicker, more frequent updates, potentially allowing an artist to build up an audience quickly. Other webcomics are presented in the same manner as traditional comic books, manga and graphic novels. These comics, such as Fred Gallagher and Rodney Caston's Megatokyo^[7] and Gene Yang's American Born Chinese,^[8] come in a page form rather than a strip form and tend to focus more on story than gags.

Several self-published comic books, such as Carla Speed McNeil's Finder^[9] and Phil & Kaja Foglio's Girl Genius,^[10] have stopped publishing individual print comics and instead serialise their content as webcomics, in an effort to reach a larger audience. They then only publish printed trade paperback collections.

Some webcomic artists publish comics that do not use traditional hand-drawn artwork. Sprite comics use copied and pasted video game sprites for characters. Similarly, some webcomics are created using clip art, found art and fumetti or photo-comics. Joey Comeau and Emily Horne's A Softer World, for example, is made by photography overlaid with strips of typewriter-style text.^[11] Artistic expression in these ready-made comics is funneled primarily into writing. Some artists, such as Ryan North of Dinosaur Comics, have taken copy-pasting of art to an extreme, with every daily strip having identical art, with only the text changing.^[12] Pixel art, such as that created by Richard Stevens of Diesel Sweeties, is similar to that of sprite comics but instead uses original low-resolution work created by the artist.^[13] There has also been experimentation with 3D art in webcomics.

Comics' online demographics are significantly different from offline ones, which is often reflected in both the artists themselves and their readers. On the other hand, the huge potential audience provided by the Internet allows for high degrees of specialization. The popularity of video game-oriented comics serves to illustrate the former point, the rise of transsexual biographies the latter.^[10]

Webcomics that are independently published are not subject to the content restrictions of publishers or comic syndicates, enjoying an artistic freedom similar to underground and alternative comics. Some webcomics stretch the boundaries of taste, taking advantage of the fact that Internet censorship is virtually nonexistent. The content of webcomics can still cause problems, such as Leisure Town artist Tristan Farnon's legal trouble after creating a homoerotic Dilbert parody,^[14] or the Catholic League's protest of Fetus-X artist Eric Millikin's blasphemous depictions of Jesus.^[15]

Webcomics which have built up significant archives will often publish collections of strips in books. Those in the form of either newspaper strips or comic books often publish in their respective forms, while artists who create webcomics with nonstandard and/or experimental formats find book publishing more difficult.

[edit] History

Among the earliest online comics were T.H.E. Fox which was published on Compuserve and Quantum Link in 1986 [1], Where the Buffalo Roam which was published on FTP and usenet in 1992,^[16] Netboy which was published on the web in the summer of 1993,^[17], Doctor Fun which was published on the web in September of 1993.^[17] and NetComics Weekly from Finnish Comics Society, which started in mid 1994^[18] and ran though 1999.

Following were The Polymer City Chronicles which began bi-weekly updates on March 13th, 1995^[19] as the first video gaming themed webcomic, Argon Zark!, which first appeared in June of 1995, and Kevin and Kell, premiering in September of the same year. Sabrina Online first appeared a year later in September of 1996. A year later, in 1997, Goats appeared (in April), followed by Sluggy Freelance (in August), Roomies! (in September), Newshounds and User Friendly (both in November). Penny Arcade and Jerkcity came a year later.

In March 2000, Chris Crosby, Crosby's mother Teri, and Darren Bleuel founded the webcomics portal Keenspot.^[20][21] KeenSpot features invited webcomics artists selected for their popularity, talent and/or quality. Crosby and Bleuel also started a free webcomic hosting service in July 2000, originally called KeenSpace but renamed Comic Genesis in July 2005.

In April 2000, Bob and George began to be presented daily. It was not the first sprite comic on the web, but is generally recognized as the one that set the trend.

In July 2000, Austin Osueke launched eigoMANGA a web portal that published original online manga "webmanga". Within this year, eigoMANGA brought comic book industry attention to webcomics after being featured in many comic book web magazines articles and later appearing in the March 2001 issue of Wizard Magazine.

In August 2000, Twisted Kaiju Theater debuted. It started updating three times a week before settling on a twice a week schedule. It was not the first photo comic on the web, but is generally recognized as the one that set the trend. It is inspired by Twisted Toyfare Theater, which is published in Toyfare Magazine.

In August 2000, Scott McCloud's Reinventing Comics, half of which consisted of a treatise on webcomics, was published. Though sometimes controversial, McCloud was one of the first advocates of webcomics and remains one of the most influential figures in the field. His theories have sometimes led to debates about where webcomics should go and what, precisely, they are.

In March 2001, Shannon Denton and Patrick Coyle launched Komikwerks.com serving free strips from comics and animation professionals.

On March 2, 2002, Joey Manley founded Modern Tales, offering subscription-based webcomics.^[22] The Modern Tales spin-off serializer followed in October of 2002, then came girlamatic and Graphic Smash in March and September of 2003 respectively.

In June 2006, Attitude 3: The New Subversive Online Cartoonists, edited by syndicated editorial cartoonist Ted Rall, became the first widely-distributed print anthology of leading webcomics.^[23]

According to Alexa rankings, as of January 2006 some of the most trafficked webcomics sites include Sluggy Freelance (launched in 1997), User Friendly (1997), PvP (1998), Penny Arcade (1998), Sexy Losers (1999), Megatokyo (2000), Mac Hall (2000), 8-Bit Theater (2001), VG Cats (2001), Something Positive (2001), Ctrl+Alt+Del (2002), and Questionable Content (2003). The most popular strips are often older, more established strips; the growth in the number of webcomics makes it harder for new artists to stand out.

[edit] Community

The growth of webcomics has also resulted in the growth of online communities around webcomics. There are fanbases that artists foster through the use of forums, fan sections and blogs, and many artists maintain close relationships with their fans.^[24] The artists themselves also create communities through the exchanges of emails, links, forum posts as well as art in the form of guest filler strips and cross-overs, and band together in collectives.^[25] There are also webcomic communities emerging through the general webcomic sites that cover the medium through news and articles such as Comixpedia and the blog Fleen. Sites providing hosting and other services, e.g. Comic Genesis, Drunk Duck or buzzComix, also tend to aggregate communities.^[26]

The recent rise of anime conventions have also attributed greatly to the popularity of webcomics in the otaku community. Conventions have been featuring webcomic artists as guests, allowing them to speak at panels and sell their merchandise. Fans are also able to meet their favorite comic creators in person and help build a stronger fanbase. This has attributed to higher attendance at conventions as well. Some Conventions that feature Webcomic guests as main attractions are ConnectiCon and Katsucon. Several webcomics have begun targeting the otaku community with convention based humor in kind.

As with the Internet, the webcomic community has already seen much controversy. Since the nature of a webcomic is closely tied to quality as well as popularity, flame wars can ensue especially if a controversy involves a particularly popular webcomic and/or its artist. Many of these controversies are caused when webcomic artists post an opinionated piece, whether it is that day's update or news post. Rivalries—imagined or not—between different artists are also a common spark to the flame. The controversy can also be fanned by a particular webcomic's fanbase.^[26]

[edit] Business

Usually, webcomics artists have to pay for the costs of art supplies, server hosting and other expenses out of their own pocket, making most webcomics labors of love rather than money-making opportunities. For webcomics who pay for their own hosting, bandwidth is a concern; the more popular the comic becomes, the more costly hosting becomes. There are a variety of webcomic hosting sites; some provide free hosting but require advertising, others are paid for and have no such requirements. Webcomic-oriented hosts will often provide software to reduce the technical knowledge required to set up a webcomic and its corresponding webpages.

There are different ways for webcomic artists to earn money, such as donations, advertising, and merchandising. Some use tip jars (through PayPal, for instance) or solicit donations through drives. Some sell merchandise featuring their artwork, or sell their artwork directly, sometimes under commission. If a webcomic has enough traffic, advertising and/or subscription revenue can also be generated. Some successful webcomics have subsequently been reprinted in compilations, often self-published. Examples of webcomics in print include PvP, Penny Arcade, Sluggy Freelance, and Megatokyo, as well as many others.

Some artists are able to work on their webcomics full-time without needing a day job to support it. This group of "professional webcomic artists" includes James Kochalka of American Elf,^[27] Jeph Jacques of Questionable Content,^[28] Brian Clevinger of 8-Bit Theater,^[29] Eric Millikin of Fetus-X,^[30] Tim Buckley of Ctrl+Alt+Del,^[31] and many others.

In addition to individual artists' efforts to profit from webcomics, there are various Internet entrepreneurs striving to develop business models as well. Scott McCloud, a long-time supporter of using micropayments to fund webcomics, is an advisor for the micropayment company BitPass. Some webcomic publishers, such as the Modern Tales family of sites, use a subscription model.

[edit] Awards

A number of comic awards have added categories for comics published on the web. The Eagle Awards established a Favourite Web-based Comic category in 2000, and the Ignatz Awards followed the next year by introducing an Outstanding Online Comic category in 2001. After having nominated webcomics in several of their tradition print-comics categories, the Eisner Awards began awarding comics in the Best Digital Comic category in 2005. In 2006 the Harvey Awards established a Best Online Comics Work category, and in 2007 the Shuster Awards began an Outstanding Canadian Web Comic Creator Award.

The Web Cartoonist's Choice Awards^[32][33] consists of a number of awards that have been handed out annually since 2001. The award has an online award ceremony which is essentially a series of comics depicting the "ceremony" by a variety of artists. The 2007 awards also had a real-life awards ceremony at Megacon.

The Clickburg Webcomic Awards (also known as "the Clickies") has been handed out annually since 2005 at the Stripdagen Haarlem comic festival. The awards require the recipient to be active in the Benelux countries, with the exception of one international award.^[34]

[edit] References

[edit] See also

• Cartoonist
• Comic book creator
• Comic strip
• Free webcomics
• Hypercomics
• List of webcomics
• List of webcomics in print
• Machinima
• Manga
• Sprite comic
• Websnark
• Webserial