Beyond the funny pages: The evolution of online comics
By Lindsey Rivait
Editor at Large
August 8, 2007
 Close your eyes and think back to your young self reading comics, what do you see? Do you see yourself in Spiderman pyjamas reading the colour Sunday funnies over a bowl of Captain Crunch? Do you see yourself browsing through X-Men comics in a musty comic book store, the pages of older issues yellowed and crinkled? Or, do you see yourself with bloodshot eyes, sitting in front of a monitor catching up on Penny-Arcade? Comics certainly aren’t just for kids anymore. With more and more webcomics sprouting up online, the very business of comics is changing.
Benefits of the web
Publishing comics online allows the artists and writers the potential to garner more exposure than one could get through traditional syndicated comics. “There are a lot of people on the Internet right now, so one of the major benefits is that a lot of people have access to my work,” says Nicholas Gurewitch, creator of The Perry Bible Fellowship.
Additionally, webcomics make available online what print comics cannot. Webcomics utilize an archive system, allowing regular readers to pick up where they left off and new readers to easily go back to the first comic and work their way though the story. While some newspaper comics are available online through their syndicate’s websites, archives are only kept for about a month. Readers do not have the immediate option of catching up and are thus thrust into the middle of a story. The reader then is unable to grasp the full effect of the jokes and plotlines. The reader, if interested in the syndicated strip, is then stuck with the inconvenience of searching for old newspapers and comic anthologies for the whole story instead of having everything at their fingertips for free.
Because the Internet is such an immediate medium, artist are able to update their websites instantaneously so reader can view it right away. This task is made even more effective with the introduction of RSS (Real Simple Syndication) feeds that alert readers when an update has been made to their favourite webcomic.
Webcomics aren’t as limited structure-wise as newspaper comics, who have to fill the same-sized rectangle every time. This, undoubtedly, leads to experimentation online. Take, for example, Scott McCloud’s “I Can’t Stop Thinking!” series. The incredibly long vertical strips wouldn’t look as nice with page folds and staples folding it up and over. It certainly wouldn’t fit in the traditional newspaper, either. Webcomic strips fit well in a browser window, making web design and presentation simple and straightforward, but not something to ignore.
An attractive, easy to navigate web design is essential for a webcomic’s success, perhaps almost as important as the webcomic itself. “If you have a totally ugly, slow, overly complex or just plain hard-to-use website very few people will bother reading your stuff. I can’t tell you how many neat-looking comics I’ve given up on because they had terrible websites,” explains Richard Stevens, creator of Diesel Sweeties.
The web and syndication
 Syndicates, such as King Feature’s Syndicate, United Feature Syndicate and Universal Press Syndicate purchase comic strips to sell to newspapers. The syndicate takes care of the business side of comics, promoting, editing, selling and distributing the artist’s work to U.S. and international newspapers. Comic syndication is tough competition. According to King Feature’s Syndicate’s website, the company receives over 5,000 submissions yearly, but only chooses three new strips for syndication. Artists can make anywhere between $20,000 and $100,000 a year if their comic is picked up.
In many cases, the syndicate wants all rights to the artist’s creation. This did not sit well with Player Vs. Player (PvP) creator, Scott Kurtz. During the 2004 San Diego Comicon, Kurtz offered all of his PvP comic strips to newspapers to reprint for free, on the condition that the strips remained uncensored. This stemmed from an encounter with United Press Syndicates who wanted the rights to everything PvP, taking the copyright away from Kurtz who promptly declined the offer, according to Kurtz’s blog post. No major U.S. paper has published PvP regularly as of yet.
Many webcomics do not need syndication or at least they don’t worry about it for the time being. Gurewitch has had offers to have his comic syndicated, but has declined. “I just haven’t felt that it’s the right thing to do at this stage,” he says. The Perry Bible Fellowship does appear in a few print publications, including the Metro Times and the Guardian. “People from the Metro Times and the Guardian contacted me after reading the online archives of the comic. Most other publications have done the same,” explains Gurewitch.
Some webcomic artists have found success in syndication. Steven’s Diesel Sweeties, for example, was picked up in January 2007 by United Feature Syndicate, the same company that carries Dilbert and Get Fuzzy. Stevens has a five-year contract with UFS.
 Stevens asserts that his comics have not changed much since his syndication contract began. “I still stick to meaner, grosser, more obscure topics [in the webcomic] than I can do in print,” he says. “The newspaper strips get slightly tamer material, but those are a separate animal. If I’ve really changed since then, I like to think that working with an editor has helped me trim excess fat from jokes and write a bit more clearly.”
The syndicated and webcomic versions of Diesel Sweeties are approached relatively the same by Stevens. “The only troubles of each are keeping up on deadlines and making sure not to let my wrist get too sore!” he says.
If you believe the way of traditional syndication is soon to be out the door, Keenspot might be your next stop for comics. Keenspot is a webcomic portal founded in 2000 by Chris Crosby. The site is run by Crosby, his mother Teri Crosby, Darren Bleuel and Nate Stone. The site hosts over 50 comics. Many of the Keenspot comics have been published in book form through Keenspot’s own book line. The site is an invite-only hosting site, but Crosby and company offers free unlimited space for all webcomic artists on ComicGenesis.com, encouraging artists from all calibers to create and display their work.
Merchandise
Online comics can provide the artist with a larger income through the introduction of merchandise to their site. Many websites, including CafePress.com, allow for low-priced buttons, mugs, T-shirts, posters and more to offer to your reader. Café Press takes care of printing and shipping for you as well. Other websites, like LuLu.com, allow the artist to quickly and cost-effectively publish anthologies of their own comics to sell. The books are also sold directly from LuLu.com.
The introduction of merchandise to a webcomic site is a smart move. Stevens has lived off of his merchandise sales for over five years. “It’s only been in the past six months or so that a decent percentage of my income has come from the comic itself,” explains Stevens. “It’s almost become a cliché that webcartoonists live off of T-shirts, but it’s true! It’s a little tougher to get started in webcomics or T-shirts now due to all the competition that’s out there, but it’s a very worthwhile thing to look into.”
Benefit of print
 It is easier to read comics in print form, but with monitors becoming increasingly larger and clearer, this doesn’t pose as much of a problem anymore. Still, though, many people prefer holding their comics in their hands, and it’s generally a bad idea to manhandle your new LCD monitor. On older, smaller monitors strips may be cut off. The bright side of this, however, is that it prevents the reader from inadvertently jumping ahead and ruining the punch line for themselves.
Syndicated newspaper comics are easily accessible in the sense that opening up the comics page of your daily newspaper isn’t a difficult task. Readers are able to read their favourite strips as well as discover a new strip or two every so often. It’s much more difficult for online comic artists to get their work seen by as many people as a newspaper comic since there are so many webcomics out there.
It’s also difficult for webcomic creators to earn enough money from it alone to sustain themselves and their families. Some webcomic creators, of course, have great successes. Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins’ Penny Arcade draws in millions of visitors and has become fulltime jobs for the two friends. Goats creator Jonathan Rosenburg has been illustrating his webcomic since 1997 and in 2006, he became a fulltime comic artist. Kurtz has been publishing PvP online since 1998 and it has turned into a business for him as well. Since 2003, Kurtz has published a monthly print comic book with Image Comics that includes both old strips and new materials. Earlier this year, Kurtz introduced the PvP animated series, available by subscription on his website.
Word-of-mouth advertising is essential for online comics. Stevens has relied on blog posts, message boards and links from other webcomics to get Diesel Sweeties on the map. Webcomics, done for fun or money, have the opportunity to break into the mainstream media these days. All it takes is some hard work and dedication, and being all right with being behind on rent some months. |
