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Webcomic
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Webcomics, online comics, or Internet comics are comics published on a website, often exclusively, providing easy access to an audience, though some are published in books and newspapers but maintain a web archive.
Webcomics are like self-published print comics in that almost anyone can author their own webcomic and publish it. Over 18,000 webcomics now exist online, from traditional comic strips to graphic novels, covering many genres and subjects.
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Webcomics, online comics, or Internet comics are comics published on a website, often exclusively, providing easy access to an audience, though some are published in books and newspapers but maintain a web archive.
Webcomics are like self-published print comics in that almost anyone can author their own webcomic and publish it. Over 18,000 webcomics now exist online, from traditional comic strips to graphic novels, covering many genres and subjects. Very few are financially self-sustaining.
Medium
There are several differences between webcomics and conventional printed 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, 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. Other comic artists, such as Mark Fiore with his Flash-based editorial cartoons, have experimented by incorporating interactivity and animation.
Still, many if not most webcomics take traditional forms. Some, such as Scott Kurtz's PvP and Tatsuya Ishida's Sinfest, 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's Megatokyo 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 and Phil & Kaja Foglio's Girl Genius, 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 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, while Twisted Kaiju Theater uses photos of Godzilla toys. Artistic expression in these ready-made comics is funneled primarily into writing. Some artists, such as Ryan North of Dinosaur Comics, create comics with most strips having art simply copied exactly from one (or a handful of) template comics, with only the text changing, as in the constrained comics tradition. 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. There has also been experimentation with 3D art in webcomics, most notably with the use of figures and models using the 3D rendering program Poser.
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 in countries like the US and UK. The content of webcomics can still cause problems, such as Leisure Town artist Tristan Farnon's legal trouble after creating a homoerotic Dilbert parody, or the Catholic League's protest of Fetus-X artist Eric Millikin's "blasphemous treatment of Jesus."
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 formats find book publishing more difficult.
History
Among the earliest online comics were T.H.E. Fox, which was published on Compuserve and Quantum Link in 1986, Where the Buffalo Roam which was published on FTP and usenet in 1991, Doctor Fun which was published on the web in September 1993, Netboy which was published on the web in the summer of 1994, and NetComics Weekly from Finnish Comics Society, which started in mid 1994 and ran through 1999 (2001 in Finnish). Among the longest-running webcomics that are still being published are Art Comics Daily (which began in March 1995), Argon Zark! (June 1995), Kevin and Kell (September 1995), and Slow Wave (November 1995).
Other comics' artists claim to have been the first, or at least to have set a trend, within different genres and art styles. The Polymer City Chronicles which began on March 13, 1995 has the claim to be the first video gaming themed webcomic. Bob and George, which began to be presented daily in April 2000, was not the first sprite comic on the web, but is often identified as the one that set the trend. In August 2000, Twisted Kaiju Theater debuted. 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 the Summer of 2000 Gutterflycomix.com appeared and holds the claim of, if not to be the first, one of the first online comics to try and take full advantage of internet technology, combining traditional comic panel style with flash animation, music and sound, email and other internet based media (it should be noted this type of storytelling is more common today by such t.v. shows as Lost and movies such as The Transformers).
The late nineties saw the number of webcomics increase drastically. Sabrina Online first appeared a year later in September 1996. A year later, in 1997, Goats appeared (in April), followed by Sluggy Freelance (in August), Roomies! (in September), Piled Higher and Deeper (in October), Newshounds and User Friendly (both in November). Penny Arcade, PvP, Jerkcity, and Pokey the Penguin began a year later.
In March 2000, Chris Crosby, Crosby's mother Teri, and Darren Bleuel founded the webcomics portal Keenspot. Crosby and Bleuel also started a free webcomic hosting service in July 2000, originally called KeenSpace but renamed Comic Genesis in July 2005.
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 magazine articles and later appearing in the March 2001 issue of Wizard 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 digital comics and remains an influential figure in the webcomics field. His theories have sometimes led to debates about where webcomics should go and what, precisely, they are. McCloud's early advocacy of micropayments has also been a source of debate.
In 2001, the subscription webcomics site Cool Beans World was launched after a high profile publicity campaign including extensive print advertising. It won Internet Magazine's "Site of the Month" award in October 2001. Contributors included, amongst others, UK-based comic book creators Pat Mills, Simon Bisley, John Bolton and Kevin O'Neill, and the author Clive Barker. Serialised content included Scarlet Traces and Marshal Law.
In March 2001, Shannon Denton and Patrick Coyle launched Komikwerks.com serving free strips from comics and animation professionals. The site launched with 9 titles including Astounding Space Thrills by Steve Conley, Buzzboy by John Gallagher, and Johnny Smackpants by Coyle.
On March 2, 2002, Joey Manley founded Modern Tales, offering subscription-based webcomics. The Modern Tales spin-off serializer followed in October 2002, then came girlamatic and Graphic Smash in March and September 2003 respectively.
By 2005, webcomics hosting had become a business in its own right, with sites such as Comic Genesis, DrunkDuck, Smack Jeeves and Webcomics Nation.
In June 2006, Universal Press Syndicate editorial cartoonist Ted Rall focused on webcomics for the third volume of the Attitude: The New Subversive Cartoonists series, and included comics such as The Perry Bible Fellowship, Cat and Girl, and A Lesson Is Learned But The Damage Is Irreversible.
While comic strip syndicates had been present online since the mid 1990s, traditional comic book publishers, such as Marvel Comics and Slave Labour Graphics, didn't begin making serious digital efforts until 2006 and 2007. DC Comics launched its web comic imprint, Zuda Comics in October 2007. The site features user submitted comics in a competition for a professional contract to produce web comics.
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. 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. There are also webcomic communities emerging through the general webcomic sites that cover the medium through news and articles such as Comixpedia (now named ComixTALK) and the blog Fleen. Sites providing hosting and other services, e.g. ToonsUp, Smack Jeeves, Comic Genesis, Comicracy, DrunkDuck or buzzComix, also tend to aggregate communities.
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.
Business
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 Rich Burlew of The Order of the Stick, Tarol Hunt of Goblins, Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins of Penny Arcade, James Kochalka of American Elf, Randall Munroe of xkcd, Brian Clevinger of 8-Bit Theater, Eric Millikin of Fetus-X, Tim Buckley of Ctrl+Alt+Del, and many others. Most of these artists began their comics as a hobby, but succeeded to the point that they could live off donations and merchandise.
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 book compilations, often self-published. Examples of webcomics in print include PvP, Penny Arcade, Sluggy Freelance, and Megatokyo, as well as many others.
Some webcomics, such as Helen, Sweetheart of the Internet, Van Von Hunter and Diesel Sweeties have been syndicated and published on daily newspapers' comics pages. Others such as The Perry Bible Fellowship and PartiallyClips have been published in smaller alternative newspapers, or printed in magazines, such as The Order of the Stick in Dragon Magazine and Get Your War On in Rolling Stone.
However, for most artists making most webcomics is a labor of love rather than money-making opportunity, with artists paying for the costs of art supplies, server hosting and other expenses out of their own pocket while seeing little return. For artists 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.
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, was an advisor for the micropayment company BitPass. Some webcomic publishers, such as the Modern Tales family of sites, have used a subscription model.
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 Cartoonists' Choice Awards 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.
Non-english webcomics
Comics in short and long form were also published online in languages other than English. For example, in 2000 Joscha Sauer started the German-only nichtlustig.de (translation: not funny) and published a free daily black-humour cartoon. His work quickly became well-known in Germany and gave him confidence to keep submitting to publishers until Carlsen Verlag offered him a contract in 2003. From then on he published his comics in an annual book, sales of which comprise his income. In 2008 Hitlercito began as a webcomic in Spanish, it is presently published by the magazine Replicante.
See also
External links
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