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Reinventing Webcomics Part One
Introduction: What is wrong with the Webcomics World.
I am Malach the Merciless, owner of RubberSuit Studios, Stool Sample Webcomics. I got into the webcomics business, mainly on a whim. I avoided the whole webcomics subculture for awhile but now that I have stuck my head in that world, I have decided to publish a series of articles about webcomics, my ideas and opinions about them, and where the genre is and should be heading.
Before I begin, I am going to criticize a lot of comics and the genre in general. In fair play, and I invite you to do the same to mine. I am very easy to contact via my e-mail, or blog. Or submit a response to this article to Third Option Media . Now you ask why can I do this? I am a professional artist, I have done work in sequential forms of art, I have a extensive collection of comic books ranging from 1968 to about 1992, and I am also classically trained in Painting and Illustration. I am also an outsider, people within the webcomics industry have little contact with me, except via Comixpedia and my blog/e-mail ; so this makes me the perfect impartial critic. I would also like to inform the viewer, I do research on any title I am going to actively name. It is stupid to criticize the artwork on Super Ned for example, except in the most teaching sort of manner; the creator is 14, and has little art training. As for Comixpedia, great site, idea, and place to research the genre.
I will begin by addressing the genre as a whole, and the people who create webcomics.
Webcomics and the People Who Love Them
Webcomics have been around now for the better part of 10, 15 years. Even in the infancy of the internet, webcomics were right there. Many have tried there hand at them, and many still do. From what I can glean, the genre currently has in excess of 5000 known titles, so you easily glean, a lot of it is crap.
This first major issue is that many webcomics done today, are no different than those that have been done the past 10 years. They have been influenced by something, so they go about making a clone of it. There is almost a cookie cutter approach to a large majority of titles. Most are somewhat sequential, but still follow the "joke a day" concept, similar to a syndicated newspaper strip. They are 4 - 6 panels, and have adequate artwork usually copied for some popular source. There are exceptions, and strips that are story arc driven, but even these feel they need to get that one joke or action in per page, to keep their audience coming. There are a few others that post sequential storylines as they are created (ala The Wraith) and even those that post monthly to have a complete piece of a story. This is one of the main driving forces of webcomics, and something that deters from their creation, post something new consistently to keep the hits up. I an effort to post something new everyday (or on a 3, 4, etc, day a week schedule), the webcomic suffers.
Two examples: Two very popular webcomics: Crap I Drew on My Lunch Break, and MegaTokyo. Both update on a three day a week schedule, both are semi-sequential, gag-a-day types of webcomics, both have been around several years, with MegaTokyo being one of the few heavy hitters of the industry (heavy hitter: Influential on the industry as a whole, generates enough income to support the creator).
Some of the issues with Crap: There is very rarely is a strip I find funny, much less entertaining, and one has to sort through numerous updates to find one. The art suffers also, some of the strips are well done, some of them are obviously put together to keep the strip on schedule. Art wise I understand the comics creator, Jin Wicked, in not a classically trained artist, but there are quite a few things that could be done to this strip to improve the art. One that comes right to mind, is stop stylistic cues from anime (this whole anime fascination is another article), unfortunately to make that work, one generally needs an extensive realistic drawing training (the same with comic book styles). Now don't get me wrong, the sequential part of the strips is an interesting read, but individually the strips fall short. I would almost like to see the creator, tell the sequential story without worrying about the joke at the end of every strip.
Now for MegaTokyo. First a bit of a disclaimer. I have been brutally attacked by MegaTokyo fans for my criticism of it (picture it like someone criticizing Spiderman, that is what MegaTokyo is to the industry), so I might be a bit biased. MegaTokyo has been around since 2000. At it's formation it was innovative, new for the genre, and very well done. Its art, storyline, and humor were all top notch. Now it is an old dinosaur, it changes little, and sticks with what is safe. The webcomic over all, has changed little stylistically since it's inception, and at this point, it has become boring. It still has lots of fans, though. I liken it to the television show Friends. Friends upon its inception and first few seasons was a funny, innovative, and new show, as it got older, it ran it's course, was no longer what it once was, and jokes were recycled. Anyone watching it toward the last few seasons, was doing so, because they had grown accustomed to the show. Anyone else was watching did cause that what everyone else did. That is MegaTokyo. I don't blame it's creator, it is a cash cow, but if you are in that position, why not use it, to expand the genre?
And this is just the tip of the iceberg. Analyzing the genre, I came up with a few theories. . . Lets call them . . . .
Malach's Theories of Stagnation
Webcomic Creators:
1. Most Creators cannot take criticism of there work, from ANYONE. They find criticism as a personal attack. Little do they realize that criticism is very helpful and very healthy to the genre. If you are going to create something, not everyone is going to like it, some people will absolutely hate it, and some people will think you can do better (Crap is a good example of the later). It is up to the artist to glean what they can from the criticism, and not constantly fight it.
2. Most Creators know little about the business side, and the ability to make money off their webcomic (even if it is only enough money to pay for a site). "Tip Jars" are highly unprofessional and make you nothing more than a beggar, or a Dunkin' Donuts employee.
3. Most Creators don't have the mental acumen to not only realize how much potential there is in this medium, but to implement this potential.
4. Most Creators are self taught and have learned their stuff from copying Television, Anime/Manga, and Comic Books, closing themselves off even more to the potential of the genre, and better and more mind expanding art influences.
Webcomics:
1. Most Webcomics are either poorly drawn and well written; well written and poorly drawn; or poorly written and poorly drawn. While this can work, it make it much harder to maintain an audience.
2. Most Webcomics find their comedy from things like Family Guy, and South Park, and less from Monty Python, Or Literature.
3. Most Webcomics will never ever make you enough money to make a living at.
4. Most Webcomics are only as innovative as what is currently popular
5. Most Webcomics will never be innovative or push the genre forward.
Webcomics Fans:
1. Most Fans will never recognize the innovative until it is years later.
2. Most Fans are entertained by a good fart joke, as opposed to a joke about say, The Hollow Earth Theory.
3. Most Fans are highly hypocritical, and will blast one webcomic for it's content, and embrace another with same content based upon popularity.
4. Most Fans will never recognize the innovative as it is outside the norm of the genre.
5. Most Fans don't have nor will ever have their own opinion on the industry, and just follow the crowd.
The community as a whole is less of a real community, than it is a backstabbing, whining, in fighting, group of cutthroats. It is very rare to find a webcomics community that is not like this. Many creators do not realize what kind of force the industry could be if the industry banded together. In future articles Malach will explore this industry further, offer some ideas, and further critiques.
Now, before you go away all pissed off, there is some really good stuff out there. You got to dig to find it. Scott McCloud know what he is doing. He is a driving force in making this genre viable, creative, and pushing it into the future. Eric Burns, while occasionally full of his own self worth, is a very smart man, and also has the pulse of the industry. There are several others, to be mentioned in a future article.
Chapter Two Coming Soon
If you enjoyed this article (or did not enjoy it) drop Malach a line. He is interested in meeting like minded creators, and also interested in meeting dissenters. Malach's goal with these article is to make the lot of you think, change some of your attitudes, and make you a better creator.