Poll: Do you like webcomics?

At one point, I followed a number of them, but I just lost interest in each of them, and I never bothered to go back and catch up.

If I have any problem with web comics, it's that I have a completest streak, and while I can start reading Doonesbury or Get Fuzzy in the middle of their runs, I feel a need to go though the entire archives before reading a web comic.

Then again, I don't think see how they are different than paper comics. I mean, there are more of them, and thus more bad ones, but there aren't that many funny comics in papers right now.

The ratio of good comics to bad comics is the same on the web as in the paper. Boondocks and Get Fuzzy are definatly the good ones, but when was the last time Garfield was even funny or Family Circus? The proportions are the same when you are talking paper to webcomics, infact, I saw there are probally fewer good newspaper comics compaired to whet you find on the web.

Well, that depends on how you're counting.
If you allow any history into it, newspaper wins hands-down.

I would argue that there is a higher ratio of bad web comics to good we comics than there is in print. There are just so many. That could easily mean there are more good web comics, but unless you start saying "this is a real comic" and "this is not", every attempt has to be counted.


Garfield has its moments. They are rare, but they do happen.
The last funny family circus involved finger paints and a "digital imaging" pun. I was shocked when I saw it.

the formula is just too easy for family circus. so easy that D isn't sure he made this one up:

(Billy is coloring a picture of a firefighter)
"Mommy, where's the hero-colored crayon?"

That very well could be a family circus.�

Then again, I don't think see how they are different than paper comics.


maybe it's an accessibility issue. also, one doesn't have to worry about making it acceptable for the entire populace. it can have a more specialized audience.

They're different from paper comics because anyone can make a webcomic. Not everyone can get their comic printed in the newspaper. In fact, most of the webcomics I read are probably too weird or 'inappropriate' for any newspaper to want to pick them up.

plus, the web gives comic authors more freedom - they aren't restricted to a three panel format, a particular size, or even the same size or shape from one day to the next.

of course, the 'anyone can make a webcomic' arguement leads me to wonder how some of the truly horrible syndicated print comics made it to where they did.

Yes, but that does not make the genre different.
It makes "webcomic A" different than "printcomic B", but the format is still the same. You can have more good web comics, but the same comic online or in a newspaper is no different.

Even physical format is up in the air. Calvin and Hobbes, and today, Boondocks, both break the Sunday panel format. Comic-page editors can cause problems for the print comics, but that's a distribution issue, not a creative one.

I'd happily agree that the internet is a better place to view and/or publish comics, but that does not mean that the comics which are there are better (or worse) than print comics.

They may not constitute a different genre (I never said they did, either, and your initial arguement simply said 'I don't think see how they are different than paper comics,' but didn't say anything about genre), but they are definitely a different medium. It's like comparing paintings done with oil on canvas to MS Paint. Yes, they're both colour drawing, but they have different styles, different 'rules', and even different audiences.

You can even say that Sunday comics are different from daily comics in the same way.

But I think it's a perfectly legitimate question to ask whether people like webcomics as opposed to paper comics - just in the same way you can ask someone if they prefer impressionist painting to other forms of painted art.

but they are definitely a different medium. It's like comparing paintings done with oil on canvas to MS Paint.

It's more a matter of book vs. ebook. There does seem to be a rise in flash-designed web comics out there, but then again most Sunday comics are at least colored on the computer today. You can draw a strip on paper and scan it into the computer and either email it to the syndicate, or post it online. The comic does not become something else once you hit "send". The means of distribution through which the reader sees it is the only inherent difference.

Yes, they're both color drawing, but they have different styles, different 'rules', and even different audiences.

You could say that about any two comics. Yes, web comics tend to lean towards the geeky, but so do plenty of print comics. Most print comics are bound by three panels, but there are some that break that mold. What "rules" are there in print comics that are not in web comics, or vice versa? Yes, there is censorship, but that is still a distribution issue. A novel that was made in the USSR would be the same medium as a novel made in the States.

I think it's a perfectly legitimate question to ask whether people like web comics as opposed to paper comics - just in the same way you can ask someone if they prefer impressionist painting to other forms of painted art.

Of course it's a legitimate question. My argument is that it is the distribution that is different, not the comics (any more than any comics are different). It's not so much the same as comparing two forms of painted art, as it is comparing comics in a newspaper and comics in a magazine.

OMG I compleatly 100% agree with Lawrence. That never happens. *trembles in fear*

Someone hold me.

I don't know what's more scary... that someone other than me agrees with lawrence.... or that you and I both agree with the same person.

*shudder*

Does this mean the world is going to end?

My poll I suggested was acually used! That never happens!

You can't say that now.

megatokyo, penny arcade, vgcats, and applegeeks are my three right now. although nitsa recently told me to start checking out mac hall, which i likely will.

...counts on fingers...looks quizzically at norg...

oops.� i had forgotten vgcats and added right before saving.

that and i can't count either...

�-= george =-

I loves ya anyway :)

heee - mac hall is a reference to McDonald Hall on the BGSU campus! :)

this can't be happening at macdonald hall!

*loves*

that's totally where i went with that :D

Dude yeah.

Ian was in Alan's D&D game same time I was.

He used to draw comics of stuff that happened in-and-out-of-game during those long dull combat sessions.

My favorite was the one detailing the killing of our increadibily stupid cleric (played by a fella name of JD who was very very stupid himself). "Evilevilevilevilevil!"

Damn, I should e-mail him or something, see if he's still got those around.

I saw an improv game last week that was of a D&D game. Whenever someone in the audience yelled "SWITCH!" they would switch from the real world to the world of the game or vice versa.

It was a hoot. I love those guys.

Real Life
Bruno the Bandit
Penny Arcade
Sluggy

and, when I remember to go to the site, User Friendly.
(the RSS feed kept getting killed... so I can't monitor it on my LJ friends page. Grrrrr)

Penny Arcade
Ctrl Alt Del
Megatokyo
Something Positive
Two Lumps
the now defunct Queen of Wands
Toothpaste for Dinner
VG Cats

...yeah. And then I wonder why I have no time for homework. I never really got into MacHall, though I did like the few I read.

oh yeah!

I'd forgotten TFD.

calvin and hobbes lj feed.
dilbert
get fuzzy
rose is rose
these i know are "print comics" but i read them online.

penny arcade
user friendly
goats
wigu--or magical adventures in space
nukees
fans
college roomies from hell
butternut squash (weekly update)
penny and aggie

and then the animated:
neurotically yours (updated every two weeks)
homestarrunner/strongbad emails

i read Get Fuzzy on Sundays in the paper, plus i have one of those "Page-day-calendars" of it, which i follow religiously. And, of course, my Get Fuzzy "week-at-a-glance," which i use as my homework book for school.
I read the sunday funnies every week, and my faves are:
Get Fuzzy (see above...duh)
The Boondocks
Doonesbury
Dilbert
I've also got books of Get Fuzzy (gee, think i like that comic a little?) and Calvin and Hobbes.
As for webcomics, I follow two: Megatokyo and Applegeeks. I like them, I like the way they're done, and the art is good.
Does anyone still read regular comics, and graphic novels and stuff? I mean, there's a comic book store short way from my house, and I've been there a couple times with my brothers, and it's pretty neat when not filled with gaming guys, playing 'magic' cards or whatever. But my library also has a graphic novel section, (a half a shelf in the young adult section...but it's growing.) and some of the stuff there is really good. I read this book called "Understanding Comics" by a man named Scott McCloud, (it was actually in the form of a comic...how cool!) and it explained a lot of the art in comics, and really delved deeply into the whole aesthetic aspect, and defined 'comic.' Plus, after reading that, I read Art Spiegleman's Maus, which was an incredible story.
One more thing: (yes, i'm long winded today) this lends itself to books. There used to be a used book store not far from my house called "WOW: Used Books" and it was really a very neat store. I'd always wanted to go in there, and over this past winter break i convinced my parents to take me, because in the paper it said they were closing. It was really a great store, with some awesome books. It smelled good too. Anyway, it closed down and is now a store on the internet. I did manage to pick up three books: The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara, and two old "The Best of Fantasy and Science Fiction" anthologies from the 1960's. so, yeah. just some side info.

Does anyone still read regular comics, and graphic novels and stuff? I mean, there's a comic book store short way from my house, and I've been there a couple times with my brothers, and it's pretty neat when not filled with gaming guys, playing 'magic' cards or whatever. But my library also has a graphic novel section, (a half a shelf in the young adult section...but it's growing.) and some of the stuff there is really good. I read this book called "Understanding Comics" by a man named Scott McCloud, (it was actually in the form of a comic...how cool!) and it explained a lot of the art in comics, and really delved deeply into the whole aesthetic aspect, and defined 'comic.' Plus, after reading that, I read Art Spiegleman's Maus, which was an incredible story.

i think you just answered your own question :)

heh. well, you know what i meant. no need for semantics. ;)

no, i'm serious. your library has a graphic novel section (this, i'm pretty sure, was not the case ten years ago, maybe even five), you have a thriving local comic shop, & you read a book that caused you to become interested in graphic novels in a big way.... i'd say things are looking pretty good for the future of comic books.

if you meant do fruheads read comic books, i'm guessing that there is a significantly bigger portion of comix fans in fruheaddom, like there are more monty python fans & sci-fi/fantasy fans, than in the population in general. it's just that kind of a demographic. heck, i write & draw my own comic books. :)

Well, that's just for me though, not neccesarily all people. I'm a minority in more ways than just one... However, you are right that things are improving for comics.

And, yes, I would guess that more people here read comix than everybody else in general.
and that's cool that you write and draw your own comics. i always wanted to do that...i'm a good writer and a fairly good artist, but not so great at putting them together. :)

penny arcade, diesel sweeties, scary go round. w00t.