Professional Webcomics

So I was reading Least I Could Do the other day. Now, I've never been sure why I read it. Probably because it's there and I'm looking to kill some time. Not to say that it's a bad comic, because it really isn't. It's well drawn, the writing is nothing to complain about, it updates reliably 6 days a week. I just don't know why I read it. There are several comics like this, PVP being another. See, while LICD is well done, I can't say it's ever made me laugh. Maybe I keep reading it seeing if anything will ever change in that regard. But no matter, I was reading it as I usually do, and lo-and-behold Sohmer (the writer) is taking us through an arc about conventions. Fine, and then it came to the part about webcomics. And apparently the bottom line is webcomics suck.

Now, this really bothered me. Perhaps for obvious reasons. So, for 3 strips of the main character bashing webcomics (which came after about the same number bashing the folks populating Artist Alley) I was really quite peeved. Ready to write angry letters and the like. And then I had to stop and think, because I hold the philosophy of one should be able to laugh at what you truly care about. Faith, religion, politics, philosophies, ideals, friends, lovers, family, all the things that are important and integral to your life that you admire and care about and cherrish; you should be able to laugh at them. Mostly because if you can't laugh at what you love, you're probably wound up a little too tight. I care about comics. I think that it is a fascinating story medium, and I really like creating them. I also really do believe in the webcomic set up. Nuts to editors and all the nonsense of industry. I prefer the direct connection between creator and audience, and I like having complete control over the comic. You don't get that in traditional industry comics. You end up being just one cog in the creation process. Perhaps an important cog, but still a cog. So, I should have been laughing at Mr. Sohmer's bit, but I wasn't. I wasn't even getting the general indifference to the main character's antics I expect from LICD. I was getting angry. Something wasn't right, so I sat down and thought about it for a bit.

I've mocked the "industry" of webcomics before. Because, let's face it, it's not much of an industry. There's no real organization, there's no structure, just thousands of people with time, an idea, and an internet connection. And in the end, everyone and there mother has a webcomic. It's nothing particularly impressive to say you do a webcomic. Trust me. It's not like I haven't heard any of the arguments brought up in LICD. And as I thought about it, I realized I wasn't angry with Mr. Sohmer for writing the strip, I was angry at the character for being such an asshat about not liking webcomics. A lot of people spend a lot of time and effort into making a comic and never get anything out of it other than their own enjoyment of having created something. To mock and belittle that effort, dismissing it as nothing of importance ... that's just plain old high-school bullying. Possibly much younger. Elementary School. Bravo.

Now, perhaps Mr. Sohmer intended it as humorous irony, but it failed to come across that way. Sadly I have met plenty of these people who look down their noses at us webcomics. To be honest, I believe Mr. Sohmer is one of these folks. I met him once at Connecticon a couple of years back when I was rather green to the whole webcomic thing. He seemed like a nice enough guy, but I got the distinct impression that he really couldn't be bothered with me or my work. On some level, why should he be? He's a successful business man with his own company, art team, and offices. He's won awards, pitched LICD as a TV show, and backed those animated adaptations of Ctrl+Alt+Del and PVP. At the time I was a total newbie, and in many ways I am still nothing but small potatoes.

Yet, is that really how one sums up the value of a webcomic? Or any comic for that matter? How much money you make? I suppose in the traditional business sense the answer is yes. It's why Marvel won't let Spider-Man retire and move on to something new. Now, that's not to say that Mr. Sohmer makes some very valid points. Webcomics on the whole don't get much if any credibility, frequently citing reasons such as "inconsistent updating," "there's too many of them," "it's not hard to start one," etc, etc. I've personally known dozens of people who have started webcomics, or wanted to start one, and just didn't have the dedication to keep at it. It's hard to "prove" your webcomic is worth something to anyone but a reader. Publishers, convention guest coordinators, newspaper editors, those people who hold the keys in the comic industry are hard sales. They listen to numbers and statistics. If you can say hey I've got 100,000 readers (which I don't), then they might listen to you, but when they realize that there are another 20,000 comics out there on the web, even your impressive number stop meaning much. They don't want to have to sort through the sea of webcomics to find the "worth while" ones. When there's nothing set in place to filter the teeming digital sea of comic, it's easy to dismiss them all as not worth your time.

The "professional" webcomics are dismissed as not really professional. Those individuals who try to eek out a living doing this are dismissed as amatures and wannabees, those who couldn't make "the cut." Right now there are no editors, there are no people who sit on high and pass down judgement on the worthiness of a webcomic. It's just the readers. If you the reader reads a comic, you give it worth. You and no one else determine whether or not a comic succeeds or fails. It's possible to institue some system of judgement, some rating system. Every comic gets rated 1 to 10, like a video game. We could develope editors and a system to filter out the gold from the "meh." But if we do that, don't we just destroy what webcomics are about? The reason webcomics exist is because those filters don't. Most of us webcomicers either could not work with an editor or do not care to. We're creating damnit, and don't have time for that kind of crap. That doesn't excuse things like missed deadlines, but it doesn't give someone else the right to pass judgement on us simply because no one else is.

It's true that as a "business" we obligate ourselves to things like deadlines. If we miss a deadline, yeah, it does hurt. Readers don't like it, and I can't blame them. Yet many readers realize "hey, it costs me nothing to read, who am I to bitch?" That doesn't excuse anything, but in the end it's the reader's call. If they feel that missed deadlines are the make or break point for a comic, then so be it. But if they feel that the story and art are worth the wait, well then so what? I run a professional webcomic. I've missed deadlines. So what? People still love what I do, and more importantly so do I. It may not be a business like anyone else may know or understand, but it's my business. There's taxes and inventory, and red ink and a little bit of black. And if you or anyone else thinks I don't have the dedication or the skill or the ability to be worth your attention then I have just one thing to say.

Stop reading and move along so I can talk to the person behind you who does want to, you ungrateful prick.

In other news, I'll be adding some new content to GCG Studios a little later this week. I'm going to try to make a habit of putting up some new art work every week from here on out. So keep an eye peeled.

Welcome to the Comedity. Don't step on the Penguin.
Garth(Monday May 12th, 2008) -11:15:04