The Bullpen

[evaD]

I don't read a shole lot of them but have found some to enjoy. My current favorite is FreakAngels. Please post your own favorites, I'd love to see what others are reading.

Additionally, for discussion:

Do web comics seem to be the next evolution in sequential art or is this just a fad that will fade?

[Papercut]

Do web comics seem to be the next evolution in sequential art or is this just a fad that will fade?

I don't believe it's a fad; just a different outlet or tool that people can use now. And as the blogosphere has shown, self-publishing/producing is nearly ubiquitous now -- everyone has a voice/vision/vaticination that can be shared with everyone else now, with varying degrees of success (in both the popular and qualitative sense of the word).

Since it's been around for a while, I think it's past the awkward "online n00b" phase of just throwing crap to the virtual wall to see what sticks (though there's plenty of that, too -- but really no different than the music or videos or games that are clogging up our collective bandwidth) and you're seeing both high quality work and creators willing to push the medium in new directions.

There's plenty of room for both for me and it's actually interesting to see them crossover a bit.

[DGoodhart]

I don't think it's a fad either and I know that if I could get myself properly motivated again to draw comics, I'd do it with web publishing as the thing in mind...

[evaD]

I guess the question I have in mind in relation to survival of web based comics is this: when you publish a physical comic, a person has to buy, borrow or steal it in order to read it. Web comics seem to be mostly free, with the occasional "donate" button. I'm curious how it will be turned into a revenue generating venture, how that will alter it, and if it will survive that. There are web comics you have to purchase - I guess Marvel is trying their hand at that now - but most of what I run across is free and I just can't picture that lasting. Am I being too pessimistic?

[Papercut]

You're not being pessimistic.

If you're talking about web comics as a business venture but still maintain the free offerings, then they will have to survive like any other successful free content blog/web service: advertising, licensing and donations. There's a number of ways to monetize a website if you've got traffic or if you become popular. Kurtzman doesn't really need to do anything other than PVP Online any more. He's selling enough ad space and licensing crap and hardcopy editions (a growing trend) of his work to sustain himself now. Of course, he's one of the exceptions to the rule and I'm guessing most are either not making any money or losing money -- just like any self publishing floppy creator would be, but probably at a dramatically lower rate.

[El Dave]

What many webcomics have done is branch out not only into publishing actual collections of their strips, but merchandise as well. I own several t-shirts from various webcomics that are great conversation starters for both myself and the respective comics.

Instead of looking at it from the traditional publishers mentality, many online entrepreneurs have taken the rockstar business model. They don't make money from their actual product (CDs = comic strip), they make the money from merchandise based around the product.

[evaD]

That's interesting, and a little disheartening, if you think about it. It becomes kind of a "sound byte" mentality, as opposed to content driven. The stuff that has the coolest looking stuff becomes financially viable, while stuff that may be taking more risks and pushing the art form may fade away more quickly, but I guess that's the way it's always been. hmmm... I wonder if I'm looking at this the wrong way. It's probably no different than print. I'm just over thinking it.