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I hope everyone’s week has gone by as fast as mine because it’s Friday and we all know what means… WEEKEND DEBATCHERY!!! Of course, if you’re as busy as we are here at Comic Panda then you’ll be returning to your place of employment tomorrow – but that’s not what I’m here to talk about. Let’s hit it!

Recent Releases – Be sure to check these out!

Awkward Andy (9/13, 9/18)

Unstoppable (9/14)

 Spotlight – Tomorrow

If you’ve been following this story you’re going to understand what I am about to say – this is absolutely incredible!!! Mir.K and Risbee have created an instant masterpiece through the combination of vibrant artwork and a story that is only just beginning to unfold that is as breathtaking as it is thought provoking.

Tomorrow is set in the not so distant future (man it is really almost 3 months away from 2013 >.<) in Seattle. Left to our own devices, you guessed it, humanity has not fared well in the “love thy neighbor” category of life. If you thought the nightly news was already a downer then you haven’t thought about the same future that is conveyed in this series.

Don’t Miss==> BEHIND THE ART: Mir.k, the creator of ‘Tomorrow.’

Perhaps a subtle homage to George Orwell’s classic 1984, it seems as if there are some type of sentient beings present that have taken on the responsibility of policing our society. It’s the manner by which they do that really has a chilling effect on both the reader and the characters in the Tomorrow. Think of the scene in War of the Worlds when Tome Cruise decides to take a look at the town center – but replace the white dust with blood and keep the perpetrators hidden. When I read any type of creative content I often think about what I do if I were thrust into the same situations as the characters and I can only imagine the horror of watching someone self-combustion if front of you.

It’s hard to pinpoint a single aspect of this series that stands out above the others because it is so well done across the board. One thing that I’ve noticed is the lack of eyes on some of the characters. Easily overlooked if you are completely engrossed in the reading like I was previously, the progression of the story has moved along to a point where I find myself slowing do as I am reading  to see if there are any more details that I haven’t considered or noticed yet. Eyes are very relevant in Tomorrow – the cameras that are watching society have an eye set in the spot where the lens should be. It brings up some very good points independent of the strip itself – the whole “Big Brother” debate. Honestly, if security/federal cameras had an independently moving eyeball staring at you I think we’d all agree that the economy would be the least of President Obama’s worries. I can’t tell you exactly what this signifies but I’m paying close attention to these characters moving forward.

Another aspect of the series that has impressed me is the ability of the artists to convey the different tones and moods within each episode and the subtle foreshadowing of things to come. The vibrancy and detail of the art and coloring is deceiving when considering the implied themes that have been volunteered so far to the reader. While some of this is a function of the Mir.K and Risbee’s personal preferences I also see this as a reflection on the resourcefulness of humanity as a whole. Even with the continue progression towards a darker future rife with struggle it seems to me that Tomorrow isn’t willing to concede our impending doom as a guaranteed outcome. Additionally this can be viewed as plea for recognition of what we truly have; a beautiful life sustaining planet rich in history and cultural that is being taken for granted. ‘

The calloused interactions between Risa and Irene illustrate Tomorrow’s brilliant use of foreshadowing. The unprovoked hostility Risa displays and the “awareness” of this by those that are watching is conveyed as a brief deconstruction of the characters image. Representative of the physical discomfort Risa feels, the graphical manifestation has a slight resemblance to a television show starting to lose its signal and the static or “snow” that results from the interference. Why Risa or any other character in Tomorrow would understand that this a warning of things to come if her present choices continue, I view this as a metaphor for how we evaluate things on our daily lives. Just as I would switch the channel and eventually remove the offering from my cable package if I was constantly struggling with poor picture quality, Risa is risking being removed from society once and for all if she isn’t able to adjust the manner in which she interacts with others. The nature of the consequences is the only differentiation – death is absolute.

I’ve only scratched the surface of Tomorrow and I’m still amazed with the level of complexity and detail that this series has displayed through the first 6 episodes that have been released. Exemplifying Comic Panda’s vision and motto, “Stories, Visually Created,” I can’t stress enough the incredible effort Mir K. and Risbee have put into Tomorrow and the resulting quality of the series. Take a look and you will see what I mean!

Please leave comments below! Tell me what you think about Tomorrow, what you think about the aspects I’ve pointed out, and where you think this story is headed! If you have any questions or suggestions for what you’d like to hear talked about next time let me know!

Follow the artist on (links): Comic Panda / Facebook / Twitter

Wow… That’s an amazing self-portrait. Tell us a little bit about yourself.

My name is Min-Sung Noh. I go by the nickname “Richbug” online and “Mr. Nohman” on Comic Panda. I was born in 1987, graduated Seoul Arts High School in 2006, and worked as an art teacher for five years. I’m currently a college senior majoring in visual design. Some of my past works have been displayed in modern arts galleries.

I started a short webtoon, Black Fairytale, this February. And during this time, Tapas Media contacted me, and I have been publishing Homesick since then.

When did your interest in webcomics or webtoons first begin?

I can’t clearly remember because I’ve been reading webtoons since the very beginning. Webtoon that influenced me the most is 1001 by Young-Soon Yang. At that time, webcomics were popular, but they were short and simple. With great storyline and moral lessons, 1001 redefined webcomics.

I never imagined that I would be an online webcomic artist. I thought comics were irrelevant to my career. Honestly, Black Fairytale that I published online was not to be a webcomic artist. I just wanted to challenge myself as an illustrator.

I started to fall for webcomics around 2009.  At that time, I was very surprised to know that my friend drew a famous webcomic Don’t Let of the Mental Rope (놓지마 정신줄).  He was very talented to begin with, but he was shining even more once his piece got very popular. Many readers were paying attention to what he had to say.  It was very interesting.  I realized that this was the beauty of webcomics. Whoever with talents could raise their voices and anyone could easily hear what they had to say.  Once I saw webcomics as a medium to communicate, I started to study webcomics.

Describe your personal style(s) as a webcomic artist.

Neil Gaiman, the author of The Sandman, influenced me the most.  He inspired me to draw comics through his odd and quirky stories, which were full of various myths and fantasies.  Actually, my first piece was a remake of Calliope, which was a short story in The Sandman.  I kept the hard copy of that for myself.  The author of Sin City,Frank Miller, is one of my favorite authors also.  His storytelling skills and settings affected me.

I personally dislike digital drawing.  I like brush drawings since they require more effort and show more sincerity.  I admire classical art and paintings because I once dreamed of being a painter.  Because of those reasons, over 90% of my pieces are drawn by hand.  It is also more comfortable. It takes about three days to make one episode, and pencil, ink, pastel, conte, watercolors, color pencils, and computer graphics are all used in my piece.

I keep psychology as the most important subject of matter when I write stories.  Personally, I like giving the main characters a hard time.  I give them a big trouble that they almost cannot handle, and I put myself in their shoes.  I try to understand and connect with the characters that way.  Also, I feel the emotions of the main character that way.  Because of this, all the protagonists in my pieces are poor victims.  There are no suspects, but there are only victims in my piece.  Those victims continuously ask the readers, “Why do we live such hard lives, why do we have to endure hardships and sufferings?” There are no answers.  I never attempt to tell answers through my piece because there are no answers for such questions.

Tell us about your current project(s) available on Comic Panda.

The original title of Homesick was Time Bomb. I was in a military from 2008 to 2010, and I was good at dealing with ammunition.  My duty was to administrate and manage bullets, rockets, and grenades.  During that time, I was able to take a closer look at various bombs.  The idea of a “time bomb” came up during this time.  I started to come up with questions, “what if there is a time bomb in a person’s head? How would that person react?” I got to think more about death through such questions.  Homesick is my personal answer to questions about the value of death and how a person can transform because of death.  I would love to tell you more about it, but I will stop here since I don’t want to spoil my piece.

Creating a story was the hardest part in making a webcomic.  This piece is my first long story, so it was a hard process for me since I mostly made short stories. The hardest thing was to figure out many characters and their relationships with one another.

I do not want to force my thought to the readers who read Homesick. I just want to provide another fun topic to think about through my piece.  It is the readers’ part to feel and understand the piece the way they want to.  The only thing that I want is for the readers to feel something.

Okay…let’s talk about something other than comics for a bit. What else do you like to do for fun?

Well… I don’t really have a hobby since I love working for most of the time.  I don’t like drinking and partying either. I am an introvert so I don’t like meeting up with people that much.  If I have to come up with one, I would say watching movies that are hard to find.  I like finding really uninteresting and poorly made movies and watching those. I call those, “Movies that try to be class A but actually are class F.” Surprisingly, sometimes these movies provide interesting topics that I can think about. Mostly, Hollywood’s low-cost action movies are the ones that I am talking about. The more people say that it’s not funny, the more I like it! It is a twisted taste.  If I want to put it in a good way, I am a minority regarding my movie preferences. I also watch famous TV shows and blockbuster movies! Once I get into it, I watch it over and over again until I almost know all the lines.  Personally, I am a huge fan of Nolan’s Batman Series, Fringe, Saving Private Ryan, and Band of Brothers. Recently, I have been watching The Big Bang Theory over and over again.  I am completely in love with it.

If you have one day to live, what would you do? What would be your last meal?

Nothing special.  I would want to wake up as usual, eat as usual, hang out with people that I love (as usual), and sleep as usual.  I have too many things that I want to do and the time would be too limited to do all of those. If I try to do something else on the last day, I would regret not doing other things that I did not get to try.  I am ambitious regarding my career.  It would take at least ten years (I’m exaggerating a bit) to do everything that I am planning in my head. I would be sad to die because there are many many fun things I would love to do.  I will survive until I am satisfied AT LEAST!

And, I would like to eat Korean black bean noodlesas my last meal.  I love noodles.  Black bean noodles, pasta, cold broth noodles, ramen, soba, etc… My mouth is getting watery now! There was a time when I had health issues because I only ate noodles.  So the doctors advised me to stop eating noodles, so I did not get to eat much for a while. The world seemed so harsh on me at that time.

What is your pet peeve?

I can’t stand the noise.  So I don’t go to clubs nor places with a lot of people.

And I hate the sound of fighting. If someone is fighting around me (10m perimeter), I take all my belongings and run away from that place.  I don’t know why, but I hate the sound of fighting.  So I try to avoid arguing or any small fights.  I don’t like aggressiveness in general.

This is a bit different story, but I do not like scary things.  I cannot watch a horror movie nor read a horror story.  It is a bit funny that a horror cartoonist cannot watch scary movies, but I am actually a weak-minded person.  My high school nickname was “shy boy.”  I am scared of sudden appearances, I cannot stand gross images, and I especially cannot watch gory things.  So there are tons of movies that I want to watch but have not because I’m scared.  I watched Saw I, but I did not get to watch other Saw sequels since the first one scared me. Silent Hill series, a video game, have been on my wish list for the past five years.  I think I will never get to do it.  I have too much fear. Especially watching a ghost movie means death to me.  I get nightmares just by looking at the poster. A few years ago, I almost fainted while watchingParanormal Activity. I am not kidding, I was about to faint.  I tried to finish watching by drinking a lot of beer and screaming at TV (Painful and shameful memories of mine!). Again, I did not get to watch the second one of this series.

I am also amazed that this kind of person is drawing horror comics.  Perhaps it’s an act of retaliation.

In ten years, I would be…

I want to be someone who’s respectable.  I want to hear, “that author’s book was amazing” and, “his stories are so interesting.” I came up with a new dream when I started Homesick. It is very embarrassing to say this out loud, but one day, I want to get invited to Comic-Con as an artist/author. When I earn a lot of money, I really want to go to America and go to Comic-con.  It is my hope and my dream! Hopefully, I would be married in ten years, so I can go there with my wife.  Sometimes, I imagine myself looking around, holding hands with my wife.

My goal is not earning a lot of money.  I just want to earn as much as I need to feed my family.  I hope for a better environment that could lead more people to read my piece.  Is this too much to dream for? 

Going back to comics… Let’s say that you can travel to any world that exists only in comics. Where would it be?

I want to visit Marvel Universe in X-men, because I want supernatural powers. I want the power to teleport, especially on rainy days because I hate getting wet. Other than teleport, I want angel wings. Haha! I guess I’m too lazy to move. If I become X-man, I think my supernatural power would be laziness. 

What are your favorite webcomics / webtoons other than your own?

Follow the artist on (links): Comic Panda / Facebook / Twitter

Hi there! Nice haircut (it’s same as mine…hehe). Anyways, can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

My name is Sang-Ki Kwak, and I go by the nickname “Mir.k”! I grew up in a city called Changwonin Gyeongsandnamdo, which is a southern part of South Korea. Currently, I live and work atChungju. Usually, my work is related to drawing and graphic design. I make storyboards and concept illustrations for advertising agencies and film companies. Also, I regularly go to an art institute to teach high school students who are preparing for a College of Fine Arts and adults who want to learn design as a hobby. My strength/strong point is drawing, as any other artists would say. ^^

When did your interest in webcomics begin?

I started to get interested in online comics when I was in the military. After training, soldiers often gathered and talked about online comics, and that grabbed my attention because I didn’t expect an online comic, not even a TV show or a movie, to be a hot topic. The first piece that I read was 1001 by Young-Soon Yang, who is a very famous and considered a genius amongst other cartoonists. The storyline was very profound yet smooth, and his drawings were marvelous. Of course, the artist who influenced me the most is Young-Soon Yang. I once imitated his way of creative thinking and drawing. But after that, I searched for and learned from other different pieces, including that of Il-Gwon Haand Pil-Won Jung. Webcomic and I have been together for many years, sharing my mid-20s. I remember the moments when I pulled all-nighters to hang out with cartoonists and talk about our own webcomic projects, times when I took years off from college because of webcomic, and memories of me being encouraged by complements from readers. All these moments are very special and precise for me.

Describe your personal style(s) as a webcomic artist.

I have prepared three webcomics until now, but two of them are not published yet. So I’ll talk aboutTomorrow , which is the piece that I’m currently publishing. Il-Gwon Ha influenced me the most to draw this piece. He is well known as a sentimental and romantic artist. Also, my sources of inspiration areTotoro and Howl’s Moving Castle, which are animations from the Studio Ghibli.I use different styles for different pieces/projects. There is a great cartoonist named Pil-Won Jung in Korea, and he tries different styles for each and every pieces. I believe trying a new style of illustration is necessary for self-development as an artist.

The world in Tomorrow is very gloomy and mysterious in order to stimulate the reader’s sentiment. So I’m trying hard to illustrate suitable color and features to achieve its purpose. The part that I care the most about is the “quality”. High quality is the only thing I can do for the readers. For me, “quality” includes not only illustrations/paintings, but also storylines. With high quality pieces, I want to make people to think that there is more than just a simple comic in webcomics. webcomics are “art works” that people can read online.

Tell us about your current project(s) available on Comic Panda.

The idea for Tomorrow all started from a “traffic camera” on a freeway. I saw my friend, who was over-speeding on the freeway, decreasing his speed when he saw the traffic camera on the road. I started to question, “what if someone is watching over on us?? What if a mankind cannot disobey or fight against that existence? How will that change and affect humans’ lives? Will humans be satisfied with that because they will no longer have crime? What if we don’t appreciate it? Why would we not appreciate the Being? And… How would I react to that?” With these questions, I started to frame Tomorrow.

Sci-Fi films, especially movies with aliens, monsters, and natural disasters are well known for their visual effects with amazing scenes but not for the plot qualities. Still, Sci-Fi movies guarantee enough popularity. I know it’s going be hard, but I want to put both visual effect and profound dramas in my project, so I can have both cinematic qualities and popularities. ^^;

Tomorrow will build up the tension based on the changes in characters’ emotions and on the dramas. Hopefully, people can put themselves in characters’ shoes. Of course, I must try my best to attract readers and let them fall into the story. ^^

Okay…let’s talk about something other than comics for a bit. What else do you like to do for fun?

I need to rest and play hard in order to overcome the tiredness from work. Currently, I’m into traveling. It’s really fun to travel around different worlds!!

If you have one day to live, what would you do? What would be your last meal?

I remember watching a movie that asked similar question. It was Japanese movie about the people who knew that they only have one day to live. I think the title wasIkigami. When I first watched that movie, I thought, “What would I do if I only have a day?” I feel a little bit weird that now I have a chance to write about it..^^

If I only have one day to live, I want to contact my friends that I haven’t for a while, I want to hear the voices of people that I care and love, I want to hold my parent’s hands… and I want to do and say anything that I thought I couldn’t. I want to try my best to do anything I can so that I won’t regret when I die. I don’t want to do big and fancy things, but I want to do small things that I was missing out in my everyday life ^^ because I always look at the forest, not trees. Of course I care about big things right now too! haha. Well… I don’t think I can digest food well if it’s my last meal T_T But if I must eat, I’ll choose sushi! with digestant!

What is your pet peeve?

I don’t really have any…! So I don’t have anger management problems^^

In ten years, I would be…

Famous, rich, and happy dad/husband! I’m working hard to become like that in 10 years.. Hopefully, I can really be happy like that in 10 years.

Going back to comics… Let’s say that you can travel to any world that exists only in comics. Where would it be?

This question is the hardest ^^ Umm.. I like the world with full of liveliness!! This is the opposite of the mood of my piece haha. The world in One Piece, a Japanese comic, is attractive to me the most. I like how each and every character lives life with various purpose. Also, unique settings and viewpoints are very special and attractive!! Seriously, the background and storyline of One Piece is realistic and fantastic at the same time! I can’t believe it’s all from one person’s head!

What are your favorite webcomics / webtoons other than your own?

We’ve exchanged some emails, but let’s start from scratch. Please introduce yourself to everyone.

Hi, I’m Gavin Aung Than, a cartoonist and blogger living in Melbourne, Australia. I was born and raised in Perth, a smallish city in Western Australia and moved to Melbourne about 6 years ago. I used to be a full-time graphic designer at a big corporate company but quit to follow my dream of becoming a pro cartoonist.

When did your interest in webcomics begin?

I was always addicted to newspaper comic strips and comics in general growing up. Primary school was dominated byTintin and Asterix. My uncle collected Beano comics and Madmagazine so I devoured them whenever I visited him. I religiously read Calvin and Hobbes every day in the newspaper and then in high school I started to seriously collect comic books – Marvel, DC and all that stuff.

I guess from there it was natural to start reading comics online, although I admit I don’t read that many webcomics right now.

Describe your personal style(s) as a webcomic artist.

Wow, that’s a hard question – readers of my site know that I sometimes use different styles for different comics. I like to mix-up styles so I don’t get bored. My comics aren’t one long narrative story so I can change things up whenever I want to keep myself interested. My main style is probably a mash-up of Bill Watterson, Jeff Smith, Mike Mignola andGuy Davis. They’re my biggest influences at the moment. But I have a background in graphic design, so I love good design and typography, which influences my work too.

Tell us about your current project(s) available on Comic Panda.

My current project is Zen Pencils. I adapt inspirational quotes into comics, although sometimes they’re just posters or single illustrations. So twice a week I update the site with a new piece. I’ve included some of my most popular comics here on Comic Panda and also some of the poetry I’ve adapted too.

I think readers will find it interesting because it’s something different – some comics might make them laugh while some might make them cry. I think it’s a unique experience and hopefully your readers will agree.

I definitely agree. Zenpencils is a great source for on-demand inspiration for me. Let’s talk about something other than comics for a bit. What else do you like to do for fun?

Oh God, I’m pretty boring! Zen Pencils is taking up nearly all of my time these days, but when I’m not working on it I just do the normal stuff: spend time with my girl, play with the dog, go to the gym and just chill out – I watch a lot of movies and read. Making comics IS the fun part!

What is your pet peeve?

I don’t think you have enough bandwidth to store all of my pet peeves! At the top of my peeve list is when people use the word ‘literally’ in a sentence when it’s not necessary. Man, that’s like nails on a chalkboard to me.

I think TheOatmeal would “literally” agree with you there.

In ten years, I would be…

I’ve got no idea! Hopefully still drawing and creating stories with comics.

Going back to comics… Let’s say that you can travel to any world that exists only in comics. Where would it be?

The world of Asterix comics! I would hang out with the Gauls, drink a magic potion that makes me super strong and then go beat up some Roman soldiers. Plus I get to eat wild boar everyday. Pretty sweet life.

What are your favorite webcomics / webtoons other than your own?

Hello! Michael here, I’m currently the writer of Unstoppable and I’ll be posting periodically with the behind the scenes tidbits in the making of this project. Any and all questions, comments, etc. for me or about the project can be sent to [email protected] and I’ll address them all personally or possibly even here in this column in the weeks to come. Thank you, and enjoy!

“Unstoppable,” YJ uttered.  He stared off into the sky and waved his hands trying to conjure an image within our heads. He repeated the word for good measure just in case any of us weren’t paying attention. Then he said it a third time. 

At first, it was a bit of a comical title, just say it out loud, “Unstoppable,” and you’ll hear it just oozing with cheesiness.  But after a while, we started getting used to it, and I even went so far as to put “Episode 1 of Project ‘Unstoppable’” at the header of the very first draft. The more we said it, the more the word made sense.

Every member of the content development team, or “CDT, at Comic Panda (which includes YJ, our fearless leader; Victoria, writer and editor; Pary, artist extraordinaire; and myself, starry-eyed hopeful trying to write a halfway decent comic) poured ourselves into constructing this story. We knew that from the onset this was going to be a mystery-thriller, something with plot twists and cliffhanger endings, real sexy stuff, you know? But it’s easier said than done, and by the time we drafted our first rough outline of the narrative, we were neck deep in ideas that were left on the cutting room floor.

“Come on guys, we’re Unstoppable” YJ declared after making us our third round of instant coffee during a late night brainstorming session.

And in that moment, it all just clicked for us.

“Unstoppable” we repeated.

I wish I could say that the rest is history, but we’re still currently really hard at work on Unstoppable. Maybe in a few months, once this project is completed, we’ll all have a laugh about the title or maybe it’ll resonate with the readers and make perfect sense.

The title has become sort of a mantra here at the CDT, and we hope you adopt it as well. Whenever you’re at your desk creating anything, whether it is in writing, art, music, or trying to make a decent cup of instant coffee, I hope you remind yourself that if you put love and hard work into it, that you’ll without a doubt be unstoppable.

Hi Amy! Tell us a little bit about yourself. My birth name is Amy Huxtable, easy enough. I sometimes go by “Pudge.” I grew up in Kansas City, Kansas, and I live in McPherson, Kansas now. I work full time as an ad designer for the city’s newspaper and part time as a graphic designer for a small design firm. Something interesting about me? Well, I love playing and watching soccer. Does that count?

Sure! Soccer is the most popular sport in the world…just not in the U.S. (haha). Anyways, so when did your interest in webcomics begin? My interest in webcomics really began about a year or two ago, when I was 21 or 22. I was really inspired by The Oatmeal. I suppose my interest developed more seriously a few months ago when I decided to open my own website Deep Fried Pudge to display illustrations, photography, webcomics, and other things that I created. I’ve been into regular print comics for a while, and I love Cow and Boy, Zits, and of course, Peanuts.

Describe your personal style(s) as a webcomic artist.

Since I was younger, I’ve always created art and doodles with bold, black lines and bright colors. I think being a Roy Lichtenstein fan helped with that. Mostly, I like whimsical, amusing comics and that’s what I stick to. I think something a little different about my style is that I don’t worry about proportions or realism. A lot of web comics are becoming more like works of art, but I like sticking to cartoony looking characters and keeping the illustrations simple.

Tell us about your current project(s) available on Comic Panda. Well, I’ve started off a series called Weekend Stroganoff, which is about an androgynous person named Sasha who meets a talking cat. I’ve been around and adored cats all my life, and I just adopted one of my own named Jack. Jack is great for inspiration on the funny things cats do, so I wanted to start a comic about a cat. I hope the Weekend Stroganoffreader has a few laughs throughout the series. I think the challenges involved in the comic mostly come from being too busy. Once I’m home from work, it’s hard to get my brain to think of something for the person and cat to do!

Okay…let’s talk about something other than comics for a bit. What else do you like to do for fun? I have a YouTube channel where I make video blogs every now and then, mostly about my life. I suppose it’s a “potpourri” YouTube channel. Sometimes I do art projects on film, sometimes I go on rants, sometimes I make music videos. Whatever I feel like at the time, really! Other than that, I like spending time with my cat and my boyfriend (boring answer is boring). I also love to travel as often as I can! Overall, a typical day for me is going to work, coming home, eating dinner, going for a jog, and watching Netflix for the rest of the night. I’m a big fan of film, mostly horror movies!

If you have one day to live, what would you do? What would be your last meal? A: If I had one day to live, I would probably go see and hang out with my family. That’s probably another boring answer, but it’s the truth! My last meal… well, I am a big fan ofCheesy Gordita Crunches from Taco Bell.

What is your pet peeve? When people rub their feet on carpet. I don’t know why. It’s always made me cringe.

In ten years, I would be… I’ll hopefully be living somewhere other than Kansas. My sights are set on either Portland, Oregon or somewhere in Europe. We’ll see what happens; I don’t plan out my life too far ahead!

Going back to comics… Let’s say that you can travel to any world that exists only in comics. Where would it be? Okay, I would probably go to Gotham City. I know it’s kind of scary looking, but I think it would be really cool to be there for a while. I’d hang out with Bruce Wayne… if he’d let me.

What are your favorite webcomics / webtoons other than your own? As I’ve said before, I really love The Oatmeal. His comics actually make me laugh, and I find that that’s pretty hard to do with a comic. I’m also looking forward to browsing more comics on Comic Panda to get some new favorites!

What makes a webcomic great?

It’s a question that I’d never really thought about until recently. Why do I like the webcomics that I do? What is it about them that have kept me coming back time and time again to follow the latest developments in the stories and characters I’ve come to love? Obviously, there is a component that is relative to my own background and interests – 8-bit Theater was one of my all-time favorites and you guessed it; I’ve lost MONTHS to the Final Fantasy series amongst other RPG’s. Still, many people are able to distinguish between what is good and bad regardless of personal preference. In an industry like webcomics where just about anyone with a computer and a little time can start their own series I thought I’d take a quick look into what readers and artists alike think make a webcomic great. 

A little time on Google turns up more forum discussion than any one person could ever read about this; it’s something readers have debated as long as they’ve been following their favorite strips. A few common themes emerge quickly though; decent to good art, funny or engaging plots, good character development and a well maintained and easy to use website/hosting service. These aren’t consensus agreements of course, there are always detractors that scream the exact opposite, but it seems like a good starting point. I mean hey, who is going to say “I like bad art, pointless stories and a website that’s more confusing than the fine print on my credit card interest rate notifications”? I feel like the aforementioned 8-bit Theater follows these loose guidelines relatively well. Sure, 8-bit graphics aren’t anything special (possibly an understatement) but they weren’t what the strip was about – it was the over the top stereotypes and ridiculous over exaggeration of each roleplaying class that creator Brian Clevinger focused on and what myself and millions of readers laughed about day in and day out. Another webcomic that has found immense success without following the more beaten path is xkcd. The simplicity of the stick figure artwork and non-linearity of the individual strips is entirely irrelevant; each update is a masterpiece in of itself.

These strips have become insanely popular but rarely does something take off that quickly. The individuality of the work stands out, but how does it start and what are the goals set forth by an artist when developing and launching a strip? I’m artistically challenged so there is absolutely no way I could answer that myself but I was able to ask a few members of Comic Panda’s publisher’s community what they thought about it. As one artist pointed out, “… most of the comics I love the most are written to make the writer’s friends enjoy them. Think about what would make your friends laugh/etc. and other people will find it funny too! All comics that I’ve read that are trying too hard to make something happen are really obviously trying too hard hard…” Arunas Liuiza, creator of #BIRDSONWIRE, pointed out that “Something just clicked and I had my characters, the style, and the story line… Now I am just taking in the world around me and reacting to it.” When I followed up with a question about the importance of artistic quality Arunas summed it up like this “It just has to match the overall mood and feel.”

Something else that should be mentioned is the updating schedule of the webcomic. Individual strips aren’t typically aren’t length endeavors. Readers can blow through months’ worth of content in a very short time. This isn’t a problem because most fans have dozens of comics that they follow and have new updates daily. In a world where so many webcomics exist however it is critical that the artist stays true to what they have promised. It’s not a function of being forced to overproduce but of coming through with what has been stated. There are too many distractions and other attention grabbers for readers – you’ve got to keep them coming back.