#gitp

The obvious answer is “comics on the internet”, but...

Sooooo... like this?

...No, not like that.

When some comics are distributed via the internet, we call them “digital” comics, but others are “webcomics”. Even if we aren’t sure how to explain the distinction, we can tell the difference!

And this is despite the fact that some of the creators of successful long-running webcomics, like Ryan North and Chris Hastings, have moved very successfully into the world of comic books, and at least one creator of a popular long-running webcomic (Phil Foglio) came from that world, without this ever really blurring that line. So we can conclude that the difference isn’t just in who makes them

Webcomics Is Free

An obvious difference is in the business model. There are comics that fall on the “digital” side of that imaginary line that use a “pay what you choose” type of model, but generally there is some expectation that each member of the audience pay for the content directly

Contrariwise, the usual business model of webcomics is for the content itself to be available free, while the artist is supported by ad revenue, or by selling merch, or by the generosity of fans.

In many ways, it’s similar to the distinction between movies and television

Webcomics Is Crude

Another common distinction between webcomics and comics that happen to be on the web is an obsession going back to the early roots of the form with using shortcuts to allow a visual story to be told without, in many cases, much in the way of drawing ability. This ranges from pixel sprites, to clip art, to stick figures.

Previously mentioned webcomic superstar, Ryan North, took this tendency to the formalist limit by creating a single page of simplistic pixel art for his Dinosaur Comics and then, for going-on 20 years and 4000 pages, only changing the words every day. Below is my favorite page of Dinosaur Comics, but they’re all the same. Except for having different words.

(When I was thinking about this tendency of webcomics, it reminded me of a comic I loved back in the early 2000s, that I was going to describe as a “webcomic except in print”. But upon further investigation, I discovered that Get Your War On had been a webcomic all along, just one that happened to also be printed in a few US cities’ leftist newspapers. Below is an early one, probably the first that I saw, and a perfect representation of why it was such a vital outlet for those few of us not caught up in the war fever in those dark Bush years...)

Even those webcartoonists not trying to avoid drawing don’t necessarily have the patience to actually learn to draw before beginning to publish. Webcomics are well known for sometimes stark evolution in their art, and possibly none moreso than my personal favorite webcomic, El Goonish Shive:

There are definitely major exceptions to this tendency. Many webcomics are gorgeously, lushly illustrated (even from the beginning.) Below is half of a particularly lovely page of a webcomic ode to transhumanism titled Dresden Codak:

The thing that ties these disparate works together, from those with art that’s crudely sketched, to cleverly sidestepped, to beautifully fully realized, is each has a singular creative vision. In stark contrast with their big bro the comic books, webcomics are distinguished by relatively little collaboration and practically zero editorial meddling. These are the works of passionate amateurs who (sometimes) gradually found ways to make a livelihood from their passion

Webcomics Is Bite-Sized

But beyond the business side of it, and even the low entry barriers and amateurist zeal, the thing that really sets webcomics apart from the comic books to the point of seeming almost a different medium and linking them more closely to even-older sibling the newspaper comics, is the different pacing and structure caused by being released in tiny, tiny chunks

So it seems that Duck and Roll is not alone in celebrating the theme of "Schools" this month. My good friends over at the Giants in the Playground Forums are having their Thirty fifth homebrew competition with the theme of "The Eight Schools of Magic" and I've decided to join in.

You can follow the contest as it develops right Here

I mentioned in today’s episode that I do Let’s Plays, and here is the link to my current ongoing one!

Chronicling the rise and fall of a Roman family that managed to keep their traditions alive in North Africa, one man from the family Stadius Gigas managed to be elected chief of a Berber tribe and begin a dynasty. If you want to know more, well, you’ll have to read the LP. :)