What do you want to see in a Web Comic? (Thoughts/Advice)

[locustsofdeath!]

Hello all - I've previously asked for advice in getting a web comic up and running. Well, I've figured that out, and have a friend designing the page...

But I've got to admit I'm not a web comics fan. I don't like to read comics on a screen, even with a reader. I am trying to get past all of that and embrace this "newfangled" technology (and I'm not an eldster, just a really really backwards individual). So I've decided that my comc will have a limited print run to make me happy, while at the same time running online to, you know, be read by a potentially wider audience.

So...questions.

I've noticed most sites seem to run a page a week. Is this the norm? I was thinking 8 pages a month - is this okay? Or would there be too much "dead time" in between episodes?

What about color? For atmospheric purposes I feel the comic works best in B&W. Whilst it will certainly be B&W in printed form (for cost), should I have it colored for the web. I do recognize many folks' attitudes about B&W comics (and film, ect) so despite my preference for the B&W I do realize that I may need to compromise here...

So, if you have a moment, tell me what you like/want in a web comic, what keeps you going back to it. And to any of you who run web comics, do you have any pointers?

Thanks so much for your time.

[maryanddavid]

Im with you LOD, I dont get webcomics, I occasionally read a link and spend an while reading. The 3 panel newspaper type I like, I dont have to invest time following a serial.
The best webcomic I have read is Paddy Browns Cattle Raid of Cooley, because of the reprints.

That the rub, Cattle Raid wouldnt be here but for Paddys web presence and the following he has built up has allowed him to print comics with a fanbase and a certain amont of guaranteed sales. And I wouldnt have picked it up without hearing of its web rep.

The best of luck with it, it should be a good success.

So LOD we are dinosaurs, the web is the way forward, I wont commit to reading your comic on the tinternet, but ill buy a copy! O, and colour all the way on the screen and B&W comic!

David


 

[briantm]

Don't worry about what people want from a webcomic man, write what you want... what you have a passion for.

You're talking about webcomics as if they are some vastly different medium.  A webcomic is just a comic on the web.  Unless you're doing a newspaper style strip, it's not going to be that different. The pages will still be portrait and laid out for later printing.

Don't worry too much about dead time. You can only produce so much. Try to get a bit extra done before you launch so that you have a buffer in case there are delays down the line.

Think carefully about how much you can realistically produce.
If your thinking 8 pages a month, decide how that would be best presented - page by page or in 2/3/4/5/6/8 page instalments (I left out 7... 7 page instalment didn't seem natural to me for some reason.) Way up how much story should be in an instalment against how long it'll be between them and choose what you think is best. Go with your gut, dont agonize over the decision.

Ages back I was going to put out a webcomic (planned for 2 page weekly instalments).  I never got it together, but before that I pestered Warren Ellis via email for some advice. Here it is:

If it's one to two pages, don't go cliffhanger -- go comedy-timing.
 
Cliffhanger is the cheap way to bring you back next week.  The
GLORIOUS way is to make the thing you're telling so pleasant
a place to be that they HAVE to come back to get some more
of that feeling.
 
All you have to do at the end of a page is make people smile,
make people think, make people feel warm.  The rest will
take care of itself.

Your book might not be a comedic story, but I'm sure you can still see plenty worth in that advice.

Oh, and check out Ellis's Freakangels - http://www.freakangels.com

[locustsofdeath!]

Sound advice, Brian.

My biggest concern is the "dead time" and how to present the pages (in terms of how many and how often).

My second biggest concern, which david mentioned, is attracting readers - Warren Ellis nicely offered how to keep them!

More food for thought from you. You're all over it tonight!

[briantm]

Really man, don't worry about dead time.

Choose a schedule and stick to it.  Readers will forgive the wait if you are reliable.

If they know there's not going to be another instalment for another week/month, they won't mind. You're giving this away for free, they could hardly complain.

Choose a size of instalment that you are comfortable to write for.

[Darren Stephens]

Interesting thread. I'm trying to get a small (very small...) project together myself. It's in the very early stages! As Brian said, the frequency of the episodes doesn't really matter so much. I follow a few webcomics. New pages seem to appear as and when, with no real schedule. Not surprising, as most are produced by folks in their spare time, I would have thought. Look forward to seeing what you come up with, Locust. 

[judgefett]

I enjoy the odd web comic and am online infrequently so dead time isnt an issue but I think I prefer 'motion comics' and probably actively look for these more. They're easy enough to do using something like windows movie maker and when anyone says web comic they're are my first thought. Would you go for something like this LOD?

Axe Cop
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZquaoUMfIc&feature=colike

The Walking Dead (flash animated using original art from the series)
http://youtu.be/tAfEFYZBsWE

[locustsofdeath!]

I enjoy the odd web comic and am online infrequently so dead time isnt an issue but I think I prefer 'motion comics' and probably actively look for these more. They're easy enough to do using something like windows movie maker and when anyone says web comic they're are my first thought. Would you go for something like this LOD?

I do prefer flash comics to "regular" webcomics myself, judgefett, but I absolutely haven't the slightest how to get something like that up and running. I'm lucky enough a childhood friend of my is a website designer or I'd make it to the moon before I'd get a website in order...

It's been in my mind to get some sort of flash comic done up as an advertisement, or at least a "trailer" like the ones 2000AD puts together now and then. Again, I haven't the software or the inkling.


Thanks, Darren - you've seen snippets of what's going online!

[Darren Stephens]

Thanks, Darren - you've seen snippets of what's going online!

Oh, indeed  I have! Sorry, I was a bit slow on the uptake, there. Looks great! 

[TordelBack]

I read a fair number of webcomics, and several I've followed for years now, or in some cases to their conclusion. 

Judging by what I stick with, I favour updates twice a week if possible (say Mon and Thursday, or even irregularly within a week, just as long as I know I have a new page or so waiting for me Sunday), one page at a time will do me fine - but it helps if things are structured in chapters so a quick re-read of the last 20-or-so pages hangs together as a story. A page a week is the minimum I'll be bothered with - unless I really love your stuff, say like the seemingly randomly updated Subnormality!  (http://www.viruscomix.com/subnormality.html), where at least most entries take an age to read. 

I don't mind a longish break if the creator needs to build up some lead-time, but I prefer it scheduled in advance ("There'll be no update until Feb 1st 'cos I'm taking a trip" is preferable to me frustratedly logging on day after day with no updates - after a few weeks of that I tend to forget to check in again, and that's that). 

I dislike bells and whistles gimmickry intensely, a basic comic page or newspaper strip on my screen is what I'm after, although I've no problem with odd page sizes and layouts that computers facilitate (but bear in mind that any potential future revenues may come from selling print collections). 

I like an interface that allows me to page back and forth easily without selecting dates from an archive, or worst of all, having to scroll backwards down through a blog-format.

Finally, I have absolutely no problem with something so organic as a 2 page-a-week comic drifting away from its original intentions into something else entirely, say following minor characters instead of the original lead, or shifting from gags to drama.  Spread out over such a long period, and subject to constant page-by-page feedback, there's a Dickensian flexibility to the form that's part of its charm - I'm not necessarily looking for the narrative precision of Watchmen in something that is created in this manner.  Not that I'd mind that either.

Not saying deviating from any of these points is a deal-breaker for me, or that they automatically guarantee my interest, but looking at the webcomics that have held my attention for a year or more, they all have most, if not all, of these features in common.
 

[Simud]

Well, this is very personal, but my limited experience and taste tells me webcomics with most followers are usually 1-pagers or self-conclusive strips (no matter the dead time in between, provided it's not too much).

As to longer narrative arcs, they're usually followed by a more limited audience. However, I've found webcomics like that a good way to test yourself and show your work around during production. The aim of that sort of webcomic is, to me, the final compilation, where the number of readers rises exponentially, all of a sudden. People like reading complete stuff, apparently.

 

[locustsofdeath!]

As to longer narrative arcs, they're usually followed by a more limited audience. However, I've found webcomics like that a good way to test yourself and show your work around during production. The aim of that sort of webcomic is, to me, the final compilation, where the number of readers rises exponentially, all of a sudden. People like reading complete stuff, apparently.

Here's my plan - each month, say on the 15th, I'd post 8 pages. Oftentimes the 8 pages would be a complete story, but the "longer" arcs would last no longer than three months, three parts and 24 pages. Then I'd collect the 24 pages into a printed comic format. I do realize it would be tough to publish an epic, multi-year epic and keep folks coming back while attracting new readers.

Thank you for your comments, Simud - and you, Tordel. Lots to think about.

Now my biggest concern is whether I should publish the strip in the intended B&W or color it for the web...

[John Caliber]

If web comic creators do have the endurance, then a nice, hefty piece of story is the ideal - 20-odd pages each month, just like the US comics.

The readers become more emotionally invested by the process of sticking around for more than 20 seconds every week. With the crappy information overload the Internet is tossing at us, it's so easy to read a six panel weekly serial and then have completely forgotten it 10 minutes afterwards as unanswered e-mails and YouTube 'funny cat' Tweets beg the reader's attention... sad, but true.

[locustsofdeath!]

If web comic creators do have the endurance, then a nice, hefty piece of story is the ideal - 20-odd pages each month, just like the US comics.

Much as I'd love to, that's just impossible. I feel like the 8 pages a month is so taxing to the main artist that I've gone and got a backup artist to give him rests.

[Greg M.]

If you're able to do 8 pages a month, why not just do it as two pages a week (on different days) ? It seems to me that routine and expectation are big parts of a web comic...  for instance, I really enjoy 'Bearmageddon' and look forward to reading new instalments on Wednesday and Friday. There is a tangible sense of anticipation for me on those days: it's become part of my weekly routine and something small to look forward to. If your story only turns up once a month, isn't there a risk that it'll drift off people's radar in the intervening time, no matter how good it is?