Future of Comics

Years ago, while I was discussing the idea of going behind the subscription wall at Moderntales.com, I happened to make a point that – when considering the future of cartooning – still resonates today.

You will always be able to find comics to read (for free on the internet), but unless there’s some way to adequately compensate specific creators for their work, those specific creators will not continue to produce that specific work.

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A Burgeoning Apparatus

In the eternal struggle between "story comics" and "gag comics," I tend to come down on the side of the long form.  Yes, a little chuckle is good, but I’d rather follow characters through an adventure, even if that adventure is just them trying to return a library book or attending a "meet the tenants" party in their apartment building.

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Open Soapbox by Mark Mekkes

The Parts of the Sum – The Art of Collaboration

Artists are notoriously temperamental and unstable creatures. So it’s inevitable that when two of them come together the explosive reaction is going to be comparable to matter and antimatter interacting. However, its up to the skills and control of the artists involved to determine if that explosion is a cheer-inspiring pyrotechnic fireworks show or an horrific explosive force that destroys them both. Continue Reading

Damonkey Business by Damonk

Growing Up

Now, admittedly, I’ve been playing Mr. Recluse for the last year – I hardly lurk on boards anymore, I may rummage through my blog lists every moon or two, and my e-mail engine is getting a severe case of cobwebitis.

So it’s possible that I may just be out of the loop, and thus very much wrong in what I’m about to say… but here goes anyway.

I think that webcartoonists and enthusiasts are starting to grow up. Continue Reading

Why Do Online Comics by Iain Hamp

Since I could really only get away with writing an entire column out of quotes from previous columns in a year-end review, I thought I’d go ahead and jump at the opportunity. This is my last column for a while, but I’ll keep in touch. I already have an idea for my new webcomic. I won’t give away much, but let’s just say it involves a fire-breathing monkey who is addicted to Ebay, and a cow bent on changing the world so it is black and white “just like the old days.”

But I digress. Continue Reading

Why Do Online Comics by Iain Hamp

How The Awesome Power of The Webcomics can help Print Comics Creators?

Recently, I have been thinking a lot about how the world of print comics and the world of webcomics interact with one another (or, as is more often the case, fail to interact with one another). I suspect that there are a variety of reasons for those who do print comics to have not embraced webcomics (beyond the loopy evil webcomics zealot in me who wants to think, “HA! They feel threatened by the awesome power of The Internet!”). Continue Reading