Some pundits claim that every comic that is released is pirated almost immediately and posted for free somewhere in the vast thicket of BitTorrent sites, IRC channels, and cheesy websites that make up the underside of the comics iceberg. But is that a bad thing?

It seems wrong, but it's true; giving a comic away online can be good for sales.  Look no further than Megatokyo, which is the best selling global manga of all time, even though the entire comic is available online for free. And just last year, Phil and Kaija Foglio decided to stop printing floppy comics and put Girl Genius online, a move that saved them money and apparently increased sales of their trade paperbacks as well.

While this may be a good choice for a creator, it's still unusual for a publisher to put entire volumes of a comic online for free.  Seven Seas is the exception: From the very beginning, they have published their works as webcomics before releasing them in print form in order to build demand for the print versions. Curious about how they make money on a product they are giving away for free, I e-mailed Adam Arnold, their senior editor and webmaster as well as the writer of Aoi House, and peppered him with questions about how they turn webcomics into money.

Will Japanese readers embrace manga from other countries?

Brigid Alverson interviews the winner of Kodansha's first international manga competition and the editor of the Japanese magazine that hosted it.

Things were quiet in the world of web manga this year, but there’s plenty brewing beneath the surface.

There weren’t any Big Events, a la Marvel DCU or Zuda, just the established channels chugging along: Netcomics selling chapters of manga online for a quarter a pop, publishers giving it away to build buzz for their print editions, scanlators posting their favorite titles in closed circles, and artists working out new projects online.

But behind the scenes, several publishers are preparing to launch web manga in one form or another.

Two lovers torn apart by a cruel world, plenty of swordplay, and giant robot spiders: Aya Takeo has all the ingredients of classic manga. But will it get people talking?

What’s cuter than a talking plush puppy? Two talking plush puppies, of course! In this month's edition of Brigid's Bento Box, Brigid Alverson takes a look at Audra Furuichi's and Scott Yoshinaga's nemu nemu.

This month Brigid Alverson talks to Evan Hayden and Ryan Sands, the proprietors of the blog Same Hat! Same Hat!! which features original webcomics as well as scanlations of some of the strangest manga you will ever see: gag manga that is more head-scratching than thigh-slapping and horror stories that turn everyday life inside out.

People think of manga as coming in 20-volume doses, and sometimes that’s true. But not every story is an epic, and some creators have used the techniques of manga to tell brief tales of romance, magic, and adventure.

Some of these are Japanese and some are not, but all are worth a look. Let's start with two artists who occasionally post short stories on their websites: Queenie Chan and Jen Wang.

If you think manga is a cavalcade of big-eyed little girls flashing their panties, Brigid Alverson has some surprises for you. In a new column for Comixpedia, Brigid will be writing every month about web manga. In this first installment, Brigid breaks down the basics in her "field guide to manga on the web".