how many of these blobos can you name? (this is engagement bait btw. i hope it works 😉 )
Book Review: A history of webcomics by T Campbell, 2006.
This book is free to rent on the Internet Archive right now! Don’t download this out-of-print book from Anna’s Archive, that would be illegal.
A contemporary review of the book can be found on Fleen (original blog) (IA), and it makes an interesting companion piece to this blog. This review is largely negative, focuses on mistakes, and is clearly written by an reviewer as familiar with the topic as Campbell is. I think these mistakes are important, but this review won’t focus on these.
I am not Fleen. I was reading webcomics in 2006, but am not intimately familiar with the topics this book tackles. We are now almost 20 years removed from this History of Webcomics. And there’s been a couple of changes in that time. The book opens with calling 1993-2005 a Golden age. If one were telling the history of webcomics today, would this era be more a footnote? Maybe the value in this book will be to prove this is a time worth remembering. I don’t know.
Let’s get reading!
The b00k spends 2 pages explaining the history of nerdc0re, and ends it with this legendary comic page in complete earnest. Its worth remembering the times before irony poisoning. Forget irony poisoning! Forget it! And enjoy a classic! Here it is!
The book spends A LOT of time on Scott McCloud, of course. This is your invitation to re-read Choose Your Own Carl. It spends a lot of time on Dilbert, on Sluggy Freelance, on User Friendly and a drama involving hotlinking User Friendly comic strips. It keeps returning to this Nerdcore idea, which feels so dated, but I… I don’t think its an inaccurate description of this millennial zeitgeist, even if we’d use ruder words for it today.
It feels like its taken a while to get to the Gamer comics, the comics we’d most associate with this era today. PVP and Penny Arcade are most talked about, with a large section dedicate to the flame wars Kurtz of PVP would get into. Infamous webcomic CAD only gets a passing mention, in the same sentence as several other comics such as Real Life, which are both comics whose reputations have diverged significantly.
TWO PWNED L0Z3R5!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The comic discussed platforms and businesses for several pages. Maybe interesting, but these are the same concerns all netizens are still facing. If you’re familiar with the encroach of capitalism on the web, you know the shape of this discussion.
When webcomics try to form collectives and unions, its worth pointing out there’s a turbulent history there. People will learn from experience, I suppose. The turbulence is platforms vs users, humans vs capital, and the natural interpersonal conflicts we all navigate. These don’t go away easily with time and change.
oh shit campbells on about the N3RDC0R3 again
There’s a section in here about Furry comics. I genuinely think some furries might find these pages interesting, even as they mostly litigate what are ongoing flame wars. “Is furry porn ethical” is touched upon, but it presents the phase “Furverts“. There’s some jargon for you. Never say I don’t do anything for my furry readers.
From the Furry section the book transitions into a brief discussion of adult webcomics. Furries and adult media were already heavily associated lol. Although the book doesn’t mention any adult comic by name except the paysite Slipshine. Lol there’s a short mention of Paypal dicking over adult comic makers. Paypal hasn’t changed, but you need to be pretty new around these parts not to know Paypal has always sucked.
![CHAPTER SEVEN: MONEY MATTERS AND
THE MODERN WEBCOMIC
There is no webcomics industry. There is no large commercial exchange of
webcomics. There are [only] a handful of people making anything more than
extra spending money from their webcomics.
—Scott Kurtz, 2005°”
I do webcomics as a hobby—I don’t do it to gain fame or popularity or earn
money, and it feels like too many artists are doing webcomics for the wrong
reasons. All I say is, I believe webcomics should be done for enjoyment and not
for money or fame.
—Space Coyote of Saturnalia, 2005°"*
Rare is the artist who cares nothing for success, i.e., survival! But [that] ideal is
alive in the hearts of many artists who may hope for success, but won't alter their
work to obtain it.
—Scott McCloud in Understanding Comics?”
Four of my favorite online cartoonists are Patrick Farley, Cayetano Garza, David
Gaddis and Mark Martin; and I can tell you with certainty (‘cause I know these
guys) that if their sites could support them financially, they'd be posting 5 times
as often! And so would |, for that matter.
—Scott McCloud in J Can’t Stop Thinking?”](https://garystu.art/weblog/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/THOW5.png)
Space Coyote, AKA Nina Matsumoto, has absolutely turned her art hobby into a career. I’m familiar with her work. I wonder how she feels about these statements now. It doesn’t matter what this one random person thinks, I suppose. But its interesting.
The talk of monetization is also extremely obsolete. There’s talk of marketable plushies and print editions: yes. But there’s a lot of wondering if “donation drives” will ever work out. Can a comic be crowdfunded? is a question the book seems in doubt about, when we know the answer in current year is a resounding Yes.
It briefly mentions the feeling of being nickel-and-dimed, which is something I do feel. With so many patreons around, all with ever increasing price floors, supporting your fave artist feels more expensive then ever. I get that we’re in a cost of living crisis. We all are. The readers, too. Not that I don’t have a list of ppl im supporting – but this individualist pricing structure has its limitations. Support government funding for the arts, now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
There’s also a lot of words on advertising, a venture in which the price floor has lowered considerably over the years. A modest page can’t get a nice chunk of pocket change with advertising alone any more – and the adverting nowadays raises massive privacy issues. Download ublock origin, now!!!!!!!!!
Nothing to add here, I just thought some readers might want to read about ‘transgendering’…
There’s more to read, about race in webcomics and class in webcomics. Remember to not download this book from Anna’s Archive if you want to read all about it.
Although the book mentions bigotries in webcomics, I think remembering that webcomics always tackled progressive issues is something worth remembering and celebrating.
hm
The future.
Did this book from 2006 predict the future?
Shifting hierarchy: This book predicts new comics will replace old mainstays. A very safe prediction, and one that is absolutely and obviously true.
Decentralization and DIY: I think the book unfortunately got this one wrong. But the future it predicts seems more rosy that the reality we got. Webcomics are almost exclusively on platforms now, as are most netizens. That’s not to say decentralization and DIY have completely fallen by the wayside, and are usually where the most interesting webcomics, if not the most successful, exist right now.
Short-form as a vanguard, long-form in development: Short comics continue to be shared and spread most on social media, as short form content is just more shareable. One-offs are just as likely to do numbers as shortform strips from a bigger comic.
Techno-art: Stagnation tbh, as art becomes #content for #platforms. Nothing wrong with PNGs, ain’t broke. Although I think new web technologies are increasing potential out there.
Generation One. Cartoonists who had grown up with the Web joined the field and began to change its aesthetic from the inside out: Yes, true.
Organic ties to readers: ok…
Demographic expansion: Other web media took some of webcomics attention. The audience for webcomics is no doubt larger, but that same audience has more web multimedia taking their attention. This is a good thing
The elite reader. For good and for ill, webcomics’ own creators and their biggest
fans exerted a disproportionate share of influence on their surrounding culture. Criticism
was difficult and fan-service was easy. I’m not sure what the prediction here is, but uhhh,,,, true?????????
An industry in embryo: There’s more money in webcomics today compared to 2005. True I guess.
The book also proposes six broad scenarios for comics future. The sixth one is the web vanishing completely. Could still happen. Of all of them, “the expanding long tail” scenario is the most pressing and accurate. It predicts a move to platforms, who aggregate the efforts of artists into large platforms for themselves. It also proposes a scenario where webcomics remain populist and serve the lowest common denominator: an anxiety still expressed.
WHATS THE REVIEW, POINDEXTER???????????
pic goes hard, who drew it.
This pic that goes hard was on page 108 of the PDF. I’m lost in the credits.
the pdf pages don’t quite correspond to the book pages. unless Scott Bevan and Kent Earle of white ninja comics drew this. i hope they did
from the bookcore
this is da nerdcore
its got L337
like a elite
comics
bcomics
the internet
moar liek teh splinternet
anyway heres this classic by beanytuesday
url for embed haters: https://beanytuesday.tumblr.com/post/678088409124913152/this-has-made-the-rounds-on-tumblr-before-but-im