The Journey’s End… Or Just the Beginning?

Over the past few weeks, I’ve shared with you my journey in the online world of webcomics. Hopefully, you readers have learned just as much as I have by travelling to the sites that I have posted in my blog. I’ve discovered that while webcomics’ appeal is not exactly the same as print comics’, they are still an interesting, unique, and evolving art form that everyone should consider exploring.

Before I go, I would like to just share one of my personal favorite webcomics that I have discovered through my lengthy online searches. Xkcd by Rundall Monroe is a simple yet deep and clever webcomic that is thriving on the web. I hope you will enjoy reading all 700 or so strips as much as I have. Here is a link to two contrasting reviews about the comic.

Just because I have finished this blog, it definitely doesn’t mean that I’m done reading webcomics. There are tens of thousands of comics being published on the internet, and I believe that each one has something different to offer. If I ever want to fully understand what my friends are talking about when they discuss webcomics, I have a lot of catching up to do.

McCloud’s Take on Digital Comics

       After the first few weeks of my exploration of webcomics, I have gained a decent understanding of their history and a few unique styles that are popular on the internet today. However, today I felt like exploring some more theoretical aspects of webcomics and digital comics in general. One of the best ways to gain useful information on the web is through FAQs or Frequently Asked Question pages. After all, if many people have already asked the same question, you probably will too. I was lucky enough to find an FAQ about digital comics with answers from Scott McCloud, author of Understanding Comics, a book that any comic enthusiast needs to read. In this FAQ, McCloud gives his expert opinion on topics such as digitalization redefining comics, the internet’s effect on comics, and, most interestingly, the infinite canvas. If you’re asking, “What is the infinite canvas?”, I’m not going to answer that question here. After all, you can find a thorough answer here on McCloud’s FAQ here.

Meta Constrained Comics?

       Looking at a site with fan-made versions of popular webcomics, I was puzzled by the title of a series of strips. What in the world are Meta Constrained Comics? After reading the strips though, I began to understand what the strange title meant. These were constrained comics that discussed constrained comics themselves. Now you may be wondering what constrained comics are exactly. Well, the name mostly gives it away. These are simply comics that have a set of rules restricting their style or form. The two comics used in the Meta Constrained Comics were Dinosaur Comics and Garfield Minus Garfield, both popular webcomics. These two comics have restrictions that produce unique and very interesting works. Although I think that the Meta Constrained Comics was a clever way to discuss constrained comics, the original strips themselves are much funnier and more fun to read. You can read the Meta Constrained Comics below or go directly to the original works by clicking on the links above.

Sprite Comic Adverstisements

      While scourging the web for more information about different styles of webcomics, I found a few advertisements that caught my eye. At first, I thought these were banners advertising for classic videogames because I remembered some of the featured characters such as Samus and Megaman from my Gameboy days as an adolescent. However, after clicking on the banners, I was surprised to find that they linked to webcomics! These webcomics used the backgrounds and characters from videogames with overlaid dialogue with hilarious and unique results. After a bit of research, I discovered that these comics were known as sprite comics because the pixilated videogame characters used in them are called sprites. The ease of creating these comics has caused the internet to be populated heavily with a wide variety of sprite comics. They often use jokes that refer to the videogames that they were born from, but also create new stories with the sprites. If you’ve ever played Megaman, Metroid, or Final Fantasy and want to reminisce about these classic videogames, check out Bob and George, Planet Zebeth, and 8-Bit Theater. I know that seeing these webcomics really made me feel like a kid playing my Gameboy again.

8-Bit Theater Banner Ad

Bob and George Banner Ad

Planet Zebeth Banner Ad

Fumetti Forum Discussion

     While reading the Wikipedia page about webcomics I stumbled across a genre of webcomics named fumetti. With such a unique-sounding name, I couldn't resist but take a sidetrip to explore this type of comic. Since the Wikipedia page didn't have too much information about fumetti I decided to turn to other sources. By typing the question, "What is Fumetti?" into Google, I found a thread with exactly what I was looking for on a forum about comics. The forum is called The StoryBOARD and the question was posted in the Q&A section.
     I essentially had the same question as ComixBoy98 and his following discussion with other webcomics enthusiasts really shined a light on the comics known as fumetti. They are simply comics that use photos instead of drawn illustrations. It was both entertaining and educational to see the argument between posters who believed that fumetti works with those who didn't. After looking at a few fumetti comics online, I personally find the idea of using photos instead of illustrations very intriguing, but I also agree that it can seem stiff and a bit awkward at times. You can check out the fumetti-style webcomic discussed in the forum here.

Night Zero is a fumetti webcomic that features elaborate sets, trained actors, and advanced imaging techniques.

History of Webcomics Wiki Page

      Before I delve deeper into the world of webcomics, I first wanted to find out about its history so that I could put the information that I learn later into context. Since I am conducting this search online, I used the all powerful Google as my primary tool for finding resources. After typing in the terms "history of webcomics" into the search bar, the first link was to this site. I wasn't that surprised to see that the first result was a wiki page. Although anyone can edit these online encyclopedia pages, they are usually mostly accurate and can be very informative. The most useful function for me were the links for key terms to other wiki pages so I could continue my research in more detail about the original webcomics and how they grew in popularity over the years. I read a few strips of some of the older webcomics such as Doctor Fun and Sluggy Freelance, and although they might be more than a decade old, they still can be quite entertaining. I encourage you all to take a quick look at the wiki page and check out a few of the first webcomics yourself, just to see how far webcomics have come since its origins in the 1990's.

One of the first highly popular webcomics by Peter Abrams, Sluggy Freelance.

The Webcomic Hunt Begins

        Hello to all of you who are reading my blog. I'm comicalgenius and it shouldn't be too hard to guess that I'm an avid reader of comics. I enjoy all kinds and genres of comics from manga to superhero comics to Garfield. Recently, many of my friends that I would usually discuss my recent readings with have begun to mention webcomics more and more during our conversations. Xkcd, fumetti, the infinite canvas- I get completely lost when these webcomic terms start popping up.
       You see, although I like to think that I have an eclectic taste in comics, I have mostly excluded webcomics from my reading list. I guess that I have grown accustomed to the feeling of holding a comic book or newspaper and the sight of black ink on a white page. However, as our society becomes more technology-oriented and the internet truly takes over books, newspapers, radios, television, and phones as the greatest source of information and communication in the world, webcomics are something that I cannot disregard any longer.
        Thus I have decided to embark on a journey of exploration of webcomics, not through books, but at the source of webcomics, the world wide web itself. My goal is to discover the history of webcomics, learn about a few of webcomics' popular formats and styles, understand some underlying concepts of digital comics, and perhaps find a favorite that I will continue enjoy reading in the future. I will post my findings here so that all of you who are similarly interested in exploring the world of webcomics can follow my journey.