Webcomic Nerds Are Hot

I love comics. I really do. I don't always make it to my LCS on a weekly basis, but there are few things in the world I enjoy more than payday rolling around and me heading down there and walking out with a stack of floppies. Those days are pretty much a loss as far as getting anything else done is concerned, 'cos you can guarantee I'll be glued to the sofa for six hours straight while I plough through the latest issues. But let's be honest here, we all know there's one really big problem with comics these days that's pretty undeniable.

As far as value for money goes, they fucking stink.

I mean, that's fine, and this isn't going to turn into a tirade about pricing. We all know the score, and anyone who's still in the game has by definition thrown up their hands and lubed up their wallet for a good hard seeing to. It doesn't matter to me that I couple buy a videogame I can get weeks of enjoyment out of for less than I spend a month on comics, because I love them and I choose to spend my money there. Of course, I'd prefer better value, but spending all my time complaining about it isn't going to get me very far.

Despite all that, I still manage to get my regular comic fix. Every day, across the internet, creators are putting up hundreds of pages of new material, for free. Everything from three panel black and white gag strips to full page, full colour epics that wouldn't be out of place on the shelves alongside the mainstream publishers. Webcomics, folks. They're the most exciting area in comics right now, and this is only the first time I'm going to be screaming about them as loudly as possible.

The volume and scope of material available is astonishing. Webcomics are a world of unrestrained creativity. A place where anyone* with an idea and a computer can find an audience. Obviously the downside of this is that there is a stunning amount of absolute unmitigated crap out there, but if that's the price we pay for an creative environment that can produce something as fantastic as Christopher Baldwin's gorgeous sci-fi comedy epic Spacetrawler, then by fuck I am willing to pay it.

Everything is out there. Every mad idea somebody with an ounce of talent and drive could think up is being written, drawn and given away for nothing, and there are more every day. Skin Horse by Shaenon K Garrity and Jeffry C Wells is a comedy about a group of paranormal social workers comprised of a talking dog, a cross dressing psychologist and a perky patchwork zombie. It reads like Bill Watterson doing the X-Files. Jamie Smart's wondefully profane Corporate Skull features the continuing adventures of a depressed office drone who gains superpowers after having his face torn off in a freak photocopier accident. Where the hell else could you read stuff like this? Even Image, with their current "throw everything against the wall and see what sticks" publishing strategy would think twice about ideas this brilliantly demented.

Yes, they have their downsides. Even the most prolific creators don't manage more than three full colour pages a week, a schedule that delivers roughly half the monthly page count of a printed comic. The lest prolific can go weeks (or in extreme circumstances, months) without an update, which makes ongoing storylines a pain in the ass to follow. It's hardly worse than some of the endless waits creators like Mark Millar have subjected us to in the past, though. And did I mention they're free? 

It's part of my daily routine now. I get up, the computer goes on, and I spend half an hour a day immersed in a glorious riot of the new. You should too. There's something for everyone in the world of webcomics. Your new favourite comic won't take you much finding. Go look. And when you have, let me know. I'll be covering some of my personal favourites in more detail in future (because if nothing else, it'll always give me something to write about if I can't think of anything more interesting in any given week. They really are the gift that keeps on giving), but I'm always looking for the next 500 page archive to dive into.

I love comics. Comics are brilliant. I can't imagine a point in my life when I'm not going to enjoy something like Mark Waid's Daredevil, Jason Aaron's Wolverine & The X-Men, or Scott Snyder's Batman. Despite the pricing, despite the industry fighting for its life, despite the gimmicks and the pointless sensationalist deaths I love them dearly. But there's a whole world of creators just as talented and capable as the best that the mainstream publishers have on their books, and they plug away, most of them for no other reason than the love of the thing. They deserve your time and attention, and they deserve you to shout about their work as loudly as possible. Word of mouth is what turns something into a success, so get it out there. Find something great and let the world know about it. 

Comics are great, but webcomics are exciting. When the inevitable finally occurs and the mainstream industry succumbs to heat death, there will still be hundreds, if not thousands of creators pumping out page after page, week in, week out. This is the future, one way or another, and it's happening now. Come on in. The water's fine.

TTFN, folks

Keith

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*I'm pretty sure I have a webcomic in me. One day, when I stop being such an indolent fuck and find an artist I can work with (my own artistic skills being cheerfully crap at best, offensively inept at worst), maybe I'll even show it to the world. Stranger things have happened...

A Statement of Intent

So, here we are then, the inaugural Comic Book Nerds Are Hot* blog. This is my first attempt at blogging, so excuse any initial clumsy fuckwittery as I find my feet in the world of talking shit on the internet. Of course, warning my audience that they shouldn't be surprised if I suck isn't the best way to kick things off, so disregard the last sentence and prepare to enter a world of unicorns and blowjobs*. Or something.

Your first question is probably "what the tittery shit do you think you're doing, man? The world of comic blogging has enough sub literate mouth breathers wiping their backsides over their keyboards to choke Fin Fang Foom! Why do we need another one?" My obvious answer would be "stop shouting at me, you inconsiderate bastard", but after the tears had dried, I would likely deliver a non-stupid answer.

See, what I want to be doing is something I haven't seen a lot of in comics blogging. I want to say something positive. There's an air of negativity in so much of the discourse between comic fans. Part of it is the tribalism that exists between Marvel and DC fans, but that's not something exclusive to comics fandom. Videogames, sports, technology, all across the internet you see people who want nothing more than to scream down the other guy for liking what he likes. That aspect of human nature is perhaps a tad on the universal side for me to really attempt to change, but suffice to say you won't be getting any of it from me.

The real problem, the one that seems so exclusive to comics, is a kind of self hatred. Quite apart from the desire to shit on the other guy, there seems to exist a desire to kick ourselves. Maybe it's partly to do with that clichéd perception of comics as something for geeks and weirdos. We seem to spend so much of our time complaining about how terrible the things we love are. Marvel is lazy and unimaginative. DC is unethical and exploitative. The comics we blow huge amounts of money on are all terrible and awful and how do these impossible ARSEHOLES expect us to choke down these AWFUL shit sandwiches masquerading as comics? Most days it feels like most self professed fans would sooner have a column of vinegar soaked ants march up their urethra than actually enjoy a comic.
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Don't you get a bit...bored of it?

I mean, there's nothing wrong with picking on the problems in things. By no means do I think that nobody should criticise the things they don't enjoy. You pay your money, you have plenty of right to say if you think it's terrible. Even if you stopped buying something because it was awful, you are of course still well within your rights to complain about it even if you aren't paying for it. But there's enough of that, and I don't really have any interest in continuing to contribute to it.

There's also the possibility of a kind of apocalyptic mindset amongst the fandom. The industry is struggling and there seems to have been a tendency towards doomsaying and resignation. That one is more difficult to handle than the usual bickering that goes on. The frustrations are more understandable, the problems more real. Loudly prophesying doom is tempting even for me, but being the naive optimist I am I refuse to accept that hope is yet lost.

So there we go, I've defined what I don't want to be doing, so what do I want to be doing? Well, I want to start talking about the stuff that IS good. I want to be celebrating the wins, finding the silver lining, and giving props where props is due. I'll be looking at the best of the current output from Marvel and DC, Image and Dark Horse and IDW and whoever else happens to be putting out comics worth reading. I'll be taking a look at some of the classics and telling you why you should have a copy on your shelf and if you don;t you're a failure as a human being. I'll be venturing out into the wilds of the internet and dragging back the best of the thousands of webcomics available out there now, for free. I'll be looking at the industry and doing my best to try to suggest solutions rather than just picking on problems.

Why? Because that's just the kind of contrary twat I am. Will it make a difference? Fucked if I know, but it's better than me just sitting on the sidelines griping about how negative everyone is. That doesn't make me much better, just that the subject of my complaining is one step removed from the rest. That's no good. That makes me part of the problem, and I'd prefer to be part of the solution, in however small a way.

Thanks for reading, folks. Follow the G+ and FB groups for general daily comic news and chat with some of those horrible bastardly fans I seem to hate so much, and tune in again next time to see if I can actually live up to this, my statement of intent.

TTFN, folks

Keith


*For those of you unfamiliar with CBNAH and currently assuming based on the name alone that I'm some overweight basement dweller with an hugely unrealistic self image, CBNAH is a popular and long running Facebook group of which I was a member back in the days I actually bothered having a FB account. Wanting to get back into the game a bit but not wanting to go back to the social hell that is Facebook, I recently started up a CBNAH page on Google+ and decided to have a go at a complimentary blog. Which is what this is.

You can find the CBNAH Facebook page here

And the G+ page here

*substitute your favoured sexual activity of choice here. Just don't do anything with the unicorns. It's kinda weird.