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
*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...
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