Format Fears

As I’ve mentioned before, I really enjoy the Webcomics Weekly podcast. I recently found their earlier episodes (iTunes begins on #60-something), so in my unemployed state I’ve been listening through them while painting and drawing.

[Side note: besides the lack on income, which is a big deal, I kinda love this. Sitting around all day, drawing the comic, painting Anna and JP’s way overdue painting... it’s pretty much everything I’ve wanted.... except everything I’ve wanted would be getting paid to do this. Oh well.]

Anyway, one of the topics they discussed in episode 6 is long format versus gag-a-day comics. This is something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately since the comic Ben and I are planning is long format and frankly, it terrifies me. There are a couple long format comics I LOVE (Digger, Abominable Charles Christopher, Bearnuts), but I fell in love with them a couple years after they started so I could read them all in (basically) one sitting. And since I was already invested and couldn’t wait to see what happened to those beloved characters, I continue to check in weekly (or whenever they’re updated). But had I found a long-form webcomic at the beginning, I might not be too interested in spending the time waiting to get invested.

Gag-a-days are great, I read a few of them daily (Sheldon, Bug) but I think I tend to forget about them and then catch up every few days (besides Sheldon, which I get delivered to my email which is BRILLIANT.) Plus there’s the skill in writing a joke in 3-4 panels, which comes with it’s own set of issues, traps and problems to overcome.

But the real question is: how do these individually work on the internet? The guys over at Webcomics Weekly argued (albeit a few years ago, I’d like to hear what they’d have to say now) that long form just doesn’t really work on the internet. I sort of agree with them, although I wish I didn’t. The payoff of a long format, such as Digger, is so high. Investment in the characters is much stronger in a story arch... but how do you keep people coming back when each update is not as significant or funny or dramatic or whatever compared to an entire chapter together?

Karl Kerschl over at ACC does an interesting thing which both infuriates me and thrills me at the same time. He has an over arching story, but every now and then (sometimes more often than the story) he inserts these hilarious gag-a-day type strips. They’re still in the universe he has created, but they’re a little break from the main action. Sometimes all I want is to know what happens (like recently when he broke up a fight scene), but other times he makes these strips that are just too brilliant to be mad at him. Is there a way to make that balance work?

What Alison Acton does with Bearnuts (which I adore, and it continuously cracks me up, so I highly suggest you go check out her gorgeous and well written snarky stories about the bears at the discount zoo) is she does “chapters”. Technically it’s a long format comic, as there isn’t necessarily a “payoff” each comic, but they’re only a month or two long at a time. And she has a larger format so you get a longer read per day (Monday and Fridays) than a 3 or 4 panel comic. And she’s just downright hilarious, so that has something to do with it, too.

So here’s my question: Is there a way to make long format comics work better online? Gag-a-days work easily because they’re a quick read, a good laugh, then you’re on your way. But when you want to tell a longer story, how do you build an audience and a story at the same time? Would maybe a beginner chapter to get people hooked first, and then go to updating weekly work? Do long formats have to offer something more per update than gag-a-days - like should the artwork on long format comics be more stunning so the reader gets a little bit more out of it? I recently stopped reading a long format comic (which shall remain nameless) because, as much as I liked the story (although it got a little convoluted), the art was atrocious and I just couldn’t stand it anymore. Should long formats be prettier than gag-a-days? Does it matter?

As Ben and I talk about getting this thing going, I have a lot of questions because I want to do it right and do it well. I guess most of this blog was questions because (duh) I don’t have any answers at this moment. I’ll let you know when I know everything. (Approximate wait time: forever.)

If you want to contact Beth to give her a verbal hug, commission some art, hand her a $20 bill, solve all her problems and fears, or just say hi - send her an electronic carrier pigeon message at beth@fledglingcomics.com