Promotional Webcomics: Threat or Menace?
by Joey Manley
You know there’s an ongoing Heroes webcomic series running on that show’s official website, right?
And that LucasArts, Bioware and Dark Horse have teamed up to produce a series of officially-sanctioned Star Wars webcomics, based on the “Knights of the Old Republic” incarnation of the SW universe, to promote the next videogame coming out in that sub-franchise? It even has an RSS feed!
These seem like obvious moves to me. I don’t know why we don’t see this more often. Every action/sci-fi television show, movie, or videogame should have a webcomic running alongside it, to engage and excite the audience. Webcomics, compared to other forms of content-based marketing, are inexpensive to produce, easy to distribute, and relatively popular, with a built-in community and culture who can help push a new audience right into your lap.
When this trend first started, way back in the early aughts, I was afraid that these kinds of comics would always be, well, too promotional, along the lines of those Hostess Twinkies ads you used to see in comic books: short on story, long on pushing a product at you. There was a lot of that kind of stuff. There probably still is. But both of the examples above are full-on, seriously-thought-out “graphic novels” presented on the web, with all the complexity, high production values, and etc., that you’d expect from a “real” mainstream comic book. (Um, yeah, okay, coming from me, you might think that that is a little bit of a back-handed compliment, but you know what I mean). Most importantly, they stand alone as entertainment experiences, worthwhile in and of themselves while simultaneously making you more interested, indirectly, in the property they’re promoting, just by being cool and fun.
There’s a lot of ideological and anti-corporate rhetoric out there in the webcomics world. Webcomics have a tradition of being an underground outlet, one that got a lot of its original spark out of the fact that other channels of distribution were closed to new cartoonists. I can imagine even myself, from a few years ago, looking at these and snooting my nose up. I guess I’ve sold out now, or grown up, or maybe the field of webcomics as a whole has become big enough and established enough that these kinds of things seem like cool and interesting additions to the mix, rather than threatening corporate alien life-forms. Besides, I like Star Wars and I used to like Heroes, and, you know. Whatever.
I dunno.
A less obvious idea, but one that I think is equally great, is what TCM is doing with their “Lost Scenes” promotion. They’ve hired underground/alternative comics stars like Peter Bagge to create webcomics around cult classics like Reefer Madness and Terror of Tiny Town. The alternative comics aesthetic on display here matches the existing webcomics vibe a lot better than the slick action/adventure stuff I was talking about earlier. I think most webcomics fans, whatever they think of the Star Wars and Heroes stuff, and however anti-establishment they might currently be, will love these.
What do you think? Are promotional webcomics are a good idea, and a great step forward for the medium, or just more of the same old, same old? Am I just a sell-out now? Ha! That’s entirely possible! Let me know!
March 15th, 2009 at 4:29 pm
Comics that feature products are fine, as long as they don’t pander. That cheapens the effort, like the Twinkies comics did. There’s a good amount of tasteful space where comics and advertising meet. It could be it’s own type of comic, really.
Nice article.
March 15th, 2009 at 7:12 pm
If the flow on effect is that it makes people more open to the idea of reading comics on a computer screen then it can’t hurt. A lot of comic book readers don’t seem to be willing or able to make the leap, so maybe this kind of thing might entice them and once they’ve tried a few they might be more willing to give other webcomics a go. That said, the interface of the TCM site might put them off forever…!
March 15th, 2009 at 8:41 pm
Stephen — under each comic, there’s a “print” button that lets you download a PDF. There’s no way to link directly to them, as far as I can tell, though.
March 18th, 2009 at 6:41 am
The main goal of all webcomickers these days is to become a corporate entity, so there’S no reason to see this sort of thing as a threat.
And really, with those flash interfaces, they ain’t gonna be pushing anyone on the web out of the piucture any time soon.
So yeah, more power to them. Get some skilled craftsmen in the mix finally.
March 18th, 2009 at 10:45 am
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