Neglected Webcomics
by Joey Manley
You know, when you delve into the rowdier webcomics forums — or, even worse, when you read the “comments” threads on popular webcomics blogs — you often find people screaming and yelling about how the same webcomics get mentioned over and over and over by the chattering classes. You know which ones I’m talking about. This phenomenon is nobody’s fault — just a manifestation of the power law effect. It’s still a good point. Of course, the person making the point almost always invalidates it immediately, by championing some comic featuring stick figures throwing shit at one another, or (even worse) bad furry manga.
Me? I’m just surprised nobody’s talking about Derek Kirk Kim’s new webcomic, “Healing Hands,” currently being serialized at lowbright.com. Derek’s Same Difference remains one of the most important moments in webcomics history — Kim is probably as responsible for inspiring as many webcartoonists to pick up the, um, scanner (?) and start working in the medium as anybody. The day serialization ended on Same Difference was the day that the entire Internet, pretty much, stood up and took notice (I happen to provide hosting for Derek, so I’ve seen the stats — let’s just say that Same Difference, if it had been a network television show, would have landed in the top 20 that week).
That there are large gaps between his major works is a handicap when it comes to the webcomics popularity race, I guess. The momentum fades. People stop talking. Ah well. There it is. Long live the power law.
March 11th, 2006 at 8:38 pm
I can’t speak with authority on the subject, but all the same I’d caution against building temples to the Webcomic Power Law just yet. For one thing, it seems to be a case of physicists playing Big White Explorer in Darkest Social Studyland, snubbing the knowledgable natives. So a little bitta hubris may be present here. And academia isn’t immune to hype. And the research isn’t totally free of critics. And also – even if the theory is true, it’ll never be the only reason for success and failure. There are little things like promotion, which the creators can do something about.
Some bright spark said that scientific theories begin as heresies and end up as superstitions. I seriously don’t want to see power-law pessimism become the Death-God of Webcomicstan, a mystic malign force explaining all failure and making morale even harder to hold on to. Things are bad enough already.
March 12th, 2006 at 5:45 pm
“some comic featuring stick figures throwing shit at one another”…?
that sounds familiar…
March 13th, 2006 at 9:41 am
Power Law Effect, eh? I love it when someone manages to articulate something I’ve been trying to pin down for a few years now. I do think a lot of what goes on in webcomics can be attributed to this phenomenon.
But I think another problem, which I believe Kris Straub brought up a while ago, is that webcomics have become established on the web to the point that people no longer feel a need to link each other, nor recommend things to their friends. Sort of like, “Eric Burns said nice things about your webcomic, it must be popular already.” (For example) It’s assumed that if you’re talked about, that you must enjoy decent traffic already. No need to help out even though 99% of websites live and die by linked traffic.
So I think there’s a bit of assumption that people will read Derek’s stuff because it’s Derek MF’n Kirk Kim, and not because everyone is talking about it and telling people of it’s goodness. It’s the same thing that’s sunk webcomics like John Byrne’s or Chris Claremont’s. People just assume they’ll be read on name recognition alone.
And, I’m just going to have to say it though it pains me to do so: His format is just too 2003. They got Tarqin Engines for scrollers now, and most people can download images larger than what he’s presenting no problem these days.
March 13th, 2006 at 11:21 am
Good point. The thing is, readers don’t usually have direct access to traffic data, and so don’t necessarily have much idea how the comics stand readership-wise.
March 13th, 2006 at 2:31 pm
Which is why you should always have links to what you like on your site. Even if it is a “Big name”
March 13th, 2006 at 9:03 pm
And remember that the Field Of Dreams mantra only works if you’re pitching your comic to the undead baseball players demographic.