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May 2019

I don't mind a lot of dialogue so long as it's given over several panels. Some webcomics go for Death Note level text dumps.

I'm concerned now that the last few episodes of my comic are like this. I tried to break it up but there's a lot of information to get through and I'm not sure how else to present it.

If the artist usually doesn't do dialogue then I would read through it because they must've had something to offer.

No problem! I feel that it was well laid as well and very easy read!

I think a few of us here won't want to hear it, but in my opinion the simple reason you like webcomic dialogue less is because it's worse.

Most webcomics we find are made by amateurs writing for the first time, whereas most manga have proven themselves by first being published, and then by being popular enough to be translated into English. I absolutely feel the same way as you, where I can easily sit down and read a novel or wordy manga, but when a webcomic writer drones on and on I think, "get to the point already!"

There are a few gems out there in the webcomic world, though, where the authors write paragraphs and paragraphs and yet manage to keep the audience engaged. You just have to look a little bit harder for them.

Here are my favorite wordy webcomics, if anyone wants reccomendations:

The Property of Hate16
The dialogue helps to convey the whimsy and mystery of the world. There's a ton of subtext and subtle little references and puns that really show how much effort the author puts in. Also has some of the most incredible art I've ever seen in webcomics.

El Goonish Shive7
Starts off very rough, but slowly evolves into a character-driven drama with well thought out characters who's inner lives are often conveyed through paragraphs of text. But I read every word because the author makes me care about these characters.

Doe of Deadwood13
The dialogue is what kept me actually reading this one, as the quality of the art belies the quality of the writing. The characters' personalities come out through their voices, and that keeps the writing from feeling like lifeless exposition.

OMG this is what's always bothered me! I've never known why I tend to judge web comics for their dialogue until now. To me, writing is as important as the art and (I don't want to sound rude but) there are a lot of beautiful webcomics on tapas and webtoon with very little substance in the writing department. I feel like my standards for webcomics and printed comics is really different because of this

I don't mind it as long as the words don't feel like they they're fighting the art for space. (not really sure how else to put that)

There also has to be variety in the layouts, I don't want every page to be a text dump.

It also depends on context of the text, I can't really explain this one but some heavy text will feel appropriate depending on the situation or dialog, while in other places it will feel, clunky, awkward, rushed or lazy.

It's really a balancing act that can work out if you utilize it right.

Edit: I also do better when the text is on a page format layout. For whatever reason it's really fking overwhelming when it's longform ><

I don't mind comics with a lot of dialogue. (It would be pretty hypocritical of me if I didn't, given that my own comics can get pretty wordy, lol.) I'm usually more bothered with how the text is spaced out—if there's a giant wall of text with no paragraph breaks, I'll probably gloss over it. I also agree with @Shanny8 in that huge panels with very few words are incredibly hard for me to read. :stuck_out_tongue:

And yeah, the general quality of the dialogue matters, too.

Yeah! It's really rare to find someone who's good at both. I feel like many of the most well written comics I've found just don't have art that's that great (two of the recommendations in my last comic, for example) too. I kind of wish it was more popular for two people to work together on a comic, like most published American comics or what eventually happened with One Punch Man, but it's probably really hard to find two people who share the same passion for one story, especially with something like webcomics where the vast majority of people are doing it for free.

I agree! I feel like it's difficult, especially with webcomics, because artists can't afford writers and writers can't afford artists. No one is overpricing themselves. It's just that a large demographic of these comics are made by teens who have school and don't work or work but not enough to pay someone.

Maybe it's just me, but when I want to read a comic, I want to read it. I like the dialogue and captions kept to a minimum on big action scenes with big, splashy, or highly detailed art. However, when characters are having an indepth conversation or a character's thoughts or exact words are extremely important, I like a little more wordiness.

And it really shouldn't take five pages for a character to say one sentence.

I think the bigger question might be, how many people actually READ the comics, and how many just look at the pictures or skim?

I was thinking about the same while going through this thread. It is true that when you're inexperienced you can write excessive words or repeat ideas (I've made that mistake too), but I've also noticed that many webcomic readers are not looking for something deep to read. It might be a side effect of the medium (aka. the cell phone) and the fact that many people read on the go, turning reading webcomics into something where you only partially put your attention, unlike what happens when you have a paper book or comic, which is also something you probably paid money for, or had to go through the trouble of getting it from a library. My theory.

About the initial question, I don't mind long texts if it has a reason. I'm not only looking for pretty pictures in a comic.

Nah, I cannot relate, @CallMeMattheww. I think that large or small quantities of dialog is a stylistic choice. It just fits some stories better than others. For one example, in Tapas Fight Club, it would be infeasible and ill-fitting for combatants to be having long discussions while punching each other. That same plethera of dialog works well in Tiger on the Storm, a biographical comic on Tapas about a war.

An example of a webcomic which suffered terribly from excessive walls of text which did NOT fit and always displayed a lack of editorial discipline is Home Stuck.

if the writing is good/engaging? i like it. if its just a lot of fluff/padding im not a fan. i try not to completely fill up my page with speech bubbles (if its a whole conversational scene i try to restrict myself to a maximum of 2 bubbles per panel so it doesnt cover up the art), and i like to include camera shifts or pauses to help space it out.

If there are just walls of text for pages on end with no break in between, I, personally, will skim or skip those pages entirely. Unless I'm really invested in the story and think what's being said is important, I wouldn't give it the time of day. I especially hate it if the story starts with walls of text. It tires me out and makes me not want to continue.

It keeps reminding me of Robert Crumb's brother when he finally got completely insane and replaced all his drawings in panels with text, and then just series of horizontal lines... Come to think of...I think I know why I don't use any text in my comics anymore - maybe just trying to buy some time :slight_smile: