How many chapters should a comic have in order to be considered an “active comic”?

[Chocolate]

To me, I don’t think having 1-3 chapters is considered an active work; it’s more so like a promo or brand new comic.

What is your opinion on this?

How many chapters should an active comic have?

[IndigoShirtProd]

Chapters or episodes?

[Chocolate]

Chapters for comics.

[IndigoShirtProd]

I think 3 chapters is a good chuck of content. If there’s at least 1 chapter, in my eyes the comic is active.

[SoftWonderBun]

For me it's less about the amount of chapters and more about if the comic is regularly updating. A comic can have plenty of chapters but can also have last updated 2 or 3 years ago. However, I could be misunderstanding what you mean by a 'chapter'.

The comic I am working on will only be 5 chapters and I'm currently in the process of finishing up the 4th before the year is out. Chapter 3 alone is over 50(single) pages long. If you are actively posting comic pages, scrolling or otherwise, and progressing the story than it's active in my eyes.

[Chocolate]

I meant having like around 10 chapters or more is good. It give the audience time to bond with the characters and explore the world more. What about you? How many chapters do you think will make the audience more invested in your work?

[IndigoShirtProd]

10 chapters is several years worth of content, especially if they are a solo creator, especially if they have other responsibilities and not just making the comic. A comic should still be classified as active even if there is less than half that amount of chapters completed.

[Scarlet_Cryptid]

... After almost two years of work and closing in on 100 pages, I'm nearly done drawing chapter ONE of my comic. I have rough plans for 5-6 chapters, which will easily take me a decade.

I sure fricking hope it doesn't take three whole chapters for someone to think my comic is 'active' (and therefore worth reading)... especially as I've been updating every Saturday since I started posting, and haven't missed an update yet.

[SoftWonderBun]

Given that chapter length is really up to the author I don't know that chapter number is really a good marker of what makes a comic 'active'. In addition, readers seem to be pretty aware of whether or not they will be into a character/story from the start.

Obviously, this does not account for character development/growth but the visual style of your story is what will draw people in first and foremost after the synopsis. Story length is not going to make a difference in audience investment if they are not interested in the story from the start for whatever reason. Comics are a medium where you have to make every panel and speech bubble count to progress the story. More doesn't always mean better.

[smokesalty]

I think 3 is fine- Most comic chapters are like 20 pages, so 3 chapters would be like a 60 pages for a lot of people. I'd say that's pretty active.

For my own comic every chapter is around 50 pages, with 3 altogether making up the first volume of my comic (150 pages.) I'd be pretty confused if someone told me my comic , currently 115 pages in, isn't active That's a year worth of work!

While yeah, 10 chapters can get people more invested, for a lot of people it takes years of working on a comic to get there. I know I'll have to finish at around 500 pages to get there and by that time I'd be halfway through my comic!

[Chocolate]

So you think your characters have gone through a growth during those 150 pages?

[IndigoShirtProd]

Character growth is different from a creator's activity level. I think you're conflating two different things.

[smokesalty]

I've planned my comic to be long running, so not yet. I'm guessing if someone planned a short story that runs for 150 chapters it would be structured differently to allow for character development in that time.

But like I'd say a lot can happen in 150 pages. Doesn't have to be character growth, but a lot of plot points can unfold. If someone's that far into a comic, you'd assume they're interested

[system]

This topic was automatically closed 30 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.