Hahaha. I get this too. When I say 'comic' older people think I mean Garfield and Dennis The Menace and younger people automatically think Marvel and Watchmen. Don't feel too bad, I guarantee that most people you're talking to just don't understand what it is you're talking about the same way I don't really understand Instagram fitness celebs. I didn't even know that world existed until a month ago-- there are people making a living off instagram?? Whaa???
All I can suggest is that you share your enthusiasm with them. Give them a crash course in how amazing online comics are and how much opportunity there is. Tell them your goals. If it's a hobby, tell them it's like learning the violin or ice skating-- you love it and do it for fun. If you want to make a career out of it, explain that you're working on becoming self-employed or going freelance one day. That's all they really need to know, and if they show more interest tell them more. Don't worry, you're not weird or unusual for having this interest, the problem is that most people don't understand what the interest actually is!
I realise this debate is resolved and I'm glad about that, but I feel the need to defend writers here nonetheless, because in my experience (and that's all it is) NO ONE takes writers seriously, not even other writers. Writing is a very, very difficult field to break into. You've all heard about the hoops writers have to jump through in order to be recognised in or outside the field. People change their names for fear of how their race or gender might hurt their chances. It's a bloodbath out there. And I'm not saying comics aren't difficult to break into as well. There are definitely obastacles in the way of creators at all stages (costs, for one, local support and acceptence, race and gender representation, old-school divides, classic vs new age, online vs printed) but broadly speaking you get a lot less flack for being an amateur comic creator by those in the same field than you will for being an amateur writer. Not only that, but it's way easier for me to promote myself and be recognised than it is for writers. My work is visual. It's far easier to flick through 20 pages of my amateur comic than it is to force your way through 5 pages of poorly written writing.
More than that, as a webcomic creator, unpaid, untrained, I can still call myself a comic creator and no one would bat an eye. You go to a writing group (or indeed any professional group) and call yourself a writer, you're going to be quizzed on who and where you've been published by and how many copies of work you've sold. Not by everyone, obviously, but it is definitely one of the first things you'll be asked. Writing communities are notoriously mean, and if you're self-published (which is an ordeal in itself sometimes despite being the easiest way to go), good luck getting anyone to take you seriously unless you're making a respectable amount money and have the numbers to prove it. As a comic creator I don't require a seal of approval from a professional company or tax bill in order to call myself successsful, and I've never been told I do not have the right to call myself a comic creator just because I've never sold my work. Writers are still fighting that problem.
I won't comment on who does more work. Writers and comic creators face different difficulties. But the whole notion that people in writing are more respected is, by and large, only applicable to writers who've already made it. Then again you could argue that those in comics are equally respected in spite of success, but that overall they are less respected than writers by the world at large, but that's a whole other debate.
