Long termed comics

[Chocolate]

What will make you drop a long running series after following it for 10+ years? :U

[BlueDragon]

I don't all out drop comics often, but I think if the comic I'm following just suddenly...completely jumped the shark on the story. Like, not fun little filler stuff (I get people need to go on hiatus), but if...I start out reading a sci-fi story, and it suddenly becomes a rom-com with little to no sci-fi elements. That's a bad example, but it's kinda the extreme change in story I'm trying to say would maybe, possibly put me off XD

(Like I ENJOY Rom-coms sometimes, but if that's not what I signed up for.)

Or if the series just completely stops and only becomes side art for seeeeeeveral posts of just concept art. Again, not a hiatus thing, just the author lost interest, but seems to not ever plan to continue the story. I dunno, it's hard to judge when that happens, so I rarely unsub in case I'm surprised and the person comes back.

Or if the story does something completely off-putting with no reason or seemingly no connection to why it happens. But even then, that's a stretch. The main character does something completely out of character and horrible, and there's no plan to explain why? I mean, it take a lot to make me unsub...and even then I'd probably try to wait it out to see if there's going to be a reason before I get ticked and unsub.

ahem I will unsub if I somehow manage to notice the author is actively an *sshole. I usually don't dig into what people are saying outside of a comic, but if I happen to know they are jerks, that will turn me off from wanting to support a comic. But again, I don't...really look much into writer's lives because I'm too busy minding my own life XD I haven't got time to keep tabs on other people. But if it's glaring and I happen to find out, I tend have trouble justifying why I'm supporting that person This has not happened yet. But it's on the table for unsubbing (like if the person committed a horrendous crime, and I somehow find out, I'd drop it like a hot potato).

Those are probably the only reasons. I'm pretty mellow, and I know a lot people here are like me: independent artists/writers, and still learning, so I tend to give a lot of leeway, even if they've been at it for 10+

[thecrystalrook]

ahem I will unsub if I somehow manage to notice the author is actively an *sshole. I usually don't dig into what people are saying outside of a comic, but if I happen to know they are jerks, that will turn me off from wanting to support a comic.

this, I agree, is 100% a complete turn off.

[EncryptedWriting]

I unsub if I feel that it is dragging on too long. Ex. UnOrdinary , True Beauty , Let's Play, etc.

It feels like they lose their original touch, and it just, ugh, I like them at the start. But, okay, I get it John is a bully and powerful. I don't need a whole freaking season on it. The author is adorable, but she is at 240 episodes in and that's HALF WAY! Sorry, that's just too long for me.

[Chocolate]

How many chapters is a good length for long running series then? :3

[EncryptedWriting]

Anything over 200 is pushing it for me.

If I like the series I'll read it. He I'll typically stop reading a series if it falls over 150 episodes.

[Chocolate]

LMAO Rip One Piece.

[Kann]

If I won't like the direction the plot is going in anymore, if it feels like the main conflict is resolved, but there's no end in sight for the comic (like author cannot just let go of the story and makes up stuff just to keep drawing it), or if I simply lose interest for whatever reason.

Or if I find out the author has done something I really cannot morally feel okay with. I know we should separate artists from their stuff, but there are things that are too much for me to keep following them. This happened to me a few times, but more with artists in general rather than specifically comic authors.

Having a series with over 600 updates and another one that's over 150 updates, I think I should take notes from this thread. Just in case. xD

[joannekwan]

I've dropped long-running series before for the following reasons:

1. It's dragging. The plot doesn't seem to be moving forward and there's no character growth. Of course, this doesn't apply to episodic/strip series though. But if you're selling a story that has an over-arching plot, I want to see that over-arching plot happening!

2. The plot takes a turn that I'm not interested in. Either there's a shift in the characters or there's a pivotal point that just kills it for me. Like I stopped reading Katekyo Hitman Reborn when they got to that one arc that's entirely based on a simple miscommunication with the other mafia family. I didn't care to see how it plays out, because that mere plot point just crushed my enjoyment.

3. Just not interested anymore. We grow, we change. For comics that take years to produce, my taste can shift over its run and I'm just not as invested in the story or characters anymore.

4. The series becomes inaccessible. Like practically, I can't access it anymore. Whether the story changes hosting sites, becomes pay to read, or something else. For example, I stopped reading Naruto scanslations because the site I used stopped hosting it. And I just wasn't invested enough to find it elsewhere or wait for official translations.

[Chocolate]

What are the names of some of your favorite long running series? The ones with over 100+ chapters? OsO

[silverraven0]

I've been reading detective Conan (case closed) for years. Then after somehow binging it for 600 or 700 chapters, i realizes this. It's absolutely repetitive. I mean, yeah, sometimes there development on the main story itself and the murdering and how it's done is different and unique in some way, but it's always the same concept. A person is killed, then minimum 3 person is the suspect and then they got caught and in the usual way, the villain tell the long story of how and why they did it.

I sincerely dropped it araound three years ago. Not sure how the recent development is since but it's still ongoing. I think it's on its 100+ volume.

[joannekwan]

For ones that update consistently and aren't on hiatus:

(this one's completed)

No-Good Heroes | Tapas

Apricot Cookie(s)! | Tapas

Dreamwalker Felix | Tapas

HeLL(P) | Tapas

Curse of the Eel | Tapas

Spurs & Stripes | Tapas

(this one's premium, but worth the ink!)

The Witch's Throne | Tapas

[EncryptedWriting]

Muted (Webtoon) is fantastic
SubZero (webtoon) is also good cause I like dragons
UnHoly Blood (webtoon) was only 93 episodes but was a FANTASTIC read
Days of Hana (webtoon) made me cry so many times
Super Secret (webtoon) made me cry, also, a lot
Refund High School (webtoon) without a doubt one of the best comics I have ever read.
Monstrous Heart (Tapas) not at 100 episodes yet but close. Really lovely comic.
Solitary Lady (Tapas) also not at 100 episodes yet, but I quite like the premise.

[Chocolate]

Thanks for all the suggestions on long running comics guys! I’m going to study them for a little bit! :3

[TAMAnnoying]

To be completely honest the thing that will make me drop a long running comic the most is if I just completely forget what the plot is anymore @0@

I remember reading https://www.darthsanddroids.net/
For example- it’s got like 2000 pages now and I used to read it in collage- I had to drop it cause I just don’t rememeber any major plot points and I’d have to reread it just to be in on the inside jokes or call backs

[TheLemmaLlama]

I almost never drop a series that I've been following for that long; even if quality dips, I feel compelled to follow it to the bitter end just because I need to know what happens :'D If it's getting REALLY tedious and unbearable, I'll still feel compelled to at least finish the arc XD

That being said, I'm a binger, so it can LOOK like I've dropped a series because I haven't read or interacted with it for years, but really I'm still interested in it so I put it in the back of my mind as it accumulates updates. But if it's good enough to get me to follow it for 10+ years, it will inevitably resurface to the forefront of my attention eventually :]

[faisalhussein394]

I've dropped out 3 comics already before joining Tapas. I'm not willing to drop my current comic and others out. I'm going to finish it even if it passes through 10+ years.

[darthmongoose]

I think one of the only 10+ year old comics I still read is Gunnerkrigg Court.

I've been a huge fan of but still dropped all sorts of things I read back in the day, like Questionable Content, Darths & Droids, Order of the Stick, and even the thing that got me into webcomics in the first place, Megatokyo. I think some of the most successful webcomic creators at keeping my attention have been the ones who finish a series and start something new and different, like David Willis who went through various different comics with the same characters but reimagined in new scenarios, with the most recent being Shortpacked! and Dumbing of Age, or John Allison, whose big hit was Scary Go Round, which he eventually finished but did spin-offs in the form of Giant Days and Bad Machinery in which the previous main characters were now the older supporting cast, and the kid characters were now older and going to university and high school, so it was recognisable, but fresh.

I think that approach is pretty smart because a really long webcomic, like one that doesn't end after around 5-7 years tops, tends not to be just a single story, but tends to be more like a sitcom or a series of episodic stories or arcs, where uh oh, what wacky thing is happening to the characters now!? And there's nearly always some kind of expiration date on that, where you run out of new things to do with the characters and you can either get repetitive, change the characters in ways the audience may not like or relate to any more, or introduce new characters the audience might not care about so much.

A bad thing that can happen to a creator is discovering that their core audience will stay invested and they'll make money from their IP practically no matter what they do so long as they just keep generating content until they bore most of the audience. There's a little voice in the back of every creator's head that says "okay, you can't be too self-indulgent. Don't waste the audience's time! Edit your overview/script! Kill your darlings! Keep it tight!" and for some people, it's a problem because it gives them so much self-doubt they can't even put pen to paper (or stylus to tablet), but if it gets drowned out by too much praise or demand for content from the hardcore fans, that's also not good. When a creator stops curating which arcs or scenes should go in their comic based on what takes us towards the conclusion in the most entertaining way possible and just puts them all in, things just really start to drag when a comic updates just a couple of pages a week.

[TheLemmaLlama]

I don't know when you dropped the Order of the Stick, but it still has direction and plot! Highly recommend picking it back up. But yeah, I guess long-running stuff do run into that issue and it's probably people like me who are guilty of encouraging it; they know we're hooked and will keep following until it's answered all the questions it's raised, so they delay the resolution as long as possible to continue milking the series :'D

[Azifri]

I can't think of any long-termed comic that I actively decided to stop following, but I certainly have forgotten about comics when the story wasn't interesting to me anymore (usually correlates with too much romance in the plot, in a story that didn't start as a romance).

I start out reading a sci-fi story, and it suddenly becomes a rom-com with little to no sci-fi elements.

Aww, but I was gonna turn mine into a rom-con! (jk I'm not doing that ... I think )