Webcomic journalism & reviews (a discussion)

[NanettesClouds]

So today I took a walk through the desolate wasteland that is webcomic journalism. It was pretty depressing.

What do I mean by webcomic journalism? Basically any content that is about webcomics or webcomic culture, that is not itself a webcomic. This is stuff like advice, thinkpieces, and most importantly reviews.

What do I mean by desolate wasteland? Basically most of what I could find was either dead, bad, or using webcomics as a dead horse to beat. Here are some notable exceptions that I found:

@Kotopopi 's blog.

Home

Yes Homo, a blog dedicated to reviewing queer webcomics

Yes Homo - a queer reviews webcomics

Webcomic Network, a blog dedicated to helping better connect readers with webcomics.

WebComicNetwork

and of course there's our very own, @WintreKitty reviews.

WintreKitty Reviews and Contests

(just because these are the ones I found doesn't mean that there aren't other good sources for webcomics media, if you know any, or if you yourself create this sort of content, please share, that's part of what this discussion is about.)

---

Why does this matter?

Well the way I see it there are some pretty big problems with the webcomics community, and a lot of them stem from a lack of quality journalism. The biggest problem, is that good comics are hard to find. That's not to say that there aren't any good comics, or that there aren't enough of them, it's that they are literally hard to find .

The main methods that people use to find webcomics are word of mouth and browsing on sites like Tapas, Webtoons, Comic Fury, and TopWebComic. Unfortunately, browsing to find something that you like (especially if you have niche tastes) is time consuming and can leave you empty handed, and relying on word of mouth can be a bit like trying to find true love by having your friends set you up on blind dates. (which isn't to say that blind dates don't work, I've found lots of great comics through word of mouth, and my current partner of three years and I met on a blind date.)

How many people are out there who would have loved your comic, or better yet your favorite comic, if they were just able to find it?

This is where webcomic journalism comes in, and let me be honest, what I'm really talking about here are reviews, however other types of journalism are just as important. What a reviewer does is effectively find comics that they like (through the previously mentioned methods, but also through creators contacting them directly), and funnel their audience towards those comics. The better they are at finding content that their audience likes, the more effective they are as a reviewer, and as a result more people learn to trust their tastes as they grow their audience.

But... there aren't enough of them. That's a problem. Why is this the case, what types of journalism and reviews does the webcomic community need/want, and what can we do to help fix this?

[IdiotWithPencil]

But... there aren't enough of them. That's a problem. Why is this the case, what types of journalism and reviews does the webcomic community need/want, and what can we do to help fix this?

I say it's cause webcomics are a mostly indie solo developed thing and sadly most decent critics/reviewers don't wanna trample on the feelings of the author. also the shit storm that comes from said critic can be a headach on its own

we do need reviewers that's for sure =/ they help artist grow both in audience and technical skills sadly they only reviewers that I usually find are either using the platform to push and agenda or die out in like a month :'C

gonna check out some of the ones you mention =D looks interesting

[bakasama25]

It certainly be can't worse than what comic book journalism has become now.

[NanettesClouds]

I say it's cause webcomics are a mostly indie solo developed thing and sadly most decent critics/reviewers don't wanna trample on the feelings of the author. also the shit storm that comes from said critic can be a headach on its own

I used to think the same thing, but I've done a lot of researche into zine culture recently (zines are very similar to webcomics in the sense that it's a lot of weird passion projects, and also some of them are comics too but that's besides the point). Zines have/had a pretty solid review/journalism culture that grew over time, kinda out of necessity because finding A ZINE, is a lot harder than finding A WEBCOMIC (not even distinguishing between good/bad or like/dont like.). Its to the point where there's a whole genre of zines based around reviewing other zines, the main one was called FactSheet Five (but that ended in 1997), nowadays there are other options.

Now granted Zines are a much older, and much more diverse community, but at some point they needed to shift from not having reviews to having reviews just like we (hopefully) will too.

we do need reviewers that's for sure =/ they help artist grow both in audience and technical skills

I'm mainly concerned with content that is directed towards the reader and not the creator. There are plenty of resources available already for learning how to make comics, or to get detailed critiques, unfortunately these probably aren't that interesting to your average joe reader.

sadly they only reviewers that I usually find are either using the platform to push and agenda or die out in like a month

I don't see "pushing an agenda" as a problem, ideally webcomic reviews would be as diverse as webcomics are. For example, I really like what Yes Homo is doing with their blog (not to say that sharing queer comics is an "agenda"), I think it's focus on a specific niche of webcomics (queer comics) is particularly useful to its readers who know that when they go to Yes Homo they will find that type of content. The problem in this case is that there 1) aren't hardly any reliable generalized sources, 2) there aren't enough niche sources either. And like, the whole job of a critic is to share their opinion, and "pushing agendas"goes along with that.

Also yeah, review sources dying in a month is bad. You can't funnel audiences towards other content if you don't have an audience.

[nessiefynn]

I feel webcomic reviews are in short supply because simply, there is little demand for webcomic reviews. Most webcomics are 100% free to read, and most can be read in their entirety within a day. People read movie reviews so they know that the film they plan to spend ~$10 on for a ticket will actually be good, people read TV reviews so they know the season of TV they'll spend 10 hours watching will be worth their time.

This is not to mention webcomics are extremely niche pieces of media. Even the most popular webcomics have a fraction of the fans of mid-tier Youtube channels. Out of all the people who read webcomics, there are even fewer who are actually be interested in reading reviews of them. Famous reviewers like the AVGN and Nostalgia Critic spawned hundreds of imitators because tons of other people loved video games and movie and saw there was a market for reviewers of that sort of media. Not so much for webcomics.

EDIT:
I feel I should make mention of what the reviews themselves are like. Oftentimes many webcomic reviews exist more so for creators seeking feedback than fans. Not to say this is a bad thing, as critique is necessary for any artist to grow, but catering to creators means webcomic readers are gonna be pushed to the backburner, and thus are less likely to actually follow the reviewer's works. This means the potential of the reviewer as a webcomic promoter is going to be reduced to nil : /

[lil-sea-salt]

• I wish there was a place I could submit my web comic or web novel for genuine critique (don't mind if it's bad).
• I wish there was a place where there's a 'random' button. So I could read a random review or webcomic/novel that I wouldn't normally consider.

My problem with a lot of webcomic journalism is I feel like it's catered to one type of person, instead of catering to a general audience or just a list of the most popular webcomics/novels in a genre.

[shazzbaa]

I feel webcomic reviews are in short supply because simply, there is little demand for webcomic reviews. Most webcomics are 100% free to read, and most can be read in their entirety within a day. People read movie reviews so they know that the film they plan to spend ~$10 on for a ticket will actually be good, people read TV reviews so they know the season of TV they'll spend 10 hours watching will be worth their time.

Big agree with everything nessiefynn said!!! I feel the same way -- that there's not really a demand for this. Creators want webcomic reviews & journalism -- it's a very appealing idea to us to have someone directing readers to our work and pitching it for us!! But for readers.... heck, in the time it takes you to read a review, you could just as easily be reading a few pages of the comic to see if you like it.

I've talked about the problems with reviewing webcomics before here, but I think a big thing is that webcomic reviews would need to be entertaining to be useful to a wider audience -- something where you want to read the review even if you already know of the comic or even if it's a comic that wouldn't interest you -- I'm not sure how else regular reviews could really hold a regular audience. If someone wrote a review and I glanced at it and thought "That comic doesn't look interesting to me," then I probably wouldn't even read the review unless the review itself had interesting things to say.

The idea of catering to a more niche audience is a good idea -- there's a reason for readers to tune in for those recommendations. But even then, is waiting however long for each new review to be written going to be easier for a reader than opening up a list like "webcomics with black leads" and just clicking through the list to see which ones look interesting?

I don't wanna like, shoot down the idea of webcomic reviews because there might be a way to make it work!! But I do think there are a lot of different obstacles unique to webcomics that would need to be considered to find something that works!

[Kotopopi]

First of all a big THANK YOU.

Never ever ever I would have expected to be quoted as a webcomic reviewer (!!!).

I actually made that list because I myself wanted to discover new funny webcomics (I mainly read gag comics) and I had a hard time finding recommendations

So I thought: "this maybe will save someone else's time". Also, I admire those artists so I think everybody should know them.

I don't know if there's a demand or not of webcomic reviews, but what about recommendations?

As many people already pointed out in this thread, there are SO MANY WEBCOMICS OUT THERE.

For free, shoved in our face 24/7.

Where to start? What are some 'classics' (there are already a few) that we shouldn't skip? What about the niches: Im not interested in horror comics, I only wanna read gags, or romance or other...

As per the websphere itself, you'll always gonna look for a starting point or, if you're already into comics and you already have your favourites, at some point you'll always look for something new.

I don't know, maybe I'm an exception here, but here's my situation: I hate browsing for ages for new comics. I would just like to find a website called 'www.imgonnareadstuffandtellyouwhatsgood.com'. I'm lazy -_-

When I go to a comicbook store I always ask the guy at the cash what's best for me and formulate a request.

Unless you're an Instagram fan and you like to scroll, the huge amount of offer can be an issue and push you not to look for new stuff at some point, out of exhaustion.

Then again, just talking about myself here

Also, I haven't done much comics reviews lately... I think I'm gonna start now

Thanks again!

[Progg]

The only webcomic review forum that I know of is the Bad Webcomics Wiki, dedicated to seeking out and reviewing bad and sometimes questionable webcomics. Not exactly what we as artists would want, and definitely kind of mean spirited in its mission statement, but reviews on the site can sometimes also point to positive aspects of the comic in question. And as @shazzbaa said, reviews need to be entertaining for the reader, and a review bashing its subject matter is usually kind of entertaining, even if you like the comic/book/movie being bashed. But yeah, I'd prefer more open minded platforms. I'll check out the sites mentioned by @niah146!

Edit: I take it back. There are definitely much better review sites being mentioned in this thread. Check out those instead!

[sarrowsmith10]

I think my concern with most review sites I've been on, is that reviewers tend to review the same small community of webcomics. I love Sarah's Scribbles and all, but her comic is reviewed on EVERY review site (or so it feels). Nothing bores me quicker than seeing a bunch of comics I've already seen a thousand times being reviewed again. I really feel like reviewers need to expand out into the unknown. Find comics that have a fairly good amount to read but are relatively unknown. I also feel like I see reviewers feeling like they need to review every comic that is thrown their way. Like they aren't selective at all. Pick maybe 1 comic a week or every month or something like that. That way I know as a reader, what ever pops up is going to be a nice quality comic that I probably haven't seen before.

Anyways, that's this readers perspective anyways.

[UrMom]

I feel it's sort of a mixed bag. If a reviewer is well known they get pounded with creators wanting their work reviewed, but on the other hand they can go entirely unnoticed. Falling into obscurity. The webcomic community is pretty small niche too with people either thinking their cartoons for children, or not real comics due to them being exclusively on the internet.
Personally, if a reviewer or journalist only talks about one type of comic (like gag-a-day comics for example), I get kinda bored. It's sad because many do stick to what they like since they're discussing/reviewing the works for free most of the time. Sometimes they end up being the negative type of reviewers who go for the easiest targets to rip on.
There's not a whole lot of variety.

There's a few resources I've found over the years with reviews and such:
There is Webcomic Relief, a Youtuber who makes review videos about webcomics. He also does videos talking about story and characters, and has a tier on his Patreon where he gives critique to creators interested in hearing his opinion of their work.

StArt Faire, an online magazine focusing on web/indie comics, regularly doing artist spotlights, and one of their members called Rebel Vampire does webcomic reviews for the magazine. (which they have a submission survey you can fill out to have your work reviewed) They also have something called Comic Tea Party, a bookclub that gets together every Thursday to discuss a comic that was submitted to them.

The brand new baby called Under the Ink, a webcomic centric site so far doing news, creator interviews, and comic spotlights.

The Duck Webcomics (Formally known as Drunk Duck), a dinosaur of a webcomic hosting site that does podcasts talking about comics and storytelling, and occasionally reviews comic that get submitted to their weekly feature tab.

Daniel Kelly, a writer who does webcomic reviews requested by his Patreon crowd.

Art of Webcomics, a site dedicated to promoting webcomics, and doing creator interviews.

Gender Terror, a site focused on queer/LGBT+ horror content. The feature things from illustration work, to literature, published comics, and web/indie comics. Although they don't discuss webcomics very often.

Rainbow Comics, a twitter based review page dedicated to doing small reviews on webcomics, particularly queer comics. This page isn't very active, but they post things every so often.

The Strip Show, a site dedicated to reviewing webcomics.

There's also the various webcomic cataloging sites which occasionally promote the comics on their listing. Webcomic Library, Archive Binge, LGBT Webcomics (the creator of this blog also runs The Slash Pile, another blog dedicated to general queer friendly media, but you can also submit reviews/recs of LGBT+ webcomics and submit your own works), Queer Cartoonists and Cartoonists of Color Database, and The Queer Comics Database. There's a lot of queer/LGBT+ friendly stuff. Lol.

How quality these resources are depends on you I guess? Sorry for the dump, I like sharing my hoard.

[NanettesClouds]

I feel webcomic reviews are in short supply because simply, there is little demand for webcomic reviews. Most webcomics are 100% free to read, and most can be read in their entirety within a day.

I don't think that reviews are unnecessary because of this though, and just because there's not demand within the community right now doesn't mean that there isn't a group of readers who would benefit from reviews.

I've talked about the problems with reviewing webcomics before here, but I think a big thing is that webcomic reviews would need to be entertaining to be useful to a wider audience -- something where you want to read the review even if you already know of the comic or even if it's a comic that wouldn't interest you -- I'm not sure how else regular reviews could really hold a regular audience. If someone wrote a review and I glanced at it and thought "That comic doesn't look interesting to me," then I probably wouldn't even read the review unless the review itself had interesting things to say.

The idea of catering to a more niche audience is a good idea -- there's a reason for readers to tune in for those recommendations. But even then, is waiting however long for each new review to be written going to be easier for a reader than opening up a list like "webcomics with black leads" and just clicking through the list to see which ones look interesting?

The super science thread was such a great discussion, part of why I made this thread is because I wanted to get back to those points. Thank you for linking to it!

I think you make a really good point about how reviews need to be entertaining AND more convenient than a curated list. I wanna shout out to Yes Homo again because it's probably the best example of a webcomic review site that I've found, and I wish there was more like it. Each review has a little breakout box with a letter grade and all of the main highlights of the review, which solves the convenience issue, but then you can go on to read the rest of the review (which are well written, and talk about some pretty interesting topics that are related to the comic). It's also niche and the writer has pretty consistent tastes (but is interested in a broad range of genres), so I know that if I go there I'll find something in the ballpark of what I'm looking for, but I might also find some things that surprise me that I wouldn't have found on my own.

Where to start? What are some 'classics' (there are already a few) that we shouldn't skip? What about the niches: Im not interested in horror comics, I only wanna read gags, or romance or other...

In the thread that @shazzbaa linked there's some discussion about the lack of visibility for finished webcomics, and I think that reviews are one of the ways to help solve this and bring attention to those classics. (It's sad how few people new to the medium have read, or even heard about Octopus Pie for example) Critics and Journalism can be forces to canonize, and study, the best-of-the-best.

I don't know, maybe I'm an exception here, but here's my situation: I hate browsing for ages for new comics. I would just like to find a website called 'www.imgonnareadstuffandtellyouwhatsgood.com'. I'm lazy -_-

When I go to a comicbook store I always ask the guy at the cash what's best for me and formulate a request.

You're just the type of reader that reviews would appeal to, thanks for chiming in! In my experience, I have the time and the connections to find comics that I like through browsing and word of mouth, but I would appreciate finding a good reviewer to help me branch outside of my comfort zone. For example, I hardly read any gag comics, what are the good ones? what MAKES a good one? These are the type of things a good critic could help me with.

Also, I haven't done much comics reviews lately... I think I'm gonna start now

HECKYAH

The only webcomic review forum that I know of is the Bad Webcomics Wiki, dedicated to seeking out and reviewing bad and sometimes questionable webcomics. Not exactly what we as artists would want, and definitely kind of mean spirited in its mission statement, but reviews on the site can sometimes also point to positive aspects of the comic in question. And as @shazzbaa said, reviews need to be entertaining for the reader, and a review bashing its subject matter is usually kind of entertaining, even if you like the comic/book/movie being bashed. But yeah, I'd prefer more open minded platforms

Bad Webcomics Wiki is one of the few things that I genuinely hate. People don't go there to find content that they actually care about, they go there to make fun of stuff, sometimes unfairly. Theres a careful balance between criticism/review and bashing, and unfortunately, a lot of what I was able to find while searching crossed that line.

I think my concern with most review sites I've been on, is that reviewers tend to review the same small community of webcomics. I love Sarah's Scribbles and all, but her comic is reviewed on EVERY review site (or so it feels). Nothing bores me quicker than seeing a bunch of comics I've already seen a thousand times being reviewed again. I really feel like reviewers need to expand out into the unknown.

I didn't notice this issue while I was digging around myself, but I see it happen with movie reviews. I know that in that world, reviewing the latest marvel movie or star wars movie is one of the main contributors to growing a critics audience. Usually when I find a new critic I try and find a review of something that I already know, and this helps me gauge how their tastes differ from mine. That said, a critic isn't actually useful to me unless they help me find stuff that I couldn't on my own, so there's definitely a balance to it all.

I also feel like I see reviewers feeling like they need to review every comic that is thrown their way. Like they aren't selective at all. Pick maybe 1 comic a week or every month or something like that. That way I know as a reader, what ever pops up is going to be a nice quality comic that I probably haven't seen before.

I totally agree with this. It's so confusing to me why some critics think that this approach is a good idea. (@WintreKitty ?) That said, the ones I've seen who use this method are primarily writing for the creators benefit, and not the readers, so there are different goals in mind.

Personally, if a reviewer or journalist only talks about one type of comic (like gag-a-day comics for example), I get kinda bored. It's sad because many do stick to what they like since they're discussing/reviewing the works for free most of the time. Sometimes they end up being the negative type of reviewers who go for the easiest targets to rip on.There's not a whole lot of variety.

(emphasis mine)

I think variety is key, if there were more critics there wouldn't be as much pressure to review every comic that comes their way, and critics would be more free to write about the specific niches that appeal to them, rather than having to generalize. Both of these things make it so the critic is more useful to their readers (as discussed earlier).

Also THANK YOU for sharing your hoard! I'll definitely be checking them out!

[WintreKitty]

I feel a bit obligated to respond here.

To answer niah and sarrowsmith,

I also feel like I see reviewers feeling like they need to review every comic that is thrown their way.

It's so confusing to me why some critics think that this approach is a good idea.

My free reviews were for anyone and everyone. I put no restriction on them because they were for the benefit of the creator more so than the readers, as @niah146 suggested. I focused more on critiquing versus reviewing.

@sarrowsmith10 you also answered your own inquiry. You'll see a lot of reviews over the same 20 comics or so. There are millions of comics out there and only the one's that people can find easily are receiving the reviews. I offered free reviews to help people correct mistakes and for others to potentially find another comic that they may like that they wouldn't have found otherwise.

I also want to clarify that I am not an active reviewer anymore. Sorry. The reason that so many of us don't stay as reviewers for a long period of time is because of the mass amount of requests we receive from people, and because it doesn't pay well... or at all. These reviews had become a part-time gig for me, and I wasn't benefiting at all. It's highly stressful and you get more requests in a week than you can spit out.

I now do paid critiques for creators. These reviews helped me get a little bit of recognition so I have a clientele now that want me to edit or critique their work. In all honesty, I would never recommend going into free review work. It's disheartening and exhausting.

Tapas Media has a great community of creators that want to help each other out, though. You can do a comic critique trade with other creators and get some very helpful feedback. You have to be vigilant with the forums, however. These fill up and close very quickly.

Anyone who can stay as a reviewer for more than a few months is definitely someone who is passionate about the process, and if you find someone like that, I would maybe nudge you into the direction of asking for a paid critique or edit. These people don't ask for much in return and eventually they are going to see that it isn't worth their time. Time is valuable and so many of us have very little of it to spare. Please consider that. Even just a tip or a donation can go a long way for those reviewers. It might have encouraged me to continue keeping my critiques free at least.

Reviewers should be treated the same way you creators/artists are. Would you give out free work all the time and expect nothing in return? Probably not. We face the same irritating emails, messages, etc. that you artist's receive: Requests for our services and in payment we get exposure, or a shout out or some nonsense that doesn't benefit us at all.

Very rarely will you find a reviewer who wants to work for free all the time. I realize that our clientele base is poor, but if you really are serious about your work and you want an honest, strong edit or critique of your work, it's a good idea to consider paying for someone who you know can do exactly that.

If you aren't willing to pay for a review, then where is the interest for people to continue wanting to be or to become reviewers and critiques?

[sarrowsmith10]

I offered free reviews to help people correct mistakes

Yah, so those are reviews for creators not for readers. As a reader I don't want to really read advice to the creator so much. So two different types of the reviews I suppose. As a new reader I'd like to hear what the comic is about, what its general strengths or weaknesses are, etc. As a reader I don't particularly care that something is misspelled on page 362, or some character's hair color is wrong, etc. My goal as a reader is to find new comics to read for enjoyment.

These reviews had become a part-time gig for me, and I wasn't benefiting at all. It's highly stressful and you get more requests in a week than you can spit out.

This is why I think its good to not review every comic that is thrown your way. Just like an artist isn't going to pick up every job that is pitched to them. You pick and choose what you'd like to read and what you'd like to review. I'm assuming that the reward for running a review website is either ad revenue, social interaction, or visibility online- similar to what the reward is for creators putting their webcomics online for free.

I also think if creators are looking for an actual valuable review, either post on tapas forums or pay an editor to go over your work.

[webcomicnetwork]

this and a lot of other aspects of the webcomic ecosystem have bothered me for a long time, although i do agree partly with a lot of theories brought up in this thread, my personal theory is that most webcomic media is (sometimes unintentionally) aimed at webcomic creators instead of consumers.
anything that attempts to get people excited about webcomics as a medium always just ends up inspiring people to create more than read, that combined with the lack of infrastructure results in most webcomic media either being a side project for people, or just a hobby, or being a finely veiled attempt at self promotion. the point being most outlets including my own, lack consistency and will usually be given up on. if i had funds i would hire people with the express purpose of setting a standard for these kinds of things, but the network is entirely volunteer based and i really don't like asking for donations.
i have also poled a lot of my audience and sent out surveys in the past, the main thing i discovered was that audiences just don't care enough, and creators put too much effort in the wrong places.
really, you can diagnose a lot of symptoms, but if we could create an active and engaged consumer community, a lot of other problems would fall in line as people began to cater to the consumer audience instead.
at the moment most reviews i read are framed in the context of 'these are things you could improve your comic with', or they are just an attempt at promotion, i understand that everyone wants promotion, and i want to provide a platform for people to promote on, but if the reviews were respected more than it would be more effective.
whenever i look for webcomic media, it's basically only 'how to make a webcomic' stuff, everything else get's lost in that sea of over saturated help.
with the unfortunate exception, that i'm sure your all aware of, people like to make fun of webcomics a lot.

i do the majority of the webcomicnetwork reviews myself, it was never something i planned to do, shortly after starting the network, people came to me asking for help or suggesting things i could do to make a bigger impact, so i just wrote a few reviews in my free time, i have a very thorough approach to reviews, i try and be as objective as possible and stick to my own standard. some other reviewers have been kind enough to share reviews with us.
my biggest personal rule is that i have to read every comic at least three times, because it's a different experience each time.
i do every review for free, i don't believe in expecting something for helping others, a problem that caused me a lot of strife when i was a commission artist. but because of that i can't dedicate enough time to put out frequent reviews.
my only goal as the webcomicnetwork is to improve the ecosystem for struggling creators, in any way shape or form i can.
i also guarantee that i will review each and every comic that asks me to, with an equal amount of seriousness.

when i researched reviews a lot of what i found was just fluff pieces, sometimes with an arbitrary number on the end, my reviews have a very tedious scoring system that separates content, style, and things of merit.
I've written an article purely explaining this system

The Trisect Rating System

i specifically designed it to work on both short-form and long-form comics
i also half analyse the comic as well as review it, the analysis is there for the readers interest, i always like that kind of thing for movies, so i hope readers enjoy knowing a little more about the themes or symbolism of webcomics.

i'm glad someone mentioned under the ink, I've spoken to them a lot of times, they basically do the things i tried to do but better in every way, i just happen to have been around longer, if they were around when i started to notice problems with the webcomic ecosystem i wouldn't have made the network.

my network started a few projects a while ago that haven't bared fruit yet.
the first being making some webcomic documentaries, a visual medium will reach more outsiders. specifically we are making a very in depth video on the biggest webcomic crossover event in history, in which we are working closely with the event's organizer, that's taking a long time because the event is so big it takes a lot of research and organisation and we don't like to cut corners.
and i hope to make videos on all the other crossover events, ironically they tend to get tangled up a lot and you can't really do an in depth video on one without mentioning at least three others.

the second project was an attempt to connect the various webcomic advocates like ourselves, together we would discuss the issues with the webcomic ecosystem and work to amend them, unfortunately some of the people we got in touch dropped out of the webcomic advocate business, something i see happening a lot, people can have a large impact on the community then after a few months for whatever reason their dedication wavers, other major advocates just didn't respond to us, although i haven't given up on negotiating with them.
my first plan as a advocate union would be to create a comprehensive map of the internet to help creators find help or resources, and that would become the basis of a real infrastructure.
i still fully intend to reach out to every advocate i find, and make a map, it just won't happen for a while.

if anyone does want to make a difference definitely get in touch with me, all the community really needs is people willing to spend time on standing up for struggling creators, and potentially working on some infrastructure. a single persons time can have a large impact.

[Kotopopi]

this and a lot of other aspects of the webcomic ecosystem have bothered me for a long time, although i do agree partly with a lot of theories brought up in this thread, my personal theory is that most webcomic media is (sometimes unintentionally) aimed at webcomic creators instead of consumers.

Sometimes unintentionally and sometimes VERY intentionally...
https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/daily-lives-of-webtoon-creators/list?title_no=174641

This was too perfectly timed not to be mentioned!

[Progg]

You're right, bashing just for the sake of bashing doesn't contribute to the community. I take back what I said earlier in the discussion. Glad to hear about the options in this thread, though!

[bakasama25]

I get what you're saying. I look at Korean webtoon sites about comics then I look what the US has to offer. It's very different. The Koreans' coverage of webtoons covers a LOT and talks about companies as well as webtoons and artists. Here it seems to be a disparate group of people read webcomics and talk about them. I really don't expect English sites about comic books to talk about webcomics.