Thehistory ofwebcomics follows the advances of technology, art, and business ofcomics on theInternet. The first comics were shared through the Internet in the mid-1980s. Some early webcomics were derivatives from print comics, but when theWorld Wide Web became widely popular in the mid-1990s, more people started creating comics exclusively for this medium. By the year 2000, various webcomic creators were financially successful and webcomics became more artistically recognized.
In the second half of the 2000s, webcomics became less financially sustainable due to the rise ofsocial media and consumers' disinterest in certain kinds of merchandise. However,crowdsourcing throughKickstarter andPatreon also became popular in this period, allowing readers to donate money to webcomic creators directly. The 2010s also saw the rise ofwebtoons inSouth Korea, where the form has become very prominent.
The earliest comic distributed on the Internet isEric Millikin'sWitches and Stitches, which he started uploading onCompuServe in 1985. By self-publishing on the Internet, Millikin was able to share his work while avoiding censorship by publishers or having to appeal to mainstream demographics.[1][2] By 1986, other comics were published on CompuServe, including Joe Ekaitis'T.H.E. Fox, afurry webcomic drawn on theCommodore 64.[3][4]
From the 1980s to the early 1990s, artists published using many differentInternet protocols as it was yet unclear which if any would become most widely used. For example,Usenet was home to Hans Bjohrdal'sWhere the Buffalo Roam in 1992. With this technology, Bjohrdal reached an audience at college campuses across a fewU.S. states.Tim Berners-Lee'sWorld Wide Web rose in popularity in 1993; usage of the World Wide Web grew by 341,634% in 1993, and competitor protocolGopher's growth of 997% paled in comparison.Web browserMosaic, which saw itsbeta release in 1993, allowed the recent introductions ofGIF andJPEGimage formats to be shown directly on web pages. Before this point, images shared through the internet had to bedownloaded to the user'shard drive directly in order to be viewed.[5][6]
In 1994 and 1995, webcomics such asJax & Co.,NetBoy, andArgon Zark! experimented with forms possible only on the Internet, uploading strips in shapes and sizes impossible in print. Mike Wean'sJax & Co. introduced a "page turning" interface that encourages readers to read the panels in order; a concept that was quickly recreated by other webcomic artists.[7][8] Also in 1994, an artist known as Eerie posted anANSI art comic onbulletin board systems.[9][10]
Reinder Dijkhuis recalled that, by the end of 1995, there were hundreds of comics being shared through the Internet. Most of these were derived from strips ofcollege newspapers and most were short-lived on the Internet.[8] In 1995, whenDilbert became the firstsyndicated comic strip to be published on the Internet, "[lending] a certain legitimacy to the online comic concept," it became clear the Internet could be an effective tool to reach large audiences.[11]
In 2000,Scott McCloud releasedReinventing Comics, a book in which he argued that the future of comics was on the Internet. McCloud stated that the World Wide Web allowed comics to make use of the various advantages of digital media, establishing the idea ofinfinite canvas. By 2008, it was clear that McCloud's predictions of infinite canvas did not materialize entirely,[12][13] but creators such asCayetano Garza andDemian5 were influenced by his ideas.[7]
In 1997, Bryan McNett started a webcomic hosting provider, calling it Big Panda. Over 770 webcomics were hosted on Big Panda, includingSluggy Freelance, making it the first major webcomic portal. Due to a lack of interest, McNett shut Big Panda down in 2000.Chris Crosby, who ran his webcomicSuperiosity on Big Panda at the time, contacted McNett in order to create a new webcomics portal, which resulted inKeenspot. This new portal became a major success.[6]
In 2002,Joey Manley started webcomic portalModern Tales as a competitor to Keenspot, which became one of the first profitable subscription models for webcomics. According to T Campbell, webcomics seemed unsustainable at the time, with advertisement rates dropping to an all-time low. Manley's Modern Tales was a popular solution at the time, and Manley spun off websites such asGirlamatic andWebcomics Nation.[14] Modern Tales had 2,000 members by 2005, each paying US$3 per month. In the same year, Keenspot drew in around 125,000 readers per day, grossing over US$200,000 per year through advertising.[15] Established comic artists such asCarla Speed McNeil andLea Hernandez found themselves moving towards the Internet in order to reach larger audiences and build "online portfolios".[13]
With the proliferation of webcomics,awards began to emerge. In 2000, theEagle Awards introduced the "Favourite Web-based Comic" category, and 2001 saw the first installment of theWeb Cartoonists' Choice Awards. TheIgnatz Awards also added a "Best Online Comic" accolade in 2001, but the event was canceled that year due to theSeptember 11 attacks and the title was first awarded in 2002. TheEisner Awards, the most prestigious comics ceremony, eventually introduced a "Best Digital Comic" category in 2005.[6]
The second half of the 1990s saw the introduction ofvideo game webcomics as a genre. Chris Morrison posted the first known video game webcomic, titledPolymer City Chronicles, in 1995. Others followed towards the end of the decade, includingScott Kurtz'sPvP in May 1998, and Jay Resop'ssprite comicNeglected Mario Characters in September 1998.[16] In November 1998, the duo ofJerry Holkins andMike Krahulik startedPenny Arcade, a comic Nich Maragos from1UP.com described as the "most popular, the most lucrative, and the most influential" video game webcomics,[17] and by Mike Meginnis as "one of the most commonly emulated comics out there."[18]
Penny Arcade also proved to be a huge player in fields outside of webcomics in the early 2000s. In 2003, Holkins and Krahulik foundedChild's Play, a charity that managed to raise over US$100,000 in its first year, which it used for donating toys for theSeattle Children's Hospital. The charity has become more successful since and now donates toys to hospitals across the country. In 2004, the duo started thePenny Arcade Expo (PAX), a yearly video game convention that debuted with an estimated 3,000 guests and has grown in size since.[17][19]
David Anez'Bob and George, which launched in April 2000, was the firstsprite comic to reach a larger level of popularity. However, it wouldn't be until the release ofBrian Clevinger's8-Bit Theater that the genre really took off. Maragos of1-UP.com stated that8-Bit Theater "took the style to its fullest expression and greatest popularity."[20] Larry Cruz ofComic Book Resources pointed out that, though sprite comics are still an overwhelmingly popular style, "no other sprite comic [has] really achieve[d] the same amount of popularity" since8-Bit Theater's discontinuation in 2010.[21]
Brady Dale fromThe New York Observer noted in 2015 that people in the American webcomics industry had been shifting their business practices. While during the early 2000s, webcomics were mainly reliant onmerchandise such as T-shirts for monetization, but this practice became less profitable in the 2010s.Dorothy Gambrell, creator ofCat and Girl, explained that the practice went well until "the great T-shirt crash of 2008." Webcomic merchandise distributorTopatoco started looking to provide more products than only T-shirts around 2010, whileRyan North's "Project Wonderful" aimed to improve webcomic-basedadvertisement.[22]
Though the2008 financial crisis had only a minor impact on the webcomic industry,[citation needed] many webcomic artists have been looking for alternative employment in the 2010s. While Topatoco has been seeking work withvideo game developers,podcasters and other internet personalities, some creators moved on to other media entirely.Toothpaste for Dinner-creator Drew Fairweather, for instance, started focusing his energy on hisblog and his career as arapper in 2011, while the creators ofAmazing Super Powers moved on to developing video games.[22]
My business is not a business in the sense of being a small and medium sized enterprise or even particularly entrepreneurial ... I make comics because I like the activity of writing and drawing. It is a self-sustaining, one-man enterprise.
With the rise ofsocial media in the second half of the 2000s, webcomic artists began having a more difficult time gaining attention and views.Wondermark-creator David Malki believes traffic to webcomic websites plateaued in 2012, as visiting content-specific websites generally disappeared from people's daily routines. Sharing of comic strips on social media such asFacebook has led to more exposure of webcomics, causing some to show signs of growth, but few people access webcomic websites directly.[24]
In 2015, Gambrell stated that "webcomics are dead," as the period of webcomics only being posted for free on the internet was over and the industry had moved beyond the internet.[23] Though many successful webcomic creators in the 2010s do not envision their online craft as their "job", most do not have to worry about basic money issues.[23] However, Sarah Dorchak ofGauntlet proposed in 2011 that the free nature of webcomics may be a leading factor in the decline of economic viability of traditional comic books.[1]
In 2004, R.K. Milholland's started acrowdsourcing project to stabilize the update schedule of his webcomicSomething Positive. After fans donated enough money for Milholland to quit his job and focus exclusively onSomething Positive, other webcomic creators followed his example.[25] Zach Weinersmith ofSaturday Morning Breakfast Cereal turned toKickstarter to fund his related projectSingle Use Monocles,[22] andAndrew Hussie'sHiveswap raised over US$700,000 in 2012, becoming the most successful webcomic-related Kickstarter project of all time.[26] Creators of smaller webcomics such asCucumber Quest andThe Antler Boy frequently raise over US$50,000 on Kickstarter in order to publish their material in print.[27]
Another large shift in the webcomic industry came with the 2013 introduction ofPatreon, through which people can donate money directly to content creators. Weinersmith, North, Allison, andDave McElfatrick have all pointed at the service as a turning point for the webcomic industry that allowed many artist to produce online comics full-time.[23]
The early 2010s saw the global increase in popularity ofSouth Koreanwebtoons. Supported by high-speed Internet and large-scale mobile phone usage in South Korea, webtoons achieved a high demand. Webtoons have been adapted intoTV dramas,films,online games andmusicals, making it a multimillion-dollarmarket.[28]Tapastic, a comics portal that accepts English-translated webtoons as webcomics from other cultures, was founded in 2012.Naver Corporation, South Korea's largest inventory of webtoons, began offering them in English in 2014.[29]
Around the same period,Indian webcomics andChinese webcomics also saw a large increase in popularity. Here, webcomics are often used as a vehicle for social or political reform.[30][31]
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