Webcomics genre popularity

zcotty · 02-20-2009, 05:18 AM

I know that there's any kind of genre you could imagine out there.
The most popular seem to be strip comics. Because they're fast to read and fast to deliver.
I'm quite aware of the success of series like PVP and other strip series.

But is there any "conventional" webcomic that are also popular/profitable? By conventional I mean the typical superhero, scifi, adventure, crime etc that you would find in a 22 page or more printed comic.

Anyone here who has a popular one going? Or know of one? And by popular I mean more than friends and family.

MrGranger · 02-20-2009, 08:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zcotty

Anyone here who has a popular one going? Or know of one? And by popular I mean more than friends and family.

Popular as in? My INNOCENT series was averaging 10k-15k unique hits a day at Drunk Duck. Not great but not bad. D.J. Coffman probably does that now in an hour.

http://www.megatokyo.com/ is the largest standard size comic that I know of. They can do well, it's not the size of the comic but the size of your audience. You need to know your audience.

TheDeeMan · 02-20-2009, 05:29 PM

True. Manga webcomics no matter how godawful the artwork or writing is tend to do well.

And some slice of life comics like "Templar, Arizona" do quite well as well.

Folks like what they like. You can't second guess or out guess them in that respect.

Dee

Aaron Walther · 02-20-2009, 06:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zcotty

But is there any "conventional" webcomic that are also popular/profitable? By conventional I mean the typical superhero, scifi, adventure, crime etc that you would find in a 22 page or more printed comic.

Anyone here who has a popular one going? Or know of one? And by popular I mean more than friends and family.

I hope so, because I'm starting one next month....

BUT, here are two "standard" webcomics that are pretty popular, and I'm sure there's more.

http://www.drmcninja.com/
http://gunnerkrigg.com/

I don't have any hard financial information on these comics or anything, but they seem to be doing pretty well. Dr. McNinja has a booming merch store, and Gunnerkrigg Court just released it's first hardcover through Archaia.

TheDeeMan · 02-20-2009, 07:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BizarroBeachHead

I hope so, because I'm starting one next month....

BUT, here are two "standard" webcomics that are pretty popular, and I'm sure there's more.

http://www.drmcninja.com/
http://gunnerkrigg.com/

I don't have any hard financial information on these comics or anything, but they seem to be doing pretty well. Dr. McNinja has a booming merch store, and Gunnerkrigg Court just released it's first hardcover through Archaia.

If there are PW ads on these sites you can check their stats through their PW ad link.

Dee

Aaron Walther · 02-20-2009, 07:31 PM

...interesting

TheDeeMan · 02-20-2009, 09:33 PM

Sure, just click onto the part of the PW ad that says "Your ad could be here for..." and it takes you to a stat page where you can see what the comics stats are for the day and the week. Even where the readers are coming from in different countries. I do it all the time to see just how popular a site really is before buying a PW and to see where it is they get their traffic from in terms of referrals just encase I want to put up ads in those places too.

Dee

zcotty · 02-21-2009, 03:22 AM

Thanks for the input, guys. Keep em coming because, frankly, I didn't know these were that popular. (well except fo D.J. who hasn't updated in a while. Hope everythings ok over there)

Thanks Deeman for the headsup on the PW stats thingy. I'm still pretty green when it comes to the tech side of webcomics.

As you all know theres a LOT of...stuff... to filter through before you find the gems on the web. And yeah I've noticed that most of the comics seem to real bad quality Manga.

Sean C · 02-21-2009, 09:34 AM

McNinja and Gunnerkrig had a bit of help getting as popular as they are because the creators are members of the Something Awful forums - that's a MASSIVE potential fanbase. It helps that both comics absolutely rock, too. Sometimes, just being in the right place, carefully plugging your comic, can score you a large reader base.

The thing about webcomics...you could put together the best frickin' comic in the world - the best ever created, and you could go completely unnoticed while far inferior comics like Ctrl-Alt-Del makes tons of money.

Standard comics are harder to do, I'm afraid. Doing a story one page at a time, without being gag-a-page, doesn't do well with the three-second attention span the internet possesses. Humor strips do the best, and while they can have stories, still have to have jokes in each strip. Those are the strips with the best chance, it seems, but they're a dime-a-hundred-dozen, so you'd have to do something really special to get - and keep - readers' attention. Honestly, there's no sure thing and there's not even a best bet regarding genre, so just make a good comic and get a little savvy in the PR department.

TheDeeMan · 02-22-2009, 08:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sean C

McNinja and Gunnerkrig had a bit of help getting as popular as they are because the creators are members of the Something Awful forums - that's a MASSIVE potential fanbase. It helps that both comics absolutely rock, too. Sometimes, just being in the right place, carefully plugging your comic, can score you a large reader base.

I've heard this before about Something Awful. I think from Spike who does "Templar, Arizona". How huge an audience is it?

Quote:

The thing about webcomics...you could put together the best frickin' comic in the world - the best ever created, and you could go completely unnoticed while far inferior comics like Ctrl-Alt-Del makes tons of money.

Sigh. This is the story of my life.

Dee

..................................................
G.A.A.K: Groovy Ass Alien Kreatures. It's like The Goonies meets The Invaders from mars.
www.webcomicsnation.com/moniquem/gaak/series.php

Sean C · 02-22-2009, 07:22 PM

SA is HUGE. We're talking tens of thousands of registered members, and quite a few follow the Batman's Shameful Secret subforum. Also, many, many people who don't pay up ten bucks to join just follow the Webcomics Megathread, which discusses comics - it might be considered one of the central points of webcomics - it gets that much attention.

The SA crowd, if they like you, could raise you up to the top tier, and a lot of readers tend to stay loyal. God help you if they decide to bust your comic, though, because the harassment tends to be relentless, too. A buddy of mine got panned by them, and was getting weekly hate mail for MONTHS. That's the risk you get when you plug there.

JDCONE · 02-22-2009, 07:44 PM

Hello Sean C

I hate to ask this but I don't think anyone else will, but I think it needs to be asked.

Who's this buddy of yours and what's the webcomic?

The reason I'm asking is because I'm curious as to what was done to raise the ire of the posters on that site?

Was the book poorly drawn, inconsistent release dates, bad story, bad layout or web design, choice of genre, or did he just have the audacity to post there and they took exception?

I’m looking to do my first web comic and of course I’m looking to gather as much data as possible before I jump in.

If you don’t wish to release this info I understand because the poor guy’s already been put through the ringer.

Best of luck to all.

JD Calderon
Scribe / Publisher
www.DreamWeaverPress.com
www.TheOswaldChronicles.com

zcotty · 02-23-2009, 04:01 AM

Sometimes all you have to do is brush some geek the wrong way and the nex thing you know you've got a lynchmob.

That's why I like DigitalWebbing. Though things get heated from time to time, I haven't seen death threats yet.

TheDeeMan · 02-23-2009, 07:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zcotty

Sometimes all you have to do is brush some geek the wrong way and the nex thing you know you've got a lynchmob.

That's why I like DigitalWebbing. Though things get heated from time to time, I haven't seen death threats yet.

Oh, back in the "ThunderDome Days" of DW as I like to call them when I first came here (late 2000-2001) there were many a death threat to be found.

Dee

T.J. May · 02-23-2009, 07:59 AM

Yeah, but only one followed through. You can't punish the whole for one bad apple.

02-20-2009, 05:18 AM	#1
zcotty Based on a living person. Join Date: May 2008 Posts: 1,583	Webcomics genre popularity I know that there's any kind of genre you could imagine out there. The most popular seem to be strip comics. Because they're fast to read and fast to deliver. I'm quite aware of the success of series like PVP and other strip series. But is there any "conventional" webcomic that are also popular/profitable? By conventional I mean the typical superhero, scifi, adventure, crime etc that you would find in a 22 page or more printed comic. Anyone here who has a popular one going? Or know of one? And by popular I mean more than friends and family.

02-20-2009, 09:33 PM	#7
TheDeeMan Registered User Join Date: May 2002 Location: New York City Posts: 858	Sure, just click onto the part of the PW ad that says "Your ad could be here for..." and it takes you to a stat page where you can see what the comics stats are for the day and the week. Even where the readers are coming from in different countries. I do it all the time to see just how popular a site really is before buying a PW and to see where it is they get their traffic from in terms of referrals just encase I want to put up ads in those places too. Dee Last edited by TheDeeMan; 02-21-2009 at 11:50 AM.

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02-20-2009, 05:29 PM	#3
TheDeeMan Registered User Join Date: May 2002 Location: New York City Posts: 858	True. Manga webcomics no matter how godawful the artwork or writing is tend to do well. And some slice of life comics like "Templar, Arizona" do quite well as well. Folks like what they like. You can't second guess or out guess them in that respect. Dee

02-20-2009, 07:31 PM	#6
Aaron Walther Bizarro Beach Head Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: St. Louis Posts: 799	...interesting

02-21-2009, 03:22 AM	#8
zcotty Based on a living person. Join Date: May 2008 Posts: 1,583	Thanks for the input, guys. Keep em coming because, frankly, I didn't know these were that popular. (well except fo D.J. who hasn't updated in a while. Hope everythings ok over there) Thanks Deeman for the headsup on the PW stats thingy. I'm still pretty green when it comes to the tech side of webcomics. As you all know theres a LOT of...stuff... to filter through before you find the gems on the web. And yeah I've noticed that most of the comics seem to real bad quality Manga.

02-21-2009, 09:34 AM	#9
Sean C Registered User Join Date: Feb 2006 Posts: 82	McNinja and Gunnerkrig had a bit of help getting as popular as they are because the creators are members of the Something Awful forums - that's a MASSIVE potential fanbase. It helps that both comics absolutely rock, too. Sometimes, just being in the right place, carefully plugging your comic, can score you a large reader base. The thing about webcomics...you could put together the best frickin' comic in the world - the best ever created, and you could go completely unnoticed while far inferior comics like Ctrl-Alt-Del makes tons of money. Standard comics are harder to do, I'm afraid. Doing a story one page at a time, without being gag-a-page, doesn't do well with the three-second attention span the internet possesses. Humor strips do the best, and while they can have stories, still have to have jokes in each strip. Those are the strips with the best chance, it seems, but they're a dime-a-hundred-dozen, so you'd have to do something really special to get - and keep - readers' attention. Honestly, there's no sure thing and there's not even a best bet regarding genre, so just make a good comic and get a little savvy in the PR department.

02-22-2009, 07:22 PM	#11
Sean C Registered User Join Date: Feb 2006 Posts: 82	SA is HUGE. We're talking tens of thousands of registered members, and quite a few follow the Batman's Shameful Secret subforum. Also, many, many people who don't pay up ten bucks to join just follow the Webcomics Megathread, which discusses comics - it might be considered one of the central points of webcomics - it gets that much attention. The SA crowd, if they like you, could raise you up to the top tier, and a lot of readers tend to stay loyal. God help you if they decide to bust your comic, though, because the harassment tends to be relentless, too. A buddy of mine got panned by them, and was getting weekly hate mail for MONTHS. That's the risk you get when you plug there.

02-22-2009, 07:44 PM	#12
JDCONE Registered User Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: NY Posts: 20	Hello Sean C I hate to ask this but I don't think anyone else will, but I think it needs to be asked. Who's this buddy of yours and what's the webcomic? The reason I'm asking is because I'm curious as to what was done to raise the ire of the posters on that site? Was the book poorly drawn, inconsistent release dates, bad story, bad layout or web design, choice of genre, or did he just have the audacity to post there and they took exception? I’m looking to do my first web comic and of course I’m looking to gather as much data as possible before I jump in. If you don’t wish to release this info I understand because the poor guy’s already been put through the ringer. Best of luck to all. JD Calderon Scribe / Publisher www.DreamWeaverPress.com www.TheOswaldChronicles.com

02-23-2009, 04:01 AM	#13
zcotty Based on a living person. Join Date: May 2008 Posts: 1,583	Sometimes all you have to do is brush some geek the wrong way and the nex thing you know you've got a lynchmob. That's why I like DigitalWebbing. Though things get heated from time to time, I haven't seen death threats yet.

02-23-2009, 07:59 AM	#15
T.J. May Writer/SUMM Publications Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Boston Posts: 2,185	Yeah, but only one followed through. You can't punish the whole for one bad apple.