Hey gang. Computer’s still down. Needs me a new hard drive. It’ll be a bit before I’m operational at home again. For now, here’s something I wrote on Drunk Comic Reviews. Normally, shit on there ain’t supossed to be taken any sorts of seriously. But you know what? I said some things I stand by. Part of it was bashing an individual, so if you want to read that bit, you may. The rest of it, was some stuff I’ve been meaning to say about webcomics for a while now. And dammit, they’re worth repeating. So I’m putting ‘em here, just to make sure people know I’m serious.
Here goes…
… I think I’ll talk about some motherfuckering webcomics, eh?
Sike. I’m gonna talk about the state of webcomics instead. What, you thought I was actually gonna talk about a specific webcomic? Suckers.
Ok, fine. I’ll mention one. Ummmmm… how about… Ctrl+Alt+Del? Yeaaaahhh… that’s a good & meaty subject right there.
I’m sure you’re expecting me to go ooooonnnn and oooooonnnn about how much it “sucks,” right? Sorry. Not gonna hapen. I’ll openly admit I’m not a fan. Hell, I don’t read it. I stopped. Because my tastes no longer coincided with what CAD offered.
It happens.
Now this is my favorite part. The part where all the “big name” webcomic folks who slam CAD for being derivitive, a Penny Arcade knock-off, lame, generic, bad, whatever. All them big name webcomic folk (who? pick one) who go oooooonnn and oooooonnnn about CAD and it’s alleged faults… while at the same time talk about how important it is that webcomics become a household thing.
What, you don’t think that’s strange? Let me illustrate.
Take David Cronenberg. Helluva filmmaker. Unique style, talent, he’s good. He’s proven his clout with a hefty library full of movies that are quite niche, and just good movies. A common misconception is that Niche and Good are mutually exclusive. That it has to be some sort of obscure thing that’s of high quality and/or artistic merit to be any good. The whole “Indy” mentality.
Well ask mom and dad if they’ve ever heard of David Cronenberg. Or The Arcade Fire. Or Mitch Hedburg. Or Chuck Palahniuk. Or Nicholas Gurewitch. Etc.
Now ask them if they’ve ever heard of Steven Spielberg. Or The Rolling Stones. Or Jerry Seinfeld. Or Tom Clancy. Or Charles Schulz. And so on.
Quality and exclusivity have no direct correlation whatsoever.
But there’s one factor as to why some folks who are of high quality in the whole entertainment thing are more famous and/or more successful than others. And that, my friends, is accessability. There’s a reason america fucking loves The Simpsons. It’s hilarious (at least it was during its heyday), and it honestly doesn’t take that much effort to understand. If you make some sort of obscure, difficult to comprehend work of art on a regular basis, and you’re wondering why you’re not famous or whatever? Think about that. In order to gain a mass audience, you will have to appeal to the mass. It really is that simple.
CAD appeals to a broad audience. Because while it’s mainly about video games and video game players, you don’t necessarily have to play video games to get it. The average strip can still be funny for reasons like:
1) Ethan’s a moron.
2) The X-Bot is racist against humans.
3) Violence.
Or whatever else. It doesn’t require that much damned work to understand CAD. And yeah, that means it’ll suffer from the certain rewards that complication and exclusivity can bring. Like, striking a strong chord with your core audience, and serving the needs of an underserved interest base. Yeah, in order to appeal to that greatest audience possible, you’re gonna have to sacrifice some of that. Comes with the territory.
Now some folks may be piping up with complaints about a lack of integrity or whatever. And let me say this: True integrity is sticking to the goal that you set out for at the beginning. If your goal is to make only the purest art that your soul can muster, conventions and standards and expectations be damned, you stick to it. If your goal is to get the biggest audience possible, sell that merch, make that dollar, and buy yourself a niceass car, you stick to it. If your goal is to make money with your art, but on your terms, and with the concessions and comprimises you’re comfortable making… then fucking stick to it. That’s integrity. Doing what you fucking said you were going to do. And we’ll never truly know what Buckley’s original goals were. I’m confident, at any rate, that he’s getting exactly what he wants.
A big mistake all people everywhere on the fucking world makes: Assuming everyone wants the same thing you do. And if they don’t have the same goal you have, then by golly, you oughtta turn your nose up at them, look down upon them, point your finger and call them whatever name suits your fancy. Because that makes you the cool one, right?
So anyway, what I was saying about those big name types, or fucking any types who say they want webcomics to become a household thing, the stuff mom and dad read in their free time. Anyone who says that has absolutely no fucking ground to get down on any widely successful and popular comic, for the reasons that basically sum up to the complaint that it’s bland, derivitive, or appeals to the widest audience or whatever. Because what they’re doing what you claim you want. They’re reaching the widest possible audience they can. They’re webcomics more of a household name than you are, probably.
Which brings us to this important question: Do you really want all webcomics to be a common household item? Or do you just want your webcomic to be a common household item?
Yeah. That’s what I thought.