Judging from the 50 or so messages I’ve gotten in the past few hours asking for my opinion, I’d say there is some talk going on right now about two particular blog posts about webcomics and the scene. The first one is called The Death of Webcomics?, and the second is called Leapfrog: Direct Market Giants Dominate the New Digital Comics Scene.

Here’s my take on things:

Are Webcomics Dead?

I don’t give much weight to the TDOW post, because it really just seems to me that one guy got tired of reading comics online. I think that if he’s not finding anything new and interesting, he’s not looking hard enough. There are so many great artists and writers that are unsung. I don’t mean to sound like an ass pirate here – I don’t blame him for not looking hard enough. The internet in general has changed a lot. Everyone has something online these days, webcomics are now competing against things like Lady Gaga’s videos on Youtube, Hulu, random blogs, porn, and Amazon.com. Your average reader has ADD because of information overload – myself included. It is really easy to get tired of looking for stuff. Finding comics can be like finding a needle in a haystack.

I refer to a “webcomics scene” a lot, but there really is no “scene”. To be really accurate I should call it the “Webcomics Series of Random Cliques”. The only thing most of us have in common is our method of publication and, in some cases, marginalization by so-called “print snobs”. There is no one place that you can go to find new online comics. Even with places like Fleen and Comix Talk (two places that are really awesome), they can’t canvas even a minor amount of the things online–though they try their hardest–it’s just too big of an internet.

It seems the barrier to entry that is imposed by information overload affects everyone. Let me tell you — it seems that almost every time a new person posts up a “Top 10″ blog post for different genres they feature the same 10 guys that were popular 8 years ago. On the other hand I have even met people who read a lot of comics that have never heard of Penny Arcade. It is a big internet. Compounding matters is the fact that webcomics on a whole are absolutely terrible at promoting their work. Almost none of them have a press kit or focus on a hook that will interest the media. I love these guys, but it’s true. Comics are shy!

The simple fact is that everyone is on the internet, which creates a large barrier to visibility for any one site, because people have less time and more to see. The positive is that there are more fans and more money to support more projects, It just requires creative thinking to reach those fans. I used to believe in only marketing online, but now I’ve taken to reaching out locally as well to create solid relationships to shore up the things that I do. But I digress – creative marketing is another post altogether that is probably better suited for my tutorial section over at Onezumiverse.

Webcomics are not dead. I have always thought that the beautiful thing about webcomics is that most people — regardless of tax bracket — can start their own creative project. This can then be a lever to better things whether it be comic books, video game design, or a great job at an office. When I was growing up, I had absolutely no hope of doing anything creative because I was poor–Webcomics changed all of that. Not only did I grow as an artist, but I grew as a person, got the hell over my issues, and became a successful member of society. The alternative was that I probably would have been dead by now. The option to make art, where there was none before, saves lives. I believe it and I am living proof. I even started my own freaking convention about it. So far, the response has been phenomenal by both creators and fans.

That is not dead. That is fucking metal.

Have Publishers Played Leapfrog?

I’m an iPad/iPhone Developer. I have my own fan connect app and actually created a modular version that I give for free to other comics.

I’m guessing that Joey hasn’t developed any apps. The process is extremely tedious, not-intuitive, and expensive. There is a reason I decided to give my first app out to other comics — I invested a lot of time and money into mine and I figured that I should give back to the community because I had already paid out. More people may as well use it, it doesn’t detract from my revenue.

Not only is the process tedious and expensive, not many people have iPads, and the iPad can display most comics perfectly already.

Here’s an exercise — Walk down the street and ask 10 people if they have an iPad at random. Most of them will probably say no. iPhones and iPads are popular, but a lot of people also do not have them. It makes no sense to invest a lot of time and money into something that isn’t easy for everyone to have. I could publish my comics only inside special monitors in BMWs — it would be similar. A lot of people in New Jersey have BMWs. I see them everywhere — but no one I know has one.

The publishers haven’t leapfrogged anything. They are just doing what they always did — investing more money than an average person can afford to invest into something flashy to make people talk about their product. In the same vein, Beyonce has billboards in Times Square because her label paid for it. An independent band didn’t miss the boat because they also didn’t buy one — they don’t have the ability to do so and have to do something else.

Every scene gets co-opted by companies. It happened to goth and punk, so it is now happening to the internet. Everywhere companies are trying to sell “geek” back to you. CNN thinks they are so clever with their “What is Cosplay?” articles and slick with their “Look! We are at Comicon!” posts. The difference is that on the internet we still have freedom of choice. We don’t have to be in bed with a label to exist. We aren’t relying on them or any other big company to deliver us to our fans. This just means that we need to truly engage with people and be innovative.

This isn’t an arms race. Webcomcs are the same as independent bands. You do what you can afford to do and put your heart into it. I’m the first person to jump into new technology, but you have to be smart about it. As of this writing, making a special reader for the iPad isn’t high on my “To Do” list. Connecting with my readers through various social media, doing great work for them, and delivering the best webcomic convention on the planet is on my To Do list. The iPhone/iPad app that I already made and am currently refining to be more awesome is a tool to connect more easily with people across the many sites that I post various projects on just for that reason.

So those are my thoughts and opinions on both topics. Please feel free to comment below if you want to add to or disagree with my take on these issues.