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Webcomics are comics published on a website or mobile app. While many are published exclusively on the web, others are also published in magazines, newspapers, or comic books.
Boy on a Stick and Slither is a webcomic by Steven L. Cloud. Strips usually feature a short, pithy and sometimes surreal exchange between the title characters. The strip is characterized by dry and cynical humor.
Modern Tales was a webcomics subscription service active from 2002 to 2012. Joey Manley was the website's publisher and original editor. The site featured a roster of approximately 30 professional webcomic artists. Shaenon Garrity, one of the site's original artists, took over as the publication's editor in 2006. Other Modern Tales artists included Gene Luen Yang, James Kochalka, Dorothy Gambrell, Harvey Pekar and Will Eisner.
Real Life is an American webcomic drawn and authored by Maelyn Dean. It began on November 15, 1999, and is still updated, after breaks from December 10, 2015 to September 10, 2018, and again from July 16, 2019 to June 15, 2020. The comic is loosely based around the lives of fictionalized versions of Dean and her friends, including verbatim conversations, as well as fictional aspects including time travel and mecha combat. Characters regularly break the fourth wall. Real Life focuses on humor related to video games and science fiction, and references internet memes.
Diesel Sweeties is a webcomic and former newspaper comic strip written by Richard Stevens III. The comic began in 2000, originally hosted at robotstories.com. From January 2007 until August 2008 it was syndicated to over 20 United States newspapers, including major daily newspapers like The Detroit News and Houston Chronicle.
Goats is a popular webcomic written and illustrated by Jonathan Rosenberg. The webcomic started April 1, 1997. On April 3, 2006, after nine years drawing the strip, Rosenberg became a full-time cartoonist making his living drawing Goats. In 2010, because of work on Scenes from a Multiverse, Goats was put on hiatus. In 2012 Rosenberg raised more than $55,000 via Kickstarter to print Goats Book IV, relaunch the website and finish the story with Goats Book V. On August 19, 2014, 71 comics and all e-books were republished, while Kickstarter backers have yet to receive any merchandise.
Jeffrey J. Rowland is the author and artist responsible for Wigu and Overcompensating, two popular webcomics. Originally from Locust Grove, Oklahoma, Rowland now lives in Easthampton, Massachusetts, where he continues to work on the two projects, while running TopatoCo, a company which sells merchandise based on his and other artists' comics.
Girlamatic was a webcomic subscription service launched by Joey Manley and Lea Hernandez in March 2003. It was the third online magazine Manley established as part of his Modern Tales family of websites. Girlamatic was created as a place where both female artists and readers could feel comfortable and featured a diverse mix of genres. When the site launched, the most recent webcomic pages and strips were free, and the website's archives were available by subscription. The editorial role was held by Hernandez from 2003 until 2006, when it was taken over by Arcana Jayne-creator Lisa Jonté, one of the site's original artists. In 2009, Girlamatic was relaunched as a free digital magazine, this time edited by Spades-creator Diana McQueen. The archives of the webcomics that ran on Girlamatic remained freely available until the website was discontinued in 2013.
Joe Zabel is a comic book writer and artist living in Cleveland Heights. He is best known for his work illustrating American Splendor, by fellow Clevelander Harvey Pekar. Under the company names Known Associates Press and Amazing Montage Press, Zabel has also published his own series of mystery comics, The Trespassers.
Jonathan Rosenberg is the webcomic artist responsible for Goats, Scenes from a Multiverse and megaGAMERZ 3133T. Rosenberg has been producing webcomics since 1997, making him one of the original webcomic artists. When the National Cartoonists Society added a new category, Online Comic Strips, in 2011, Rosenberg was the first winner.
Pictures for Sad Children is a 2007 webcomic, created by Simone Veil. The webcomic, about a ghost named Paul, featured a spare and minimalist black-and-white artstyle and depressive, nihilistic themes. In 2012, Veil launched a highly successful Kickstarter campaign to publish a print collection of the webcomic. However, Veil was not able to ship all of the copies to backers, and emails from fans asking when their book would arrive eventually led Veil to burn a portion of the remaining books. After Pictures for Sad Children was taken offline in 2014, a fan community rose up to share pages and other content from the webcomic.
The New England Webcomics Weekend was a webcomics convention first held March 20–22, 2009 in Easthampton, Massachusetts, United States. It was organized by webcomic artists, including Octopus Pie artist Meredith Gran. A second convention occurred November 6–7, 2010. It did not repeat in 2011.
ShiftyLook was a subsidiary of Bandai Namco Holdings that was focused on revitalizing older Namco franchises, with their first step being video game webcomics based on the company's various franchises. The subsidiary later offered webtoons, anime, playable games, music, message boards, and graphic novels as well. ShiftyLook regularly held substantial exhibitions at large US comics conventions, having a major booth presences and holding large giveaways of promotional merchandise.
The Topato Corporation is a widely recognized online retailer of webcomics and related merchandise. It was established around 2004 by artist Jeffrey Rowland.
In contrast with mainstream American comics, webcomics are primarily written and drawn by women and gender variant people. Because of the self-published nature of webcomics, the internet has become a successful platform for social commentary, as well as lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) expression.
Notable events of 2004 in webcomics.
The business of webcomics involves creators earning a living through their webcomic, often using a variety of revenue channels. Those channels may include selling merchandise such as t-shirts, jackets, sweatpants, hats, pins, stickers, and toys, based on their work. Some also choose to sell print versions or compilations of their webcomics. Many webcomic creators make use of online advertisements on their websites, and possibly even product placement deals with larger companies. Crowdfunding through websites such as Kickstarter and Patreon are also popular choices for sources of potential income.
Notable events of the late 1990s in webcomics.
Melanie Gillman is an American queer non-binary cartoonist, illustrator, and lecturer, specializing in LGBTQ comics for Young Adult readers, including the webcomic As the Crow Flies. Their comics have been published by Boom! Studios, Iron Circus Comics, Lion Forge Comics, Slate, VICE, Prism Comics, Northwest Press, and The Nib.
