Do you still read web comics?

[WolfThomas]

Questionable Content. Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal. Penny Arcade. Oglaf. XKCD.

Only really check SMBC regularly. The rest I just binge every few weeks or months.

 

[Thaluikhain]

XKCD, of course, also Order of the Stick.

More obscure, I like Freefall (which is more story driven, but with very good science for a webcomic), Skin Deep, which is mucking about in lieu of a story driven, and Existential Comics, which is about philosophers and silly jokes.

Also liked Xyliatales, but not updated in ages (the author reconsidered her ideas about love).

 

[Souplex]

A webcomic thread?
*Searches for list*
I present the only good webcomics currently updating!

Spoiler: The only good webcomics currently updating:

http://www.giantitp.com/
http://www.erfworld.com/
http://www.penny-arcade.com/
http://www.twogag.com/
http://sarahcandersen.com/
http://threepanelsoul.com/
http://www.marycagle.com/
http://satwcomic.com/
http://awkwardzombie.com/
http://multiplexcomic.com/
http://drmcninja.com/
http://lawcomic.net/
http://chainsawsuit.com/
http://www.bugmartini.com/
http://www.smbc-comics.com/
http://www.atomic-robo.com/
Good webcomics that are still around, but don't update regularly are not mentioned.

If your comic was not on the list, it was probably because it's not good. That or I never read it.

 

[Kyrian007]

Funny, I specifically read all the webcomics that Circularlogic mentioned in the OP. And really only those (well except for Critical Miss of course and "WoT Now" which is no longer active.) But I'm still reading them. I guess I'm just not bothered by some of the non-issues that others take great exception to for some reason.

 

[Buffoon1980]

I genuinely consider SMBC to be a work of genius. It's sometimes incredibly profound, amazingly moving, truly original, and almost always funny. And, miracle of miracle, with over 4000 comics done, there's been no drop in quality. Indeed, almost all my favourites come from the latter half. Basically, it's everything that XKCD is, except more consistent, more prolific, less esoteric and, in my opinion at least, just better. It's certainly no less intelligent. Don't get me wrong, XKCD has done some brilliant and massively inventive comics, but... they're spread thin over the years.

Other webcomics I have bookmarked are Oglaf, Penny Arcade (although they've truly disappeared up their own arses over the last decade) and Deathbulge.

 

[Queen Michael]

I read lots of them. Questionable Content, Dumbing of Age, Oglaf now and then, Penny Arcade, VG Cats, and a few more.

 

[The Philistine]

I keep tabs on Megatokyo, Penny Arcade, Eva's Demon, Critical Miss, EDA, Spinnerette, Let's Speak English, and Devil's Panties. Spinnerette being a six-armed spiderman parody, Let's Speak English following the adventures of an American English teacher in Japan, and Devil's Panties being pretty much a blog on the artist's day-to-day life.

 

[hermes]

Questionable Content, XKCD and VG Cats are the only ones I read regularly...

 

[andrewHayes]

Hmm, actually I haven't in a long time.

I used to be fanatical about the webcomics I read five years ago and I remember wanting to start my own webcomic, but the internet's landscape has changed so quickly that nowadays I feel completely dissociated from the scene. Advertising is no longer a reliable source of income and marketing and the idea of setting up a webcomic to have a T-shirt store sounds lame these days, so you've got artists resorting to Patreon campaigns or print drives in order to get financial sustainment. Pageviews for self-made websites have gone down as people just look up reposts on social media without attribution. The time where you could have looked at webcomics as a possible profession seems to have long passed, and everything feels rather hobbyist these days, like the creator slapped down the work during a break in a 9-to-5 shift. At the very least, the fact that a lot of webcomic authors have either lost touch with what made their work great or just gone politically nuts is preventing me from indulging in reading their output once more.

Not to mention webcomics have to compete with webtoons, and I see a lot of people with Tapastic on their phones in the subway these days. It doesn't help that Larry Cruz pretty much stopped updating his blog, and The Webcomic Overlook got me into reading webcomics in the first place. The community seems like it's quiet and fragmented to me.

That said I have read a lot of comics, but it's going to take me a long time to try and find them again.

 

[Vault101]

I'm mostly into narrative style comics .While I'm sure there are plenty of good webcomics that follow that format my understanding is most of them are eather strip format or overly "funny" or "meta"

so I prefer "tradional" comics, or indie if you prefer...when I buy them digitally I like Comixology because their guided veiw makes reading seamless and efficient, which always felt like a barrier when reading a web comic and waiting for the damn thing to load

 

[Vault101]

[quote/]so you've got artists resorting to Patreon campaigns or print drives in order to get financial sustainment.[/quote]
the shift in monetization methods has hit pretty much all web based content creators, patreon seems to basically be the standard nowadays, I'm not sure I'd necessarily call that a bad thing

Not to mention webcomics have to compete with webtoons

out of interest what are webtoons?

[quote/]and I see a lot of people with Tapastic on their phones in the subway these days[/quote]
I've never been a webcomic reader but it makes sense that you'd want a platform that flows nicely with mobile devices as single websites with banner adds and bad color schemes tended to look rather dodgy, but I get your implication that now having to go through 3rd party platforms as the norm isn't as desirable as having ones own platform

 

[Bek359]

Much fewer than I used to. I only keep up with Atomic Robo, Awkward Zombie, Gunnerkrigg Court, Kill Six Billion Demons, and Order of the Stick. Well, and mr-culexus' Warhammer 40K stuff on DA when it updates. A lot of other comics that I used to read got bogged down in stuff I don't care about and show no sign of moving on. Kinda like the boat in Berserk, except that they finally got off the boat recently.

Comics that have finished and are still good IMO include Concerned: The Half-Life and Death of Gordon Frohman, DOUBLE K (rest in peace, dammit, it was so young), Hiimdaisy, Spacetrawler, and Brawl in the Family.

 

[thebobmaster_v1legacy]

I read El Goonish Shive and Last Res0rt.

...Rather, I would be reading Last Res0rt if it was updated.

 

[andrewHayes]

the shift in monetization methods has hit pretty much all web based content creators, patreon seems to basically be the standard nowadays, I'm not sure I'd necessarily call that a bad thing

Considering how Patreon has multiple problems like assholes getting content before they pay, combined with brats who feel entitled to everything the creator's put out and complain when their behavior is called out, I feel subscription-based models may not work in the long run, not until things are fixed to favor creators.

out of interest what are webtoons?

Korean manhua published online. They usually have a sketchy or vector aesthetic, like somebody tried to draw a manga as if it were an anime production with basic digital art tools. Sometimes painting if the artist is ambitious, but it is obvious when looking at it that the art was not made by a Japanese person but from an Asian person influenced by manga and anime. Distinctive in that for story-based webtoons, pages can be rendered like print pages from manga but be presented together vertically with blank space separating them, meaning you can scroll down to read an entire chapter. Some webtoons toy with interactivity, like the one a while back that simulated animation with JavaScript autoscrolling and played music. Lots of flat color. Can be comedic or serious. Tapastic is a major source (it also hosts Western webcomics, I think), though Naver is another one for exclusively Korean-language.

 

[Vault101]

Considering how Patreon has multiple problems like assholes getting content before they pay, combined with brats who feel entitled to everything the creator's put out and complain when their behavior is called out, I feel subscription-based models may not work in the long run, not until things are fixed to favor creators.

that sounds more like issues with people than the patreon platform, but yeah I wouldn't rush out and call it a fix (like how people say its fine cause musicians can just make money touring) but at least it looks like a feasible option for some creators

it really irritates me when people get high and mighty about creators wanting to monetize...if you put work into something you are well within your rights to try and achieve monetary compensation.

Tapastic is a major source (it also hosts Western webcomics, I think), though Naver is another one for exclusively Korean-language.

huh interesting tap-tastic does appear to host western comics, in fact it didn't look specifically "asian" at all at first glance

 

[NeutralDrow]

The only ones I outright follow these days are El Goonish Shive, Questionable Content, and Order of the Stick. I also check back on Megatokyo every so often, because I ultimately prefer reading it in chunks.

Used to follow a lot more.

 

[Tony2077]

I read Penny Arcade and Oglaf. Perry Bible whenever it updates. Used to follow Johnny Wander.

i read the same just change the rest to druid a wow webcomic and extra ordinary

 

[andrewHayes]

that sounds more like issues with people than the patreon platform, but yeah I wouldn't rush out and call it a fix (like how people say its fine cause musicians can just make money touring) but at least it looks like a feasible option for some creators

To clarify, when you make a pledge on Patreon, you can access the content *before* your payment is processed. This means you have people pledging higher tiers, getting the content, and then changing their pledge back to the minimum or canceling their pledge. Meaning while your page publicly says you're getting $600 per month or something, it's more likely you get $400. And imagine those people doing the same thing for. EVERY. MONTH/UPDATE.

Patreon has done nothing to address this rampant abuse, whether it be implementing a ban system or actually fixing their dumb system so that the payment is processed BEFORE content delivery like KickStarter (then again, they got hacked and got users' information leaked, so there's that for competence). In some cases they have tried to domwplay or sweep aside the issue altogether. Until they get their act together, I'm going to call them out for their behavior.

 

[FPLOON]

I guess? I mean, apparently, I read a lot of them[footnote]Mostly one-shots and porn-oriented... (So many boobs and/or dicks...)[/footnote], but outside of most of the ones on this very site and the <url=http://battle-dog.tumblr.com/page/195>one [now <url=http://sisters-of-the-dusk.tumblr.com/post/121577577201/page-1-commission-info-patreon-hentai-foundry>two (NSFW)] I follow on Tumblr, I don't really follow "webcomics" and, honestly, I use threads like these to remind me of the ones I occasionally forget that I like and still like if I went back to reading them again...

Other than that...

Most of the "webcomics" I read are mostly hosted off e621... So, there's that...

My past self still has a point...

 

[SummerHaze]

yeas i read but Japanese comics, manga