Webcomics Awareness Day: On Evolution

This year, I'm not going to list all of my webcomics that I'm reading currently. I've only got a few to add to the list, but I'd really suggest all of the webcomics in the previous Webcomics Awareness Day posts. Totally.

They are here, here, and here.

But today, I wanted to bring up the transient nature of some of these webcomics. Sometimes the author just doesn't have the time to update anymore, or they lose their zeal. Or perhaps something more personal steps in the way and they just don't have the energy to keep at it.

Hiatus.

Extinction.

Disappearance.

It happens to many of them, so many that no-one ever looks at besides a small audience. I could always cite my no-effort attempt to start one, but with nothing more than a single update- I don't even call it a webcomic. I might as well have just snagged a deviantart profile and put my scribble up there. (Which people tell me I ought to do anyway- but that's another story...)

No, I'm talking about the abrupt disappearance of Kiagi Swordscat. The domain went from the hands of Kiagi's creater, Aric Hooley, to a blank page which cited a 404 error for about a month. This was after a hiatus of about two months, preceded by sporadic updates.

Beginning with Keenspace and Comicgenesis, it officially moved to become a Brainstorm Unlimited-only comic in April of 2005. You can see the archives up to its move at the comicgenesis site.

Hoo, if you're still out there, we miss you, and hope you're doing okay. Give us a sign- a forum post- anything.

Geeksalad's still on hiatus, and I still have hope for Warwick. Altermeta has been pulled from the web with hopes of a complete revamp for the world that Casey Young has created. Spare Parts has been revived.

James LiGate, creator of Savvie and Lacey, brought up some interesting thoughts about the evolution of his particular little corner of the web for his annual WebComics Awareness contribution. (The link should lead to a PG-13 part of the site, however the actual webcomic archives and site is rated as mature. You have been warned.)

To all new webcomic artists out there- don't let this post discourage you from starting one- please! All that you need to start a webcomic is you. You don't need an audience, or anything more than a medium of creation and a camera.

Photoshop helps too. But MS paint works.


Happy Cinco de Mayo everyone!