I’ve read webcomics about time travel, space ninjas, rampaging monsters, elves, orcs, Einstein, and heartbreaks. The Web has presented comic creators with an interesting new landscape. Tumblr, WordPress, and everything in between have guaranteed that if any aspiring creator makes a comic, it will get digitally published. Whether anybody reads it or not is a different story.
With this new creator-owned digital dynamic, webcomics and the ideas supporting them are, pardon the adage, a dime a dozen. This means the introduction of webcomics obliterated any preconceived notions behind the theory that there is such a thing as an “original idea.” It’s all been done before, detectives with drinking problems, goblins who like to knit, we’ve seen it all and our attention spans are ever-dwindling. So, now the question is — how does a webcomic really stand out among the tidal wave of daily digital comics?
The answer, as Mike Steele and Julia Philip have shown with their webcomic Battle Creek, NE, is character; good ole fashion character.
Students of the Unusual™ comic cover used with permission of 3BoysProductions
The Mercuri Bros.™ comic cover used with permission of Prodigal Son Press