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What's the Worst Webcomic You've Ever Read?

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T

The Technomancer

card-carrying scientician
SHAZOOM said:
You have a point regarding the fact that to make any income in webcomics, you basically have to sell merchandise. That or ad space. The upside of webcomics is that the creator has full reign on what goes in/out of the comic. Working for a syndicate (who distributes newspaper strips) you often have to deal with censorship/editorial, to the point that sometimes you lose control of your creation.

Of course the biggest personal pet peeve is that there are too many folks copying whats popular (Penny Arcade/PVP/etc) that its become the standard that webcomic ="edgy" gag a day strip, when there's stuff like Abominable Charles Christopher, Kiskaloo, and RatFist that aren't as well known, but are superb comics in their own right.

PS I actually like Penny Arcade/PVP, I just don't see why EVERY webcomic has to be like them. Its like movies only being comedies. Its too limiting.
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Oh yeah, there are advantages to both mediums. Penny Arcade is one of my favorite comics, and PvP really is basically a newspaper comic thats just distributed digitally.

There's something about newspaper comics though, that I'm not sure if the webcomic scene will ever capture as long as the two are seen as "different" by their artists. I have yet to see something that approaches the brilliance of Bloom County at its peak, or even stuff like Calvin and Hobbes.
 
B

big_z

Member
Lost Fragment said:
Probably Electric Retard. I ain't even gonna link that shit. Google it and you'll understand.
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Nah that comic is good at being as offensive and insane as possible.
 
S

Songbird

Prodigal Son
SHAZOOM said:
Bookmarked and RSSed. Thanks for the recommendations!
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Just because the art style and sense of humour are so out there and unlike anything I've seen lately, I think Lamezone is my favourite thing right now.
 
C

Cohsae

Member
Where did John Solomon's 'Your Webcomic is bad and you should feel bad' go? That site was hilarious and it seems to have disappeared.
 
S

Sibylus

Banned
The_Technomancer said:
Webcomic cartoonists and newspaper cartoonists often get into debates about the advantages of the medium, and how all the bright new web stars are the future, and the old crusty print creators are obsolete.
But I take solace in the fact that with newspaper comics you at last have a better source of income then three t-shirt sales a month.

Yeah, that wasn't really related to the topic at hand, but this didn't seem to be going anywhere.
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There's certainly advantages to be reaped moving to the internet, yet 99% of everything that gets put out there apes newspaper comics, right down to the 3/4 panel standard. It's like they don't realize that this isn't a feature, it's a limitation enforced by newspapers trying to save as much money on ink as possible. But eh, it's understandable enough. People get inspired by the funnies and try to emulate 'em, even the flaws.
 
G

Gazunta

Member
It's not just that the 3/4 panel format is used because it's a newspaper feature, it's used because it lends itself easily to joke construction.
 
D

Droplet

Member
Alucard said:
VG Cats really isn't that bad. There are far worse web comics out there.
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Honestly if the writer knew when to stop, then it's entirely possible that VG Cats would actually be funny. Unfortunately most of his comics have a sort of rambling style that takes away most of the enjoyment. But I agree there's so much worse out there that just putting it under the category of 'mediocre' would be enough, except it's popular so that automatically puts it in the 'steaming pile of shit' category instead.
 
T

The Technomancer

card-carrying scientician
Gazunta said:
It's not just that the 3/4 panel format is used because it's a newspaper feature, it's used because it lends itself easily to joke construction.
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Indeed. Often comics that go for more panels lose their pacing and get bogged down. The limited panels suit themselves very well to set-up->delivery->punch or setup->delivery->punch->wrap-up

I wish there were more webcomics inspired by the newspaper comics, and less inspired by other (crappy) webcomics, I really do.
Why re-invent a medium thats been honed for a century, unless you're really talented enough to pull it off (and most aren't)
 
S

Sibylus

Banned
Gazunta said:
It's not just that the 3/4 panel format is used because it's a newspaper feature, it's used because it lends itself easily to joke construction.
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True, but what I'm getting at is that it's a colossal missed opportunity. That convention isn't compulsory here like it is for print comics, and in many cases it just hems in what's possible.
 
S

SHAZOOM

Member
Droplet said:
Honestly if the writer knew when to stop, then it's entirely possible that VG Cats would actually be funny. Unfortunately most of his comics have a sort of rambling style that takes away most of the enjoyment. But I agree there's so much worse out there that just putting it under the category of 'mediocre' would be enough, except it's popular so that automatically puts it in the 'steaming pile of shit' category instead.
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I have a feeling he's just trying to make the updates "worth it", since he doesn't update 3 times a week or as often as when he was starting. So he's trying to give folks 3-4 updates in one post, but it tends to ruin the pacing.
 
T

The Technomancer

card-carrying scientician
Botolf said:
True, but what I'm getting at is that it's a colossal missed opportunity. That convention isn't compulsory here like it is for web-comics, and in many cases it just hems in what's possible.
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Fair enough. The 3/4 panel format works well for joke comics. More panels usually either work for drama/story strips (which I'm not discussing in this case) or prolonged humor strips, which are much more difficult to do. Its pretty rare that I see someone try to stretch the joke and manage to keep things fresh over eight panels. You have to have a funny idea and be able to approach it from half a dozen different ways, or else you're repetitious, unfunny, or both.
 
S

Sibylus

Banned
The_Technomancer said:
Fair enough. The 3/4 panel format works well for joke comics. More panels usually either work for drama/story strips (which I'm not discussing in this case) or prolonged humor strips, which are much more difficult to do. Its pretty rare that I see someone try to stretch the joke and manage to keep things fresh over eight panels.
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I forgot to elaborate on something before, that sometimes it's as much the panel layout as it is the number. You can do all sorts of inventive and wacky things with the art and the layout on the web, but oftentimes what's put out there is the single-row 3-4 panel layout, with talking heads or very little in the way of exploring different perspectives and details of the scene (ie your standard weekly strip in newspapers). Calvin and Hobbes is definitely my favourite comic strip, and Watterson did awesome things with the freedom he was given in his space. People on the web have even fewer constraints than he, but that freedom is ignored by most.
 
T

The Technomancer

card-carrying scientician
BY2K said:
A "the Cake is a Lie" joke... in 2010 (December, even)?

I said wow.
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Just wait. In 2014 it will be (Portal 2 ahoy!)
SPAAAAAAAAAACE!

That or
Burn down your house! With the lemons!


Botolf said:
I forgot to elaborate on something before, that sometimes it's as much the panel layout as it is the number. You can do all sorts of inventive and wacky things with the art and the layout on the web, but oftentimes what's put out there is the linear 3-4 panel layout, with talking heads or very little in the way of exploring different perspectives and details of the scene (ie your standard weekly strip in newspapers). Calvin and Hobbes is definitely my favourite comic strip, and Watterson did awesome things with the freedom he was given in his space. People on the web have even fewer constraints than he, but that freedom is ignored by most.
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Oh yeah, totally agreed. I dislike "talking heads", mostly because of how re-used the assets always feel. I don't really see panel layout as being a huge damper on that though, unless you're talking about something more akin to a comic book. I mean, look at the following. Both of them are technically "talking head format" (which works well for a verbal gag strip) but the artists in both make each panel feel distinct. This works incredibly well for Penny Arcade in particular because its one of the few wordy strips that works, mostly through managing to capture the intonation and pacing of genuine conversation:
9_Edison_jollyburger1.jpg



1173457634_d5yix-L.jpg


My biggest problem with CAD visually is that even if every panel is drawn from scratch, the art style makes the entire thing feel homogenized and bland.
 
S

SHAZOOM

Member
The_Technomancer said:
That or
Burn down your house! With the lemons!
Click to expand...

That line only works so well because of J.K. Simmons. It doesn't work so well in print. *unless with the lemons is in tiny print*
 
T

The Technomancer

card-carrying scientician
Also I'm not sure how sad I should find it that the XKCD stick figures are more expressive and alive then the majority of comics characters today, newspaper or web.
 
S

Songbird

Prodigal Son
BY2K said:
*Thumbs up.*

Good choice, there.
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I'm getting a site warning for Fanboys on Opera, which is sad because I really rather like it and the guy who makes it. Malicious banner ad?
 
B

BY2K

Membero Americo
Thnikkaman said:
I'm getting a site warning for Fanboys on Opera, which is sad because I really rather like it and the guy who makes it. Malicious banner ad?
Click to expand...

I have nothing on Firefox.
 
S

Sibylus

Banned
Yeah, that sort of variation in a talky comic is definitely serviceable, but my own tastes far favour more inventive approaches. It must make my eyeballs its love slave!

Can't offhand remember the dialogue at this moment (it was pretty minimal), but one of my favourite C&H strips is a single-panel sunday, huge, detailed, etc. Calvin and Hobbes are in their wagon, and they ride down from the top-left corner and up into the top-right, all while talking and with duplicate versions of themselves for intermediate stages of the comic. I love that sort of thing, and it was one of the first comic strips I read growing up. I was spoiled rotten from the beginning!
 
F

Fimbulvetr

Member
Parallax said:
wow. really? someone thought this was a good comic?
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It's an anti-liberal propaganda comic imitating the the form of single panel news comics.

There's an even stupider propaganda webcomic comic named Billy The Heretic also done in news comic style(though not single panel).
 
S

Steamlord

Member
Yeah, my grandparents gave me The Indispensable Calvin and Hobbes when I was really little and I've been in love ever since. By the way, anyone who loves Calvin and Hobbes should read Minus.

Does anyone remember Fanboys' early days? From what I remember, it was pretty bad back then.
 
Y

Yeef

Member
Only fools and cowards hate Nedroid.

The_Technomancer said:
I wish there were more webcomics inspired by the newspaper comics, and less inspired by other (crappy) webcomics, I really do.
Why re-invent a medium thats been honed for a century, unless you're really talented enough to pull it off (and most aren't)
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Sinfest is probably the closest thing to a webcomic with a newspaper-style. It follows a lot of the conventions of the news strips (daily 3 panel comics, full page color for the sunday comics).

At the other end of the spectrum, PBF was great at taking advantage of the digital space without moving too far away from the traditional style.
 
G

Gazunta

Member
Webcomics are a tough racket to get noticed in, because as correctly pointed out above, there's so much crap out there that even average comics get dragged down in the shit.

As for the format - another reason that the newspaper style has proven so popular is because it's easy to spread around the web. We can paste regular "quick read" comics into forum posts, emails etc far easier than a long form story that requires scrolling or speakers or flash or whatever.

Been at it every day for three years now and it's not getting any easier.
 
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