Intro

Archive Crawl

\ˈär-ˌkīv ˈkrȯl\

(n.)

A period in time where a reader of a webcomic will start at the original post, then read the entire collection, perhaps years of material, in a short period of time. This is intended to catch them up with the story, to introduce plotlines and charecters, or simply to see what they have missed.

Webcomic

(n.)

Any work of art that melds images and words to create some semblance of a story. You can guess that part. The key difference between a webcomic and a normal one is that webcomics are produced primarily over the internet, hosted on private servers, and are not syndicated by any major company.  They are simply comics that were put on the net with the purpose of telling a story, or for simple entertainment.

B.N. Comics such as Penny Arcade, who have evolved to the point where they hold their own conventions, are still considered webcomics because at the start they filled the aforementioned conditions. The same goes with any published/merchandised names.

Traditionally, anyone with an idea for a comic was forced to either bow to a syndicate’s rules and make their art match the popular style, or publish it on their own and hope they make enough money to sustain the work. There was no room for the casual writer, as both paths required a high degree of talent, as well as a lot of work to keep deadlines. Simply put, there were no part-time comics.

Now, obviously, we have the internet, where people can post what they want, for free or close to it. Youtube videos of squirrels, blogs, webcomics, inane little blogs talking about webcomics, whatever. The barrier to entry that has existed in the past has broken away, and it did so in style. Now there is a webcomic series for every day of the year, and many more than that.
There has been something that I have realized, however. There are many, many people who read paper comic books about Batman, Spiderman, etc. and love them. They dress up and go to cons, buy all the latest merch and books, and pretty much hold them as a primary hobby. But these are only the paper books, what about everything online? Is there no fanboyism for the virtual realm?

Of course there is. It’s the damn internet, there’s a fanboy for everything. But webcomics are different. I have seen all the activities I mentioned with the paper books applied to the sites I visit too, from cosplay to simple chatting excitingly with pals about who released what. In fact, among my group of friends, the most commonly uttered conversation piece is “Did you see today’s _____”? We have made a new breed of comic book geek, the virtual one. The person who looks for the independents, the unrestricted, the unbridled. The web user.

I was talking to a friend today and mentioned that, since we love webcomics so much, we should make a blog about it and let everyone know about them

So I did.

And that’s why I have made a blog, to organize and review these wonderful creations that are just sitting on the net, waiting to suck your days away. And it will start soon. Click the links, do an archive crawl, just for a bit.

Note: All of the reviews are based on the current status of the comic, not what it was when it first started, unless specified. All writers/artists need time to get in the swing of things, so sometimes the beginning ones will kind of suck. A lot. But hang in there, they might get good.

With love,

Catalyst

P.S. Assume that if I don’t mention an aspect of the comic, then it is passably good. Approval by omission, I suppose.