Let Me Tell You About Webcomics: A New Postmodern Genre
by Paige Gelsimino
The word “comic” has often been used as a blanket term to cover the many variations such as comic strip, comic book, graphic novel, and webcomic. Many people are completely content to leave it that way, but with this being the age of computers, leaving the term "comic" to cover so many variations, especially webcomics, just isn't going to cut it anymore. One of the big differences that sets apart webcomics from print comics is the fact that webcomics are created using the internet as a medium, whereas the other forms were created in print. Andrew Smith describes webcomics as “comics [that] have been transposed onto the internet” but it goes further than that. Smith continues saying that “unlike other genres of literature that have been merely ‘reprinted’ or ‘repackaged’ on the internet, [webcomics] have been recreated in cyberspace” (Smith). Webcomics have taken advantage of the fact that it has all of the internet at its disposal and uses it to tell a whole new kind of story. Because of this, webcomics should be considered separate from print comics since the webcomic re-invents story-telling for the 21st century. It does this in four important ways, by transcending the boundaries of how narrative is communicated, by challenging the traditional notions of unity and continuity to create a continuous narrative free from a set structure, by re-defining the notion of a whole narrative by blurring the roles of the reader and writer, and by transcending the traditional idea of message or theme being central to the story, along with challenging those same messages and themes. Applying these ideas to four different webcomics will help to show how webcomics are evolving from the print comic into a genre of its own.
Homestuck by Andrew Hussie is one of the webcomics that will be discussed. Its main plot revolves around four kids, John, Rose, Dave, and Jade, who begin playing a videogame that brings about the end of the world. They are then forced to play through the videogame, called Sburb, to create a new planet for them to live on if they win. Through unforeseen circumstances, the Sburb game session ends up destroying the chances of winning for another game session for an alien race called Trolls. They then must work together to find some way to win and survive the game.
The second webcomic that will be looked at is Olympus Overdrive by Oskar and Jojo, which is about the Greek gods in the modern day. Zeus decides that, in order to select a new leader of Olympus, all the gods will have to enter a game where they become partners with humans to defeat one another. The story focuses on Max who is paired up with the god Hades. The winning team will have the god or goddess become the new leader of Olympus, while the human will get one wish granted to them.
The third webcomic is Ava’s Demon by Michelle Czajkowski, which is about Wrathia, an empress who ruled over a great nation, but when Titan’s armies began sweeping across the universe, taking over Wrathia’s countries, she had to plan some way to fight back. Her, and all of her closest companions, drink a potion that attaches their souls to someone being born at that moment. They then make a contract with their host in order to fight against Titan when the time is right. The story focuses on Ava who is Wrathia’s host. As Ava was dying they made the contract, Ava would fight against Titan if Wrathia would give her a new life.
Spiddrelli by Clay is the fourth webcomic that will be discussed. It begins with a detective going over a cold case he has been assigned. It’s about a missing child, with the only clues being a folder with the word “Spiddrelli” on it and some green squares, which the detective discovers are films. He begins watching them and what he ends up watching is the webcomic itself. Spiddrelli, a man thought to be dead, and several others are recruited by Robin, a centurion, to become members of Century, a group that was thought to be gone after the war. They will work together to keep the world of Thede from destroying itself by keeping the hi-tech alien weaponry that is littered all over the world out of its hands.
So begin your interactive journey through this website by clicking the button below to discover what exactly is so important about webcomics.