Why webcomics? Part 0: Introduction

Webcomics, online comics, digital comics, whatever you want to call them - words and pictures in boxes that tell stories and jokes, available on the internet. I like 'em. I'm enthusiastic about the culture, and I'm excited by the medium in a way that I haven't been by print comics. Why? Why indeed. 

The posts that follow are an attempt to explain why I think webcomics are The Way Forward, and why I'm more interested in going down the webcomic path than trying to break into the traditional comics industry. I'll frequently be comparing webcomics with print comics, which can be a topic for heated debate. The observations I make are based upon impressions gained from a fairly general survey of the terrain - I listen to podcasts, I read articles, and my understanding is (I think) pretty broad but not necessarily very deep. I am absolutely willing to be corrected if I say something that's demonstrably wrong. The plain truth of the matter is that I don't know a huge amount about the comics industry.

It's not snobbery or elitism or an irrational hatred of spandex or whatever (though I do find some comicbook plots to be kind of, uh, silly), just that I'm vastly more interested in the techniques and tools used by comic creators to tell engaging narratives than I am in the details of specific characters, stories or settings. I'd much rather talk about the use of composition to guide the eye around the page than pick apart a given issue of The Amazing Spider-Man from 1964 - unless it's to deconstruct and understand the storytelling techniques used.

So, this blog comes from the standpoint of an interested and aspirational layman, rather than an industry insider or fanatical devotee. If there's something I've missed or misunderstood then I welcome the opportunity to be corrected.

Setting the scene.

The Last Panel is a place for me to put my comic- and webcomic-related musings and ramblings. 

The name comes from the last panel of a comic, which is, to my mind, the most important - in comic strips it's the panel that contains the punchline, the payoff towards which the preceding panels have been building; in comic books it's the cliffhanger panel that encourages the reader to turn the page and keep reading to see what happens next.

So, The Last Panel is about exploring the craft of making comics, and what keeps me turning the page. My interest is as both a reader and a creator of comics, and this blog will reflect that.

The views contained within are my own, and I don't claim to be any great authority on the art or business of making comics. I can't promise any recipes for success, but will do my best to share some (hopefully interesting) thoughts I have on the subject, and maybe even spark some discussion.