Breaking into the cartoon strip business is a feat of almost Herculean scale. It’s enough to make even Hagar tremble.
Cartoonists can toil for years, working alone and developing a strip for a syndicate before an audience sees their work. Still, some never make it to newspapers. Thousands try out, but only a few new strips see print.
But a new generation of strip artists is eliminating the middleman and posting their strips on-line. Top Internet strips such as “Kevin and Kell” (www.kevinandkell.com) and “Sinfest” (www.sinfest.net) enjoy millions of readers a month without the help of a syndicate, the conventional means of distribution.
“There is no doubt that over time you will have a top comic strip be born out of an on-line experience,” says Bob Staake, freelance illustrator and CEO of trade site Planetcartoonist.com, which monitors the budding industry and provides resources for on-line talent. Staake’s site also serves as showcase portal for on-line cartoonists and hosts “The Top 100 Comic Strip Sites” directory.
Artistic freedom, instant reader feedback and wide exposure are just a few of the benefits of publishing on the Web, but many cartoonists see the Internet as the means to jump to more lucrative newspapers and magazines.
Peter Zale’s “Helen, Sweetheart of the Internet,” for example, was recently picked up by Tribune Media Services after spending two years on-line and other artists hope to follow suit.
“I would give it all up to be in newspapers, or that’s what I used to say,” says Steve Troop, creator of “Melonpool” (www.melonpool. com), a strip populated with pop culture-addicted aliens stranded on Earth. “The syndication process has failed a lot of us. I’ve submitted many times and been rejected. I’m just of the mind that I’m still doing a newspaper strip, [but] I’m just doing it on-line.”
The six major syndicates receive between 5,000 and 6,000 submissions each year. Only a handful get signed to development deals, and even fewer break into newspapers. And, since a set number of slots for comic strips exists, for a new comic to be moved in, another strip must be dropped from the paper–a practice that newspapers generally avoid.
On-line however, space is infinite and the possibilities are nearly endless. The challenges are just as daunting though, especially if you’re trying to generate revenue.
“Everyone I know who does it, they really aren’t doing it for the money, they’re doing it because they love it,” says Darren Bleuel, creator of Nukees (www.nukees.com) and co-owner of Keenspot.com, a premier portal and host of fresh on-line talent. “Unlike most Web sites, we’re turning a profit, although not a huge profit. Unfortunately, there hasn’t been enough money to give to the cartoonists so they can quit their day jobs, which is really what we’re aiming for.”
As the bottom continues to fall out of advertising on the Web, it’s become increasingly difficult to make a living on-line. While there is money to be made through licensing strips to other sites, the market for banner ads is evaporating as the economy declines.
Although Bleuel supports the idea of free cartoons, Keenspot is considering other avenues to bring in money, like charging for e-mail delivery, a service that is currently free.
Bleuel, a nuclear physics student at the University of California at Berkeley, sees the Internet as the ultimate marketplace for competitive, quality strips. Plus, the absence of industry pressure and censorship allows artists to be innovative and find their voice on-line.
“They don’t have people telling them, you can or can’t do this. They are not limited by what the syndicate feels is appropriate,” Bleuel says. “And they really have to keep the quality up, or they’ll lose the readership. Unlike syndicated world, where once you’re in, you’ve got tenure. I always thought that comic strips in the newspaper show a good first year and then they slack off. You end up with `the Garfield complex,’ where Jim Davis employs a staff” to work on his strip.
Newspaper syndication is still where the big money–in fact, almost any money at all–is for strip creators. Strips that appear in 50 or more papers can make enough money ($30,000 to $50,000, according to industry sources) for their creators to cartoon fulltime, which can in turn lead to more lucrative book and licensing deals once the strip gains momentum and is placed in more papers.
Sensing the digital shift however, comic distributors such as Universal Press Syndicate and King Features are staking out territory on-line, branding their high-profile properties like “Dilbert” and “Doonesbury” with glossy, interactive Web sites.
UClick.com, once the on-line arm of Universal, has since become a separate company and is developing Internet-only strips like “Reynolds Unwrapped” and “Oddly Enough” on its sister site, UComics.com. The plan is to move them to print media as they build a larger following.
“It’s something that we’re just now exploring,” says Scott Shorter, director of content development at UClick.com. “Syndicates have development contracts and other tools to develop cartoonists. The Web just gives you a better outlet to develop these upcoming talents.”
There are few Internet purists, however, like Maritza Campos’ “College Roomies from Hell!!!” (www.CRFH.net), a popular series hosted by Keenspot.
“My work’s never been designed to be viewed in other mediums,” says Campos. “An on-line cartoonist can choose the format, size and colors–but it’s all about creative freedom. I can color it daily if I want to. Sometime animation can be added and used effectively.”
The presence of cartoon archives on-line has impacted how some comics are written, further distinguishing them from their newspaper counterparts.
“Readers tend to go back and read past strips, read the archive,” says Thomas K. Dye, creator of “Newshounds.” “As a result, you have a bigger ability to write longer, more involved stories with character development. Whereas when I was applying for syndicates, the guidelines would say `don’t do character-oriented comics’–all they really want is gag-a-day strips.”
Zale, who has moved “Helen, Sweetheart of the Internet” into more than 50 newspapers, is altering his style for a newspaper audience. “It’s like going from writing albums to writing singles. I think more in terms of the gag, the joke now and less in terms of plot line.”
On-line cartooning also means an international audience, as well as international creators. Campos lives in Merida, Mexico, on the Yucatan Peninsula and writes the strip in English, even though it’s her second language. Having “Peanuts” read to her as a child influenced her career path and helped her learn English, although she’s embarrassed by the occasional grammatical error.
Of Keenspot’s 50 creators, a few are Canadian and a couple of artists hail from the British Isles. “Down to Earth” is produced by American writer and colorist Gavin Chafin and drawn by Briton Steve Wood. The pair met on-line and after 450 strips, they’ve yet to meet in person.
However, even with 3,700 hits a day, Chafin and Wood are taking a sabbatical from the strip this month. “We really enjoy doing it, but we have to say: `What are we really getting out of this?’ We’ve got a lot of fans, but we didn’t get syndicated and that was our goal, so we’re putting it down for three months.”
Most on-line cartoonists see little money for their labor, and but the few successes and an open future continue to cultivate a healthy on-line community for comic strip creators and readers.
“All these media sources out there, whether you’re talking about Time Warner, AOL, Knight Ridder–these media giants are digging their heels in and establishing their real estate on-line. And that’s what individuals are doing as well,” says Staake of Planetcartoonist.com. “Give these people time; it’s all still in its infancy. No, you’re not going to get a huge syndicate deal overnight, but down the line–who knows what will happen?”
GETTING YOUR YUCKS ON-LINE
Looking for an alternative to newspaper funnies? Why not take a look at some popular on-line strips such as:
www.sinfest.net (“Sinfest” by Tatsuya Ishida): God, Slick and Monique round out a cast of ultra-cool strips about love, life, and deities with attitude.
kevinandkell.com (“Kevin and Kell” by Bill Holbrook): What happens when carnivores and herbivores marry? Creator Holbrook dares to ask, with humorous results.
www.downtoearth.com (“Down to Earth” by Gavin Chafin and Steve Wood): This strip explores a day (or two) in the life of Death, including vacation days.
www.melonpool.com (“Melonpool” by Steve Troop): Pop culture addicted aliens get marooned on Earth.
www.crfh.net (“College Roomies From Hell!!!” by Maritza Campos): A self-explanatory title written by Mexican Campos, who learned English partially by reading comic strips.
www.peterzale.com (“Helen, Sweetheart of the Internet” by Peter Zale): Described by the author as a strip about the “glamour” of the Internet, “Helen” predates “Dilbert” and has since found a home in newspapers.
www.newhounds.com (“Newhounds” by Thomas K. Dye): A woman and her pets run a news station.
If you’re an aspiring cartoonist, or just want to read other online strips, check out these portals and resources:
Keenspot.com: The Web’s premier portal for independent strips.
Keenspace.com: A forum and hosting site for developing talent, which includes over 100 strips.
Uclick.com and Ucomics.com: Developing syndicate and non-syndicate artists including “Tom the Dancing Bug,” “Crankshaft” and more.
Planetcartoonist.com: A publishing resource for comic strip creators and readers.
— Robert Elder
