Today comics are developed in digital way, named webcomics.
The main feature of webcomics is easy access through webpage or blogs. Also,
anyone can draw comics even though they are unprofessional. Unlike professional
comic books and graphic novels from publishers, the techniques more free-styled
that is not restricted by format. Styles range from stickmen to realistic
figures, as well as genres are various. Mostly, however, the genre of webcomics
are composed of omniverse or casual life story.
Since I am mainly familiar with South Korean culture, I can
exemplify at first with Korean webcomics, or “Webtoon”. The representative
works are “Tower of God”, “Noblesse”, or “The God of High School”. The Korean
comic book industries are very poor because the audience is not welcome to
purchase comic books, and comics are considered to spoil their children. For
these reasons, even the Korean comic magazines mainly import Japanese comics.
During the 90s these phenomena cycled and the artists could not make much incomes. As the 21st century has begun, the webtoon systems started to show up
via the internet websites. The initial goal of making webtoon was to advertise
their websites to the network users so that they could be entertained by the
webtoon. It is free to read, easy to access, and the stories are simple and short
that everyone could enjoy quickly while on recess, or on the way in
transportations. Instead of paying money, webtoon artists compete with each other
with a number of views. Depending on the popularity, the comics are recreated multiple
sources such as movies, animations, dramas, and games. Therefore, the webtoon
now is considered as a solid form of entertainment.
On the other hand, Japanese webcomic systems are not as strong
as Korea or the US ones. It is mainly because the traditional Manga systems are
too strong that the audience has no reason to go find the weaker qualities of
them. The webcomics have the original styles of compositions and techniques
comparing to traditional comic books. The audience read the webcomic by
scrolling from top to bottom, so the compositions are more vertical. Also the
scrolling read can convey a continuous effect so sequential techniques can be utilized
like animations and movies do. However, the Japanese webcomics follow with the
traditional compositions so literally upload their digital artworks to the
website and read horizon like regular comic books.
In the states, most comics were always with a topic of
superheroes. Today, however, the American comics are mainly influenced by
Japanese Manga and Korean Webtoon styles and follow their techniques. American
webcomics also range with a variety of genres, and I notice they usually
feature with omniverse styles of satires and black comedies. The typical
example is “Cyanide & Happiness”. With a simple stick figure characters,
they play with a lot of sexual, violent, and offensive jokes. The art is very
simple that anyone can easily access to read and enjoy the story regardless of the
violence. This webcomic can be found anywhere via facebook, twitter, youtube,
and google. Such easy accessibility attracts more audiences and makes the art friendlier
to them.
The world has been changed from traditional ways to
high-technologies. There is no exception, including comics. Since the internet is commonly used, the artists started utilizing that fact and developing
as webcomics. Unlike traditional comic books, webcomics follow with today’s
trends and combine with art and technology. It is only the beginning of
webcomics now, but in the close future, I believe that webcomics will be
developed much more that we cannot even imagine right now, and they will
combine with various high-technologies and apply them to their arts.
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