When do you give up on a webcomic?

[elros]

Webcomics interest me because usually only one person is responsible for the writing, artwork, and e-publishing the work. The low barrier to start a webcomic allows people to find an audience, but creators rarely have editors or someone else to smooth out the rough edges, and yet they face pressure to produce a quality update on a regular schedule. I have a lot of respect for people who take their webcomics seriously and share their work at essentially no cost to readers.
With that in mind, I do reach a point where I stop following webcomics. Either the content is updated too infrequently, story lines or characters fail to develop, or the creator says or does something offensive. All of those problems are understandable, and many of these comics continue with a loyal audience despite those flaws.
What are the issues that make you stop following a webcomic? And what advice do you have for creators so they can avoid driving away readers?

[Frozenstep]

The same reasons I'd give up on any other story in any other medium. Could be that the story bores me, could be that it's alright, but not enough that I remember to check it for updates and it just gets forgotten. I think webcomics in particular are prone to pacing problems, though. A lot of things that read very well when binged all at once don't work out so well when you're only seeing a page a week. But you also can't just rush everything, that causes its own problems.

I'm no expert story teller, all I can say is the best webcomics I've read made frequent use of humor, mini-wham moments, and small revelations about mysteries that have been set up within the worldbuilding or characters, so that each update has something going for it. Just so that when I check the latest update, I don't just go "ah, filler panels again this week. Drat." I recognize just how difficult that is, though.

[Flemkopf]

If I read through a comic's archives it has been more likely that the comic stops than that I stop reading. At one point about six years ago I followed nearly twenty webcomics. Some of them finished out their stories. A couple I drifted away from as what I became comfortable with/enjoyed changed with time. A few I gave up on due to poor writing/drawing or turning into political soapboxing. More typically the creators ran into health/life issues or somehow moved on and stopped updating frequently. I haven't really picked up any new comics since then as I got married, time demands have changed significantly, and I've just changed phases of life with less exploration of geek culture.

Most of those webcomics that ended early/stopped updating frequently were created by individuals. For some reason it seems to the around the 3-400 page mark and about five years in that the creators seem to lose hold on the schedule. Some have health issues that make drawing difficult, some just can't make it work financially and end up dropping the comic as they focus on work. Some have dealt with depression off and on for a while, some burn out. Some look at their work and pacing/writing issues and just decide they can't make it work anymore. If I see an announcement that a creator is starting a second webcomic, I make a mental note that the comic will probably only last a year or two longer. Making a webcomic is a long, hard slog and it is pretty much impossible to do it long-term without help.

At this point, there are three webcomics I still follow regularly (xkcd, Girl Genius, Darths and Droids). XKCD is generally minimalist with enlisted help for many of the technically ambitious comics, Girl Genius is written by a husband/wife + colorist team that transitioned from print, and Darths and Droids is written by a team of friends with David Morgan-Mar heading things up. All of the comics that I followed through to completion were either created by several individuals or else had a single creator with a supportive spouse or other individuals who helped with the business side. There's just too many skillsets involved in a successful operation for one person to do alone.

[Vinyadan]

Blind Ferret Studio is something of an expert in making me drop its comics. Looking for Group had some very funny early pages, but it immediately showed its problems in many ways. It refused to stay generic in its characters, instead deciding to characterise them in a rather inconsistent way. It had huge scene transition problems. It tried to add plot, but did not have the skill or consistency to make it stick. And it drowned the comic into bad humour. Not offensive humour, humour that just wasn't funny to me. Finally, the writer seemed to assume that both the characters and the readers really wanted to kiss the evil warlock's feet, with the result that reality started to alter around him to make him always be accepted or the strongestest awesomesest missedest etc. I dropped the comic when I had to accept that the early setup just wasn't what it was about, that the plots weren't going anywhere, and it wasn't even funny any more.
There isn't a big special reason for dropping Least I Could Do. It just got really boring.
I also stopped reading Gutters. I think there was a strip that hit me really bad, but I don't remember which one it was.

From a different author, I stopped reading Grrl Power because even its script felt full of useless clutter, and something in how the pages are drawn made it a mess. Most importantly, its story steadily refused to actually go somewhere.

I stopped reading CTRL-ALT-DEL when it tried to make some Star Warsesque story. Being whimsical was the only thing the comic had, and attempts at "normal" writing impressed me for how unbearably beatless they were. I occasionally checked it again, saw the ending of Ethan and the evil penguin story, left it as it rebooted (the Console Wars were horrible), read a page of the re-reboot with old characters, saw that attempts at normal writing were still just as bad (but the art is much better), left it currently forever.

Generally, however, it's more frequent that I read the archive (completely or partially) and don't feel like I should keep reading. Penny Arcade is like that, like Spinnerette, Sandra and Woo, Ménage à 3, and a huge lot more.

There are comics I dropped and started reading again because of this forum. Questionable Content is one. I don't like it any more, but it's something interesting to discuss.

Update rate doesn't make much of a difference to me, because of RSS feeds. I don't check the homepages any more, I let them show up instead.

https://64.media.tumblr.com/c2e7e9f73111b39938933b127930b515/fe2c842d3f3e4aa1-7d/s640x960/52d81a41b66529eb0e904b695a1fd5224c4a540c.png

[Neoriceisgood]

Ohh rough one.

Right from the start, 90% of comics I stopped reading were those I lost track of due to not knowing what RSS readers were until way late. The moment something makes it onto my RSS reader it tends to last.

Some of the comics I quit, I don't think I'll ever revisit. When I was younger I had some passing interest in more gag-a-day things like Penny Arcade, but I've honestly lost all interest in that genre of webcomics nowadays. Just doesn't hit me. Some comics I "quit" I might pick up again, e.g. Girl Genius I didn't hate, I just lost track of it and feel like I need to reread it from the start to really get a good grasp on the story, it's been too long.
If I had to think of comics I used to read that I've lost all interest in, the only one to really jump to mind is Sinfest. Anyone vaguely familiar with how that comic uh ... evolved can probably figure out why.
In terms of story/plot etc I can't think of many webcomics I picked up I just straight up quit due to the story getting too bad/unbearable, usually when a story doesn't captivate me super early on, that's final. But I don't read that many webcomics to start with, so I might've just avoided the slog that collected too many plot holes and errors to enjoy.

Honestly the biggest hurdle for me is to even start webcomics, there's a lot of comics out there that superficially look interesting that I've just not gotten around to cause the emotional investment to properly sit down and get into a new story can be quite big.

[WanderingMist]

When it annoys me enough. That and I tend to catch up with archives and then forget to check for years.

[Maryring]

I can't really think of a singular trait that makes me stop reading a particular comic.

I stopped QC after a particularly bad instance of scatological humour that just nauseated me too much to bother sticking around.

I stopped Girl Genius because the story kept bending over backwards to never resolve anything.

And I stopped 8-bit theater because... well, it ended. Hard to keep going after that.:smalltongue:

SO yeah, it feels pretty individual for each comic.

[Manga Shoggoth]

Very simply, when I no longer enjoy reading it.

I've ditched very few webcomics - off the top of my head:

Menage a trois: It was fun, but I just stopped reading it as it didn't seem to be going anywhere.

Unicorn Jelly: The first webcomic I read, and I stopped because the comic stopped making sense (and I was beginning to get the feeling that nobody had a higer opinion of their work than the artist themselves).


On the other hand there's several that I come back to and catch up on - Freefall and Sandra and Woo, for example - as they are best read in blocks rather than page at a time.

[wingnutx]

I quit Dresden Codak when it became seemed to lose interest in its own internal logic and became silly.

[AvatarVecna]

There's a graph where X-axis is labeled "frequency of updates" and the Y-axis is labeled "quality of updates", and there is a steep cliff dropoff. If you're below the line, you're out.

I'm willing to keep regular with comics that update frequently (and ideally, regularly), even if the quality is maybe a bit meh. XKCD, QC, and GrrlPower update like clockwork multiple times a week, so I stick with them even when they get meh. S*P doesn't update as frequently or as regularly, but the updates tend to be more enjoyable so that's fine. I jive with it. Girl Genius is great on both axes.

Most comics lose me because they just stop existing. Or at least stop updating. Once in a blue moon this will be because the creator finished the story they were wanting to tell, but it's an easy bet that when a webcomic stops updating it's because it's died and the fans just don't realize it yet.

Then there's comics that you realize died somewhere along the way and are just still shambling around in their corpse. They were once funny, or nice slice-of-life, or hinted at plots with a lot of promise. Sinfest is the primary example, since it's zombified twice. But also if you're anything like me, your webcomic graveyard is probably full of a whole bunch of comics about teen-ish boys and some manic pixie dream gal who's just a friend but always on the verge of becoming more than friends, and at some point you realized that none of these comics would dare to advance the relationship because the "implying they might hook up next time" schtick is how they keep you coming back one disappointing update after another. Comics that had potential to explore some interesting, sometimes even unhealthy, relationship dynamics, but never had the balls to go further than having a crush on a pretty girl, and you realized they were never going to explore that potential - that refusing to explore it was the hook.

[Anarchic Fox]

Unicorn Jelly: The first webcomic I read, and I stopped because the comic stopped making sense (and I was beginning to get the feeling that nobody had a higer opinion of their work than the artist themselves).

Oh no. :smalleek:

Do you remember where you stopped reading? There's a portion which is the Unicorn Jelly, one of the grandest webcomics I've ever read. Then there's the later work, which looks to me like the author trying to understand what she had achieved.

[Willie the Duck]

What are the issues that make you stop following a webcomic?

When I stop enjoying the process of reading it, full stop. No specific red lines, and most of the ones I've dropped haven't been for a specific categorical reason other than 'I once was interested, now I am not.' Sluggy Freelance committed no great sin, I just realized that I didn't care about any of the characters as the existed anymore. Wapsi Square -- I enjoyed the Calendar Machine arc (primary 'quest' of the protagonists for the first 10-12 years), but the sequel-series-using-the-same-title 'school for teenage monsters' plot didn't seem notable compared to all the other comics and shows that have explored that plotline. Diesel Sweeties, the ratio of gag-a-day strips that I found funny versus not just dropped below some internal threshold and I lost interest.

I'm this way with TV shows as well -- not a completist. If season 6 of canned-Friends-knockoff-for-the-2010-20s is just treading the same old water recycling the same old scenarios, I don't need to stick around for the eventual finale so I can find out how everything ends.

Fortunately in the case of webcomics, most of them seem to exist in relative perpetuity (I have finished old faves that are still around 15-20 years later). Thus if I later hear that it started being good again or similar, I can go back and do an archive trawl and get back on track.

[The Glyphstone]

I can't say I've ever consciously given up on a webcomic. I just stop remembering to check up on it until one day I'm like 'oh huh forgot about that one'.

[Scarlet Knight]

I just dropped Questionable Content.

I read about the first 1000 episodes, enjoying the snark and wondering if they'd ever resolve the Marten/Faye romance. That ended and he got with Dora and I loved them as a couple for another thousand. But now they broke up with lots of foreshadowing that Dora will end up with a lesbian friend. I see it has another 2000 episodes to go and I just don't want to see where it goes anymore.

[MinimanMidget]

When do I give up on a webcomic? Long after I should have.

[tomandtish]

When do I give up on a webcomic? Long after I should have.

This is a common problem for me. Not just with webcomics but with TV shows and novel series as well. I tend to watch/read on autopilot until one day I notice that I'm not really paying attention anymore.

Sluggy Freelance was like that for me.

[MinimanMidget]

This is a common problem for me. Not just with webcomics but with TV shows and novel series as well. I tend to watch/read on autopilot until one day I notice that I'm not really paying attention anymore.

Sluggy Freelance was like that for me.

The big one for me (not the only one, of course) was Looking for Group. It took the recent big change to finally shake me out of habitually checking updates.

[Gez]

I see it has another 2000 episodes to go and I just don't want to see where it goes anymore.

Well, if you want a summary of what has happened in these 2000 episodes, I think this (http://nedroid.com/2006/07/beartato-99/) is the most concise one you can imagine.

[Vinyadan]

The big one for me (not the only one, of course) was Looking for Group. It took the recent big change to finally shake me out of habitually checking updates.

For me, the side comics were a strong warning. They showed the direction the author had chosen without the obscuring factor of familiarity and the starting setup, and I didn't like it.


Well, if you want a summary of what has happened in these 2000 episodes, I think this (http://nedroid.com/2006/07/beartato-99/) is the most concise one you can imagine.

Also, as a comedic exaggeration of manga influence, https://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1193 :smalltongue:

[Rodin]

My problem with Sluggy Freelance was that it didn't stop when it should have. There was a big climax that brought together tons of plot threads built up over 20 years of comics and then resolved those plot threads in a satisfying fashion. The villains were decisively defeated in a way that would be difficult to come back from. All that was needed was a final epilogue chapter to wrap things up.


...That was just over 4 years ago. The comic is still going, but I hopped off the train a long time ago.

This isn't just a webcomic problem - TV and literature both fall down the same rabbit hole of "keep making popular thing". If there's a satisfying stopping point, I tend to make that my final episode. Sluggy Freelance ended 4 years ago. The Honor Harrington books ended with Ashes of Victory. Stargate SG-1 ended after season 7 (or maybe season 8).

They can keep making the product. They can't make me care.

[Anarchic Fox]

My problem with Sluggy Freelance was that it didn't stop when it should have. There was a big climax that brought together tons of plot threads built up over 20 years of comics and then resolved those plot threads in a satisfying fashion. The villains were decisively defeated in a way that would be difficult to come back from. All that was needed was a final epilogue chapter to wrap things up.

To be fair, there are/were two major ongoing plots, Oasis and Kzzke. The big climax from a few years ago resolved the former plot, but not the latter.

[Pax1138]

My problem with Sluggy Freelance was that it didn't stop when it should have. There was a big climax that brought together tons of plot threads built up over 20 years of comics and then resolved those plot threads in a satisfying fashion. The villains were decisively defeated in a way that would be difficult to come back from. All that was needed was a final epilogue chapter to wrap things up.


...That was just over 4 years ago. The comic is still going, but I hopped off the train a long time ago.

This isn't just a webcomic problem - TV and literature both fall down the same rabbit hole of "keep making popular thing". If there's a satisfying stopping point, I tend to make that my final episode. Sluggy Freelance ended 4 years ago. The Honor Harrington books ended with Ashes of Victory. Stargate SG-1 ended after season 7 (or maybe season 8).

They can keep making the product. They can't make me care.

This is why there's only 5 seasons of Supernatural to me. Sure saved myself a lot of time on that one!

As for webcomics, I think I only give up during the initial archive binge if I'm not feeling it. If I make it through to current strips, I tuck it into my ever-growing Webcomics bookmarks folder, and after that it's never such a burden that I can't click through to the next comic on the list to move on. I will eventually take a comic that hasn't updated after a long time and stick it in my special Hiatus folder, but really it has to be gone for along time for me to do that, probably a lot longer than is reasonable, honestly.

[ZhonLord]

Stories change over time. They have to. If they didn't change, they'd end. This is applicable to books (look at how much Harry Dresden has changed as a character from book 1 to now), movies (frodo baggins in the LOTR trilogy), and webcomics alike.

The problem is, sometimes that change harms the story instead of enhancing and extending it. It regresses to some previous norm instead of growing beyond into something more. Or it decides to change its particular balance of silly and serious arbitrarily, ruining what drew fans to it in the first place independent of any cause/effect.

For example, this change occurred in a webcomic called Looking for Group. Around the time of the final assault on Gamlon, suddenly there was a shift in the story and expectations. It threw away much of what the characters had been building towards in order to have them go back to faffing about in the world, doing shenanigans and generally just being themselves in various locales.

The story wasn't set up for that. It was set up for a grand ascension of justice, the growth of Cale into a leader and proud warrior, the redemption of Richard from pure chaotic evil into a more chaotic neutral, and so much more besides..... And then the writers regressed the story instead of progressing. It wasn't worth sticking with any more, so I left it behind.

[MinimanMidget]

For example, this change occurred in a webcomic called Looking for Group. Around the time of the final assault on Gamlon, suddenly there was a shift in the story and expectations. It threw away much of what the characters had been building towards in order to have them go back to faffing about in the world, doing shenanigans and generally just being themselves in various locales.

The story wasn't set up for that. It was set up for a grand ascension of justice, the growth of Cale into a leader and proud warrior, the redemption of Richard from pure chaotic evil into a more chaotic neutral, and so much more besides..... And then the writers regressed the story instead of progressing. It wasn't worth sticking with any more, so I left it behind.

While all of that is true, I wouldn't have minded it going back to individual joke strips...if the jokes were actually funny.

[AdmiralCheez]

I'll give up on a webcomic when it becomes clear that they have lost the original premise that made it enjoyable, or if the author becomes insufferable or annoying to the detriment of the story, or if the comic goes on hiatus more often than it updates. I've also given up on webcomics that just undo years of character development for the sake of a joke or because they want to reset things meta-wise to fit their plot. Basically, bad writing, poor pacing, and author interference are the big ones for me. It takes a lot to get to that point, but it has happened.

[Manga Shoggoth]

Oh no. :smalleek:

Do you remember where you stopped reading? There's a portion which is the Unicorn Jelly, one of the grandest webcomics I've ever read. Then there's the later work, which looks to me like the author trying to understand what she had achieved.

Sorry - I missed your reply earlier.

I pretty much gave up on the comic not long after they landed on the new worldplate, but I had been losing interest for a while before that.

[Anarchic Fox]

Sorry - I missed your reply earlier.

I pretty much gave up on the comic not long after they landed on the new worldplate, but I had been losing interest for a while before that.

It's entirely valid, but I'm surprised that's where it lost you. The pace of the (original black-and-white) story accelerates throughout, and by that point it's going at a hectic speed.

[geoduck]

I still read Sluggy, and I can report he does appear to be trying to wrap things up and finish the KZK/demon plot, but it's still got a ways to go.

Sinfest is one comic I really should quit reading, but it's turned into such a ghastly evil trainwreck it's compelling.

[Precure]

I give up on Order of the Stick after seeing the author's treatment of the best and most compelling antagonist in this anticlimactic ending (https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0021.html)

[The Glyphstone]

What if a webcomic gives up on you? I still check Gone With The Blastwave every few months.

[ZhonLord]

What if a webcomic gives up on you? I still check Gone With The Blastwave every few months.

I've found a few like that. The artist makes good progress on a story, then starts up a new one and basically forgets the old one existed. It's depressing, especially when the new one is less entertaining or engaging than the old. At that point I give up on the artist as a whole, not just a given comic.

[Johanny]

As a former completist, I finally found out that completion isn't really that good, and better end a good read right that persist and have bad memories of it.
I've therefore given up more and more webcomics these last years.
Girl Genius I gave up quite early when it became obvious it was going the plot over character road, and that all the characters were going to be hammier and hammier. Also I never liked the art.
I gave up several comics when they indulged into gore territory with complacency.
I gave up several ones that got inot a point where the main quest had either to be subsumed to a greater one (the boss was only a boss aide), to come to resolution with unfleshed sidequest failing to be the main interest, or the main character struggling to produce new depth while not giving more light to others.
I was on the verge of giving up on QC, when I found out people complaining about it here, making more reasons not to quit right away by sharing disapointment.
For some comics, I / the era just changed and their plot revolved about what was now cringe. To the extension edgy comics are now out of my reading list.
I gave up those who replaced comics with illustrated book pages.
I gave up those who had more characters than a Ruth Rendell novel where the ratio is 1 per page.
So genres are overdone in some form, and I have no more interest in them when I saw a good webcomic in the same genre end, with approchaing plot/characters/art.
Oh, and zombies. If a work has zombies, I will quit reading it. Except for OotS obviously.

[Neoriceisgood]

Oh, and zombies. If a work has zombies, I will quit reading it. Except for OotS obviously.


I'm curious about this one! What is it about zombies that's an insta-turn off for reading?

[TaRix]

I'm curious about this one! What is it about zombies that's an insta-turn off for reading?

It's just so... overdone. They're not interesting, they're not motivated except for munchery, just about every facet around them's been done to death, and they're so ugly by design. With any luck, their popularity is waning now that the Show Based on a Comic Series on Fancy Cable is over, and I won't see and hear ashen snaggletoothy faces utter guttural schlurps every time my computer thinks it's time to advertise at me.

Except now there's a new Show Based on a Video Game Featuring Zombies.

[oxybe]

I never really got into setting up RSS as webcomics were more of a time-waster then anything I was seriously into (blogs fall in this same line of "nice but not something i'm gonna follow follow"), so outside of having a "webcomics" bookmark list I occasionally checked for updates, i just found it hard to keep up with some of the longer to produce ones and dropped them after an archive binge.

and once something happened to that bookmark list... well... i'd only return to the comic when those two certain neurons clicked and made me go "oh man, d'you remember this vague thing from years back?" and I go on a google trip trying to remember a webcomic from the mid-2000's or early 2010's or something, only to find that it either went on hiatus years ago, is still in hiatus from way back when, has ended or is just wiped off the face of the planet due to a server crash/domain lapse/too costly to host and little returns/whatever and unless i can key in the magic sequence of words in google or the webarchive to get me what i'm looking for, i'm probably never gonna find it.

[runeghost]

What if a webcomic gives up on you? I still check Gone With The Blastwave every few months.

It appears to have updated last week. :smallbiggrin:

Gone With The Blastwave is in a unique place for me though. It's update schedule is somehow part of its charm.