As I was writing my 80-page thesis on webcomics for my undergraduate honors degree, I realized that I was throwing around a lot of terms of which I myself had an innate understanding, but had not defined in the paper. Near the deadline, I had to go through an use consistent terms so as not to horribly confuse my honors director, who I believe already disapproved of my entire college career (yeah, I chose martial arts over boring, and IMO, stupid, honors clubs and activities). Since my thesis dealth with both ALL webcomics, and my own webcomic, I decided that the term “webcomic” would trump “digital comic,” (and also “online comic, ” etc) and used only the former.

I find myself wishing now that I had bothered to define the difference between a webcomic and the rest while I had the chance.  I guess it’s not too late though, not for you poor, poor souls who read this here blog of mine. So here it is, straight from the brain of Kez:

My comic, The War of Winds, is a webcomic. It exists primarily in the digital format, and uses the internet as a vehicle for promotion and advertisement.  It is read on a live connection to the world wide web. It has a site full of extra information that heightens the reading experience. It was created expressly for online distribution, not for print.  It is free, and I’m there a lot communicating with the people who read my work. My comic would NOT exist without the internet due to logistical problems and the need for print publication.

Marvel produces/has digital comics.  They are used to mainly to promote print versions of the same comics.  The internet is only a means of advertising what is already available in print, and indeed, the comics are the digitalized version OF print works. They are literally DigitalIZED comics. They are not webcomics because not only is it a subscription site (not freely accessibly by the web without paying), but all that extra information, the site, the cast page, the world page, the ability to contact/communicate with the creator, doesn’t freely exist.  It is a print comic, put online, with none of the extras, using none of what makes webcomics so darned fantastic to its advantage.

(An aside: another form of digital comic is the “download bundle,” in CBR/CBZ/etc format. Here, comics are only disbursed, but never read, on the internet. )

It irks me when these terms are tossed around interchangeably.  Ask yourself, do you produce a webcomic or a digital comic?  Ignoring Strongbad’s rant on adding “web” in front of a word, think about the comics that call themselves one or the other.  If you think one term is more academic or accepted than the other, think again! Choose the one that fits you, run with it, and prove to nay-sayers on either side that hey, the umbrella term in no way defines quality or content, just function! I guess you could argue that all webcomics are by definition digital comics, but not all digital comics are webcomics, however, what I’m stressing here is more the function than the form. Man, I am being so inarticulate today, so I hope people can understand what I’m trying to say here.

Oftentimes I see certain terms chosen depending on what crowd the creator wants to please or impress. “My comic isn’t like those OTHER webcomics. So I therefore make a digital comic. OMG it sounds so fancy I’m smrt.”  Compromises between the terms include “online comic” or “online graphic novel,” and I admit, when dealing with jerkfaces in charge of advertising (for example, an application to Burst Media or Tribal Fusion), these are better terms to use to please the establishment.

I’m way past beginning to rant here, so I’ll wrap it up. I hope I’m not coming off preachy, and indeed, I’m not FOR one term or the other. I just don’t like them used wrong! This is also where I freely admit I’ve defined webcomic and digital comic myself, but I will point out, my definition comes from observation, not bias. LOOK who defines themselves as what, and you’ll see what I mean.

Ok, chocolate time.