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35-442: After Jeffrey Rowland lost his job in 2004, he started TopatoCo to help sell shirts, stickers, and other merchandise linked to his webcomics . When the 2004 presidential election was won by George W. Bush , Rowland designed a satirical T-shirt and sold 1000 of them in one month. Rowland later expanded the business to ship products ordered from friends' websites, who in 2007 moved their retailing to TopatoCo. While Rowland founded

70-666: A 2008 interview, Rowland stated that the "big guys" in terms of clients were Dinosaur Comics and Dr. McNinja . Other clients include Questionable Content , MS Paint Adventures , and Girl Genius . The company found in 2009 that it was growing too quickly, and reluctantly turned down some potential clients. Jeffrey Rowland Jeffrey J. Rowland (born May 22, 1974) is the author and artist responsible for Wigu and Overcompensating , two popular webcomics . Originally from Locust Grove , Oklahoma , Rowland now lives in Easthampton, Massachusetts , where he continues to work on

105-476: A business in its own right, with sites such as Webcomics Nation . Traditional comic book publishers, such as Marvel Comics and Slave Labour Graphics , did not begin making serious digital efforts until 2006 and 2007. DC Comics launched its web comic imprint, Zuda Comics in October 2007. The site featured user submitted comics in a competition for a professional contract to produce web comics. In July 2010, it

140-654: A format proved highly successful in South-Korean webcomics when JunKoo Kim implemented an infinite scrolling mechanism in the platform Webtoon in 2004. In 2009, French web cartoonist Balak described Turbomedia , a format for webcomics where a reader only views one panel at a time, in which the reader decides their own reading rhythm by going forward one panel at a time. Some web cartoonists, such as political cartoonist Mark Fiore or Charley Parker with Argon Zark! , incorporate animations or interactive elements into their webcomics. The first comics to be shared through

175-416: A journal/daily blog comic about his life. Overcompensating , though clearly fictitious, does appear to have some reality in it. Caricatures of real life people such as Richard Stevens , John Allison and Vera Brosgol make appearances, while other characters, such as Baby, do not exist. In April 2005, Rowland predicted and then 'faked' his death by having Weedmaster P, a character in the strip, update

210-714: A large warehouse in Easthampton, Massachusetts . The various cardboard box-related adventures of running the business play a large part in Rowland's comic Overcompensating . Webcomic Webcomics (also known as online comics or Internet comics ) are comics published on the internet, such as on a website or a mobile app . While many webcomics are published exclusively online, others are also published in magazines , newspapers , or comic books . Webcomics can be compared to self-published print comics in that anyone with an Internet connection can publish their own webcomic. Readership levels vary widely; many are read only by

245-738: A major language in Australia, Canada, India, the United States, and the United Kingdom. Cultures surrounding non-anglophone webcomics have thrived in countries such as China, France, India, Japan, and South Korea. Webcomics have been a popular medium in India since the early 2000s. Indian webcomics are successful as they reach a large audience for free and they are frequently used by the country's younger generation to spread social awareness on topics such as politics and feminism . These webcomics achieve

280-834: A number of awards that were handed out annually from 2001 to 2008. The Dutch Clickburg Webcomic Awards (also known as the Clickies) has been handed out four times between 2005 and 2010. The awards require the recipient to be active in the Benelux countries, with the exception of one international award. Though webcomics are typically published primarily on the World Wide Web, often webcomic creators decide to also print self-published books of their work. In some cases, web cartoonists may get publishing deals in which comic books are created of their work. Sometimes, these books are published by mainstream comics publishers who are traditionally aimed at

315-457: A source of income for web cartoonists, but micropayment systems have not been popular with artists or readers. Many webcomics artists have received honors for their work. In 2006, Gene Luen Yang 's graphic novel American Born Chinese , originally published as a webcomic on Modern Tales , was the first graphic novel to be nominated for a National Book Award . Don Hertzfeldt 's animated film based on his webcomics, Everything Will Be OK , won

350-465: Is his full-time job and source of income. Rowland's comics were used along with Penny Arcade , Fetus-X and Questionable Content as an example of comics using the web to create "an explosion of diverse genres and styles" in Scott McCloud 's 2006 book Making Comics When I Grow Up is a webcomic written by Rowland, which ran from June 14, 1999 until January 1, 2002. It takes place in

385-470: Is made by overlaying photographs with strips of typewriter-style text. As in the constrained comics tradition, a few webcomics, such as Dinosaur Comics by Ryan North , are created with most strips having art copied exactly from one (or a handful of) template comics and only the text changing. Pixel art , such as that created by Richard Stevens of Diesel Sweeties , is similar to that of sprite comics but instead uses low-resolution images created by

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420-460: Is otherwise a different comic with a new set of characters. The comic is centered on the adventures of a little boy named Wigu Tinkle and his family. Each chapter of the comic represents one day in Wigu's life. Wigu is an intelligent child with an active imagination who uses much of his free time to watch television and play video games , where he encounters the beings of Butter Dimension³ , primarily

455-745: The Eisner Awards began awarding comics in the Best Digital Comic category in 2005. In 2006 the Harvey Awards established a Best Online Comics Work category, and in 2007 the Shuster Awards began an Outstanding Canadian Web Comic Creator Award. In 2012 the National Cartoonists Society gave their first Reuben Award for "On-line comic strips." Other awards focus exclusively on webcomics. The Web Cartoonists' Choice Awards consist of

490-468: The Topato Potato character in Rowland's Wigu Adventures . Rowland has described the company's business philosophy as being "give digital stuff away for free, sell real stuff". In 2013, the company started Make That Thing, a Kickstarter fulfillment service. Some cartoonists involved from the early days of the company are Jonathan Rosenberg , Richard Stevens , John Allison and Meredith Gran . In

525-434: The direct market of comic books stores. Some web cartoonists may pursue print syndication in established newspapers or magazines . The traditional audience base for webcomics and print comics are vastly different, and webcomic readers do not necessarily go to bookstores. For some web cartoonists, a print release may be considered the "goal" of a webcomic series, while for others, comic books are "just another way to get

560-431: The 2000s, webcomics became less financially sustainable due to the rise of social media and consumers' disinterest in certain kinds of merchandise. Crowdfunding through Kickstarter and Patreon have also become sources of income for web cartoonists. Webcomics have been used by some cartoonists as a path towards syndication in newspapers . Since the mid-1990s, Scott McCloud advocated for micropayments systems as

595-616: The 2007 Sundance Film Festival Jury Award in Short Filmmaking, a prize rarely bestowed on an animated film. Many traditionally print-comics focused organizations have added award categories for comics published on the web. The Eagle Awards established a Favorite Web-based Comic category in 2000, and the Ignatz Awards followed the next year by introducing an Outstanding Online Comic category in 2001. After having nominated webcomics in several of their traditional print-comics categories,

630-778: The Internet were Eric Millikin 's Witches and Stitches , which he started uploading on CompuServe in 1985. Services such as CompuServe and Usenet were used before the World Wide Web started to rise in popularity in 1993. Early webcomics were often derivatives from strips in college newspapers , but when the Web became widely popular in the mid-1990s, more people started creating comics exclusively for this medium. By 2000, various webcomic creators were financially successful and webcomics became more artistically recognized. Unique genres and styles became popular during this period. The 2010s also saw

665-399: The artist themself. However, it is also common for some artists to use traditional styles, similar to those typically published in newspapers or comic books. Webcomics that are independently published are not subject to the content restrictions of book publishers or newspaper syndicates , enjoying an artistic freedom similar to underground and alternative comics . Some webcomics stretch

700-748: The author Clive Barker . Serialised content included Scarlet Traces and Marshal Law . In March 2001, Shannon Denton and Patrick Coyle launched Komikwerks .com serving free strips from comics and animation professionals. The site launched with 9 titles including Steve Conley's Astounding Space Thrills , Jason Kruse's The World of Quest , and Bernie Wrightson 's The Nightmare Expeditions . On March 2, 2002, Joey Manley founded Modern Tales , offering subscription-based webcomics. The Modern Tales spin-off serializer followed in October 2002, then came girlamatic and Graphic Smash in March and September 2003 respectively. By 2005, webcomics hosting had become

735-505: The boundaries of taste, taking advantage of the fact that Internet censorship is virtually nonexistent in countries like the United States. The content of webcomics can still cause problems, such as Leisure Town artist Tristan Farnon 's legal trouble after creating a profane Dilbert parody, or the Catholic League 's protest of artist Eric Millikin 's "blasphemous treatment of Jesus." Webcomic artists use many formats throughout

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770-486: The comic, posting that Rowland had died. Rowland is the owner and operator of the web merchant TopatoCo , which sells T-shirts, stickers, magnets, comics, hoodies, tote bags, and other items for a number of webcomics. As of May 2012, TopatoCo sells merchandise for over 40 different comics. Comics that TopatoCo represents include Questionable Content , Dinosaur Comics , MS Paint Adventures , Wondermark , and Sam and Fuzzy . Rowland currently operates TopatoCo out of

805-587: The company while living in Oklahoma , by June of 2005 he had moved to Easthampton, Massachusetts . In a 2009 interview, Rowland stated that he considered the business to be "mundane" in comparison with the creative development of comics, often interfering with the time he wanted to spend doing comics. The company has been described as "perhaps the largest and most recognizable E-tailer of webcomic merchandise" by Caleb Goellner in ComicsAlliance and takes its name from

840-534: The content out." Webcomics have been seen by some artists as a potential new path towards syndication in newspapers . According to Jeph Jacques ( Questionable Content ), "there's no real money" in syndication for webcomic artists. Some artists are not able to syndicate their work in newspapers because their comics are targeted to a specific niche audience and would not be popular with a broader readership. Many webcomics are published primarily in English , this being

875-496: The creator's immediate friends and family, while some of the most widely read have audiences of well over one million readers. Webcomics range from traditional comic strips and graphic novels to avant garde comics, and cover many genres , styles , and subjects. They sometimes take on the role of a comic blog . The term web cartoonist is sometimes used to refer to someone who creates webcomics. There are several differences between webcomics and print comics. With webcomics

910-501: The fictional town of Shallow Brook, Oklahoma . The main characters were Neal, a young African American scientist working for the U.S. government; Roger, an unemployed slacker ; Zoe, a selfish, bitter newscaster ; and Gina, a college student and part-time employee of a video store. The structure of When I Grow Up is very similar that of Rowland's second comic, Wigu . It includes five different story arcs, which are often interrupted by short stories or single strips. When I Grow Up

945-506: The intergalactic heroes Topato (a flying potato whose catchphrase is "Spring into action!" and whose primary defense mechanism consists of being made entirely of poison ) and Sheriff Pony (an eloquent Space Pony who, as the storyline reveals, excretes vanilla ice cream instead of fecal waste. Topato excretes sour cream, which he also uses to shave). Wigu was nominated for the 2004 Web Cartoonists' Choice Awards categories Outstanding Short Form Comic and Outstanding Story Concept. Wigu

980-471: The next decade. In March 2000, Chris Crosby , Crosby's mother Teri, and other artists founded Keenspot . In July 2000, Austin Osueke launched eigoMANGA , publishing original online manga , referred to as "webmanga". In 2001, the subscription webcomics site Cool Beans World was launched. Contributors included UK-based comic book creators Pat Mills , Simon Bisley , John Bolton , and Kevin O'Neill , and

1015-400: The restrictions of traditional books, newspapers or magazines can be lifted, allowing artists and writers to take advantage of the web's unique capabilities. The creative freedom webcomics provide allows artists to work in nontraditional styles. Clip art or photo comics (also known as fumetti ) are two types of webcomics that do not use traditional artwork. A Softer World , for example,

1050-565: The rise of webtoons in South Korea , where the form has become very prominent. This decade had also seen an increasingly larger number of successful webcomics being adapted into animated series in China and Japan. In March 1995, artist Bebe Williams launched one of the first webcomics collectives, Art Comics Daily . Newspaper comic strip syndicates also launched websites in the mid-1990s. Other webcomics collectives followed, with many launching in

1085-477: The two projects, while running TopatoCo, a company which sells merchandise based on his and other artists' comics. Jeffrey Rowland's comics are part of the TopatoCo network, along with comics such as Dinosaur Comics and MS Paint Adventures . Rowland can be considered one of the small number of professional webcartoonists , as running Overcompensating and Wigu , in addition to his merchandise company TopatoCo,

TopatoCo - Misplaced Pages Continue

1120-526: The world. Comic strips , generally consisting of three or four panels , have been a common format for many artists. Other webcomic artists use the format of traditional printed comic books and graphic novels , sometimes with the plan of later publishing books. Scott McCloud , an early advocate of webcomics since 1998, pioneered the idea of the " infinite canvas " where, rather than being confined to normal print dimensions, artists are free to spread out in any direction indefinitely with their comics. Such

1155-405: Was announced that DC was closing down Zuda. Some creators of webcomics are able to do so professionally through various revenue channels. Webcomic artists may sell merchandise based on their work, such as T-shirts and toys, or they may sell print versions or compilations of their webcomic. Webcomic creators can also sell online advertisements on their websites . In the second half of

1190-465: Was hosted on Keenspot for some time, but Rowland eventually moved it to his own server. Wigu was a webcomic created by Jeffrey Rowland. It was publicly launched on January 7, 2002 and was also part of the Dumbrella bulletin board. Wigu is the successor to When I Grow Up and derives its name from the earlier strip's initials. There have been some guest appearances from When I Grow Up , but Wigu

1225-461: Was originally intended to end on December 31, 2004, but resumed on April 18, 2005. The webcomic ended again on December 31, 2005 so that Rowland could continue the title as a series of printed books. It was intended that there be a new book every month, but due to various delays, only three have been published, and Wigu returned to its original online format on November 22, 2006. On September 19, 2004, Rowland began another comic, Overcompensating ,

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