[MUSIC PLAYING]
WOMAN (VOICEOVER):
One of the benefits
of having a comic that
is distributed on the web
is that it's not just
distributed to the people who
are closest to you.
It's distributed to anyone.
SAM BROWN (VOICEOVER):
I like the idea
where it could just
be the single frame,
then you could use
it as your desktop.
It wasn't stuck in the
three panel format.
ANDREW HUSSIE
(VOICEOVER): "Homestuck"
itself is definitely a
story that's also a puzzle,
and that was by design.
NICHOLAS GUREWITCH
(VOICEOVER): I
like to think that the comic
makes you laugh at things
that you don't
laugh at everyday.
LUCY KNISLEY
(VOICEOVER): I usually
try to write something
that's very true,
and I try to make a
comic around that.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
WOMAN (VOICEOVER): I think
webcomics are interesting,
because they have kind of a
lot of different lineages.
There's the standard
Marvel, DC, comic books,
there's the newspaper
comic strips,
and then there's also the 'zine.
And I think, for me, webcomics
are interesting because they
combine all three, and then
make it available to such
a wide audience.
I think the benefits
of publishing online
are that there's no gatekeeper.
Anyone who comes up with
an idea can very quickly
start disseminating
it to other people
without having the
approval of others.
As a result, they're often
incredibly weird, and niche,
and thanks to the internet, you
have these communities forming
that are based around
interests rather than
geography or other things.
And so rather than
the creator trying
to find a sensibility
that attracts people,
these fans are actually
really rabid about the fact
that this person is making
something weird that
seems to be particularly
relatable to them.
You're not even
limited to the page,
you can have your
comic be as large,
or as little, or as
animated, or as interactive
as you want it to be.
So people are really
given a lot of freedom
to try different things,
and luckily, the readers
are happy to read a
lot of different ones.
So as a result, there's
a lot more variety.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
NICHOLAS GUREWITCH (VOICEOVER):
"The Perry Bible Fellowship"
is an uncommon comic strip.
The comic explores
uncomfortable situations,
and that makes me laugh.
The PBF that just came
out about a week ago
is probably my favorite.
It has two dinosaurs
having sex in it.
At the end of the day, it's just
kind of as if a bunch of ideas
were jumbled up in a
sack inside your head,
and then that sack
just accidentally
spilled a little bit.
And what falls
out onto your page
is sometimes a
collection of elements
that you've been subconsciously
or consciously pondering.
The most popular "Perry
Bible Fellowship"
comic is probably a comic
called "Nice Shirt",
which features a kid wearing a
t-shirt that says unicorn power
and has a terribly
drawn unicorn on it.
I find myself laughing
hardest when something really
uncomfortable is happening.
I just find I can make
a better product if I'm
sharing, because I always
work with people on the comic,
and oftentimes have more fun.
I think that's why I enjoy the
fellowship part of its title.
I would assume it would be
the same story with every web
comic artist, and every person
ever touch the internet.
They wanted to share more.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
SAM BROWN (VOICEOVER):
"Explodingdog"
is a long-term, online,
collaborative art project.
Someone will email
me a title, and I
try to figure out how am
I going to take the title
and actually change it
to add more depth to it.
People like that they
can be a part of it,
where people can
directly respond to me.
And I can have a drawing,
get right back to them
within an hour, and you can
have more of a conversation.
I'm not really good
at being funny,
so I just feel like
if there's some sort
of emotional
connection about it,
you'll get something out of it.
A lot of it's just
like basic getting
through the day, and life,
and make relationships,
and stuff like that.
And I always sort of
pictured every panel
being sort of like a
single frame out of a movie
or out of a show.
And so that-- you can imagine
the story that went on before
and the story that
came after it,
but this was sort of like the
critical moment in the story
and that's what
the panel captured.
I think everything's
extremely complicated,
and I just like
simplicity and that's sort
of my way of making
things simpler.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
LUCY KNISLEY (VOICEOVER): I
feel like web comics give me
the ability to sort of
do exactly what I want
to do and not have to worry
about an editor, or a deadline,
and to be able to say very
freely what I wanted to say.
In my "Stop Paying
Attention" comic,
I talk a lot about the internal
mind, the idea of trying
to express what's inside
my thought process
and try and make it
understood by the reader.
It's sort of a way for me to
organize my stray thoughts
into visual, and
comic, and essay form.
I like the idea of
sort of covering
a page with my thoughts
and having people
be able to get into it,
and absorb it, and take
some time with it.
And I really got into the
idea that we all sort of
share these common
thought processes,
and these reactions
to our outside world,
but we're unable to connect.
I can put things online
that I wouldn't necessarily
print in order to develop it
and get feedback from people,
and it really gives me a
deep sense of satisfaction
to know that what I
write is being responded
to by people online and that
they feel the need to reach out
and say, oh I felt
the same way, or I
had the same sort of thought
process at some point.
So I do feel more free
to experiment online,
definitely, to try new
things and see what sticks.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
ANDREW HUSSIE
(VOICEOVER): "Homestuck"
is about kids who play a
video game over the internet
with each other.
The video game has wide-reaching
cosmic consequences.
A lot of young people
today, a lot of them
have friendships that
are very similar to that.
Or their most important
friendships and relationships
happen over the internet.
I just thought it would be
interesting to explore that.
There's a pretty live
sense of communication
between the readership in
the story and the author.
The reader is supplying
commands to the character
by clicking links to
get to the next page.
It's over 6,000
pages at this point,
but a page is quite a variable
thing in "Homestuck" that
are really unpredictable.
You'll do a lot of
reading, and then
suddenly click to
the next page and you
have to sit through a
three minute animation
with a musical score.
It's a narrative, yes, but it
involves a lot of complexity,
and thinking, and making
connections, and solving
these little puzzles.
I think it kind of keeps
the reader on their toes.
A lot of people like
to say I'm trolling,
or it's very confrontational.
I don't really see it that way.
I just keep the interaction with
the readership pretty lively.
There can be many updates
over the course of the day,
and I think that's one
of the things about it
which has helped
fuel the obsession.
More traditional comics tend
to be a lot more structured,
you have your panels
and your speech bubbles.
I've kind of used the
web to explode all that.
That was always part of the
idea of behind the website,
is to use a lot of
different fun ideas
for telling a story
on the internet.
LUCY KINSLEY
(VOICEOVER): Relatability
is definitely something
I think about,
but the important part is that I
express something true about me
and I think that that's what
people respond to the most.
NICHOLAS GUREWITCH
(VOICEOVER): I love it
when I can laugh at something
that I don't always laugh at.
SAM BROWN (VOICEOVER): I just
want to get it done quickly,
and get it expressed quickly,
and have as much excitement
and emotion involved.
ANDREW HUSSIE
(VOICEOVER): My goal right
now is to end the comic.
It's got to be something
pretty big to finish it.
WOMAN (VOICEOVER): I think it's
really about people getting
their message, and story,
and ideas out there.
And the beauty of
the internet is
that it allows for all
different types of expression.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
