Hi, Folks!

Over the years, as I have continued working on my art and webcartooning, I have been asked one question again and again: Why do you do long-form comics? Why not do a gag-a-day strip? Gag strips are easier to promote, and they are generally more popular, are they not?

Yes, gag strips are more popular, by many magnitudes, than long-form webcomics. There are a few exceptions, but none I can really think of. Girl Genius is long-form, but it usually has humor and often includes humor. The Dreamland Chronicles? Maybe.

Here are my reasons for doing a long-form webcomic.

• This is the story I want to tell. It’s tragic, dramatic, and edgy, but it’s rarely funny.
• I don’t know how to write jokes. In person I can be funny and I’m good at getting the laughs, but I have no clue how to communicate that in a comic.
• I grew up reading titanic tales of adventure, both in prose and comics. I didn’t read funny animal comics, or humor comics, so I don’t have much history with that.

Back when I read monthly comics, my favorites were usually team books, such as JSA, JLA, the Avengers, the Defenders, and the like. As far as the individual characters go, Batman, Captain America, Daredevil, Thor, Conan, these are what I dug. Later on, it was books like Planetary, the Authority, and Hellblazer. You can probably see elements of these teams and characters in Johnny Saturn.

Those are the kind of stories I loved. This is why I produce long-form adventures. I loved Calvin & Hobbes, Far Side, and Bloom County too, but I just didn’t feel the call to follow that path.

Item: Benita and I are huge fans of “Jeff Wayne’s War of the Worlds.”  Originally recorded in 1978, I didn’t hear this music until around 1985, and even then it was a cassette copy.  We were immediately hooked, and we’ve loved this production every since, quoting it often in conversations between ourselves.  If your sole knowledge of “War of the Worlds” dates to the so-so Tom Cruise movie of the same name, then you have missed out on a true masterpiece!  Jeff Wayne’s version remains true to the book, keeping the story in 19th century England (Where it belongs!).  The narration was by Richard Burton, and many of the songs were sung by the Moody Blues Justin Hayward.

Item: When it comes to reading comic strips, people around my age often were most entertained and influenced by Bill Watterson’s “Calvin & Hobbes,” Gary Larson’s “Far Side,”  and Berkeley Breathed’s “Bloom County.”  For me, when these cartoonists retired, it almost felt to me as if the newspaper cartoon in general had ended.

Comic strips didn’t end, of course.  As newspapers die off, the future of this medium appears bright on the internet.  (As a member of the webcomic movement, it’s not surprising that I would say that.)  Still, lest we forget, Berkeley Breathed can really draw!  His cartoons were detailed, and complex, yet the still managed to clearly tell the story at hand!  Here is an example of his work so that you can appreciate his mastery: