I’ve talked here before about how easy it is for readers of webcomics to talk to creators. How you can ask questions in all sorts of venues and (usually) get timely responses. Which is great for readers who might want to know more about the comic they’re already enjoying. But what’s equally brilliant is the flip side of the coin -- creators can turn around and ask questions to their readers!
For years, cartoonists toiled away in their studios, drawing out comic after comic. Responses and feedback of any sort was generally limited to the editor and maybe the publisher. The only way a creator knew if they were doing well or missing the mark was almost entirely dependent on what their editor told or passed along to them. Once comic conventions started cropping up, a lot of creators readily tried to take advantage of the opportunity to meet with fans in person. It gave them a first-hand view of what actual readers actually thought.
Things like letters pages in comic books helped, of course. Simply seeing them encouraged feedback from others, and readers could at least nominally help chart the direction of the book. Stan Lee made great use of them in the early 1960s -- everything from having a “give the Thing’s girlfriend a name” contest to general feedback about how the Invisible Girl should have more powers than just turning invisible. Not every request or suggestion was acted upon, naturally, but the letters provided a gauge of what was or wasn’t working. Albeit several months after the fact.
But webcomic creators, too, can solicit feedback from their readers, and receive it in real time. The internet, as I’m sure you’re aware, allows for creators to ask for help on any/all stages of their comic’s development.
Sean Wang recently completed his second story arc for Runners. Not surprisingly, he’d like to collect the arc into a printed graphic novel and is working to prep all the pages accordingly. While he’s doing that, he’s debating various options for actually getting it printed, so he posted to his site: “Along those lines, I’ve been toying with the idea of trying to fund part of the new book’s printing costs through Kickstarter. If any readers have thoughts on that, I’d love to hear them!” As he also hints at in the same post, he’s doing all of the work himself and obviously can’t be expert in writing, drawing, printing, marketing, selling, etc. So he’s taking advantage of his existing outlet to solicit help where he needs it.
Derek Kirk Kim and Les McClaine, by contrast, are in the middle of their story over at Tune. At the end of Chapter 11, Kim just asked for comments in general without any additional direction. Responses ranged from story specifics to pacing to general well wishes. While Kim responded directly to several of the questions, he followed up later with a more general thank you, adding “Your feedback really fuels motivation, let me tell you.”
But a creator doesn’t even need to have started a webcomic to solicit feedback. Steve LeCouilliard hasn’t even started his next comic, Una the Blade, yet. But he’s posted some initial sketches and background information on his Tumblr, including these character designs he was toying with...
He cited some of his initial thoughts, and was quickly receiving feedback from fans on what they thought as well. Now, one could argue that LeCouilliard’s initial comments skewed the responses to parrot what he wanted to hear, but that could well have been all he needed. Just a check to make sure readers weren’t wildly critical of something he thought was a good direction. When he did a follow-up sketch of the final design, he noted that he inadvertently drew her in such a way as to come across as chauvinistic. While he caught himself in that instance, using readers as a sounding board can further ensure that he doesn’t make an “obvious” faux pas.
A good comic often stems from a creative vision that someone has. It’s a story they have to tell. But getting some additional inputs can help refine that vision tremendously and prevent a single creator working alone from getting too myopic a view of their own work. Maybe that can be done with a single collaborator, but getting feedback from the people who are absorbing and enjoying the comic as readers can really be insightful and invaluable.
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