Shifts Within a Webcomic

This is part two of a three-part series I wrote after reading MegaTokyo. I felt I had to really delve into a perspective I view webcomics through, then with those, I could explain in part three why I recommend MegaTokyo. Even if you’re not interested in MegaTokyo, hopefully the perspective is useful.

This piece is about looking at how webcomics change over time. This’ll be useful for later articles, because a large part of the reason I like MegaTokyo is that its thesis hasn’t changed much, so I feel the same emotions reading it as I did in the past.

Also, a note: These probably won’t be entertaining reads! I wound up formulating them as pretty analytical, critical pieces, rather than stirring and witty conversations. I mostly wrote these for myself, but if they’re interesting perspectives for other people, awesome. I also don’t make any claims to this being new or groundbreaking ways of thinking, it’s just me codifying how I want to think about stories.

Part one is here. Also, spoilers for Questionable Content and MegaTokyo.

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Questionable Content 1847

At some point, Jeph Jacques of Questionable Content mentioned that QC has actually been three different comics – at least, I think it was him, I can’t find the quote. Unlike a lot of other comics that changed dramatically, that was a change midstream. It wasn’t part of a relaunch, it wasn’t a change from gag-a-day to storylines – the pivot points in QC were more subtle, but absolutely changes to the core of the story.

(At this point, if you haven’t read my previous piece on theses in webcomics, please do so. I’m going to be writing as though my audience has read it.)

To ground this conversation in examples, let’s start by looking at QC’s shifts, and how the thesis changed each time.

Until #500, “The Talk,” when the possibility is closed of Marten and Faye getting together:

• Marten and Faye will grow closer, exploring and exposing their confidence issues.

#501 until the time skip around #3136:

• Life will change, and your friendships will change. The people who matter to you will move in and out of your life, and when you’re mentally healthy, your own story won’t matter as much as the story you share with your friends.

#3137+, after Faye hit alcoholic rock bottom and Marten entered a happy, healthy relationship, with a bit of time after for everyone to move on:

• Define your identity, separate from your past and the expectations of others, and establish a place for yourself in your community where you can improve it. That is the path to self-fulfillment. 

These were dramatic changes in both the emotional content of the stories, and the narrative focus. To quote the man himself,

(@jephjacques, Twitter, Oct. 26^th)

Backing out to a broader view, I see four types of shifts in webcomics:

• Early Installment Weirdness
• Ceberus Syndrome, a major tonal shift
• Format change (usually going from gag comics to serial, or small stories to long-term stories)
• Changes of thesis
• Subtype: Creators got older

I’m most interested in that last category, because it’s the least disruptive change, but still changes the nature of the comic. If a creator decides to take the comic from gag-a-day to storylines, or make it completely grim ‘n’ gritty, then of course the comic’s essence is going to change. But then there are smaller changes, nothing as obvious, but still completely shifting the story’s thesis. The emotions it inspires are different, the narrative is different.

PvP, 10/19/2005

Let’s talk about some other examples, and some important counter-examples.

PvP, Least I Could Do, Something*Positive, and Penny Arcade: You’ve probably read at least one of these, so my guess is you’ll recognize this moment. At some point in the comic, you noticed that the rougher edges had been filed off the main character, and they were trying to support their friends while teasing them, instead of taunting them horribly. Kids may have been introduced. These changes just make sense: The creators got older. The life experiences that mattered to them became the more reflective, more mature.

For PvP and LICD, the change was the most dramatic, because the shift towards more mature characters happened alongside a shift towards continuity and changes to the status quo. S*P and Penny Arcade kept their formats, but the style and the jokes changed. I’d argue that the thesis change for these stories was enough that they’re basically new comics once after the shift. (PvP and PA are probably the least changed, since the emotional reflection is mostly constrained to the occasional storyline.)

Sam and Fuzzy: Like QC, S&F went through two different shifts, with the start of the Noosehead series and again with the Fix Your Problem series. What’s most notable is that, although the start of Noosehead came with a shift in format (away from mostly gag-a-day), the shift with the modern series just coincided with a time skip.

Dumbing of Age is an interesting outlier. It’s been around for seven years, so it’s past the age where most of the other comics I looked at had their shift, but it’s stayed with the same thesis: following Joyce’s maturation as she becomes more sympathetic to friends, and reconciles her faith and empathy in light of the toxic effect some Christians have on her friends.

It’s an outlier that proves the rule to some degree, though. Dumbing of Age is David Willis’ fourth comic, and two of them had very clear Ceberus Syndrome moments. Dumbing of Age was created with a clearer thesis from the beginning, and Willis also has the Slipshine comics as a creative outlet into other forms of storytelling. By comparison, all the other comics on this list were the creators’ first big comic, so a shift would happen midway. Oh Joy Sex Toy is another example of this, in that it hasn’t changed focus, but it’s also Erika Moen’s third major comic.

I’m also choosing to leave out webcomics that are just unrelated gag-a-day comics, XKCD and SMBC. I went through all the webcomics I currently read, and most of the ones I remember well enough to weigh in on; here’s the breakdown of what shifts they experienced.

So what we’ve seen a lot of is comics change in tone as their creators get older, and a lot of comics change in format, and a lot of comics eventually change their focus.

I’m going to do a quick note: A lot of these changes happened 2005-2008. QC, Sam and Fuzzy, LICD, EGS, PvP, all of those went through their (first) big shifts in that time range. I don’t know if it was because the medium was maturing, or just that the webcomics I read all started at about the same time, and they reached an age where the creator decided something had to change. So, that’s interesting.

Also interesting is that for many of these comics, they haven’t had a change to that degree since then. El Goonish Shive is an excellent example: It’s been ten years since it changed its thesis to focus on questions of identity, and I don’t know that it’s changed its thesis since then. Introduced new characters, certainly, but no new core characters, and although new challenges have cropped up, they’re all still related to the core thesis.

Sam and Fuzzy #1056 

Taking both of those points in, and going back to where this all started, three webcomics are especially interesting: Questionable Content, Sam and Fuzzy, and MegaTokyo. QC and Sam and Fuzzy have both had two major shifts in thesis, QC being especially interesting because it wasn’t part of a major rebranding or anything, just the end of a long-running status quo, in a comic that already had a number of those happen.

And then there’s MegaTokyo. Despite running as long as almost all of these comics, MegaTokyo doesn’t have any major changes, except for the initial shift from wacky gamer comedy to a more emotional shojo plot, which I’m going to discount as Early Installment Weirdness.

There is a shift in focus, and I guess it’s enough to qualify as a change in thesis, but it’s pretty minor. Importantly, it’s mostly a shift in what narrative storyline gets prominence, and a partial shift in who's dealing with what, not a change in the tone of the story.

Before Chapter 10:

• Piro will deal with issues of confidence and fear of being hurt again, having difficulty owning his own feelings; until he succeeds in doing so, and letting go of past pain, he will be never be really in love and have someone in love with him.
• Kimiko and Largo have the same, albeit without the past hurt, instead just having a general fear of opening up.
• Erika, Kimiko, and Ping will deal with defining their own identity and story; others will try to define them and control their lives, and if they let that happen, they will be miserable, controlled, and fake.
• Character focus (ordered by decreasing prominence): Piro, Kimiko, Largo, Ping, Miho, Erika.

Starting with Chapter 10:

• Piro will have to process and let go of past pain, finding reconciliation where it is offered. Until he does, he won’t be able to be completely honest and healthy with Kimiko.
• Miho and somewhat Ping will deal with defining their own identity and story; others will try to define them and control their lives, and if they let that happen, they will be controlled, doomed, and fake. Possibly dead.
• Character focus: Piro, Miho, Yuki, Kimiko, Largo, Erika, Ping.

MegaTokyo #1454

I won’t pretend this is a perfect analysis of the story – there’s a ton going on, and I read through Chapter 10+ in one sitting, so my analysis may be incorrect. But on reflection, those are the core pieces of thesis I could draw out of it.

The biggest change isn’t the specific challenges people face, but who’s dealing with them, and who gets screen time. Largo and Erika have pretty much worked out their issues by the time Chapter 10 rolls around, they’re a pretty happy couple, supportive of their friends. Piro’s still having issues, but now it’s specifically focused on his past, instead of a lack of confidence. Kimiko and Erika’s issues with mass crowds obsessing over their stories has been shifted to Miho.

Take note of that. The third part of this series is going to deal specifically with the fact that the thesis of MegaTokyo doesn’t change much, and that it continues to feel the same.