Some thoughts on Webcomics Nation vs. Comicgenesis....

Alschroeder · Post by **Alschroeder** » Fri Jan 05, 2007 6:08 am

Recently, for the New Year, I opened up a second comic (which will be irregularly updated, as opposed to the regular MWF of Mindmistress) at http://www.webcomicsnation.com/alschroe ... series.php--called FLICKERFLAME---another superhero one, but this one more of an antihero, out to destroy the very superteam he's part of, hated by the underworld, etc. (Plus, he's a shapeshifter actually bound by the law of conservation of mass/energy, unlike Chameleon Boy, Beast Boy, etc.)

Anyway, I thought I'd share some impressions---

I'm a little frustrated I can't upload the page exactly the way I like it. Personally, I've been designing web pages for years,and html is second nature to me. I like to have each panel it's own jpg, and use html to form the "gutters" inbetween the images---which is different from most of you, I admit---and there really is no way to do that with the free account from Webcomics Nation. (I didn't pay extra for the account. What can I say? I'm cheap.) On the other hand, if I had NEVER set up a web page before, I might like the interface a lot better. If you have no knowledge of html or web pages, their ready-made interface would let you get up and running in an hour or so, once you've drawn your comic.

The cast page was a joy and a delight to set up, and took me literally five minutes, since I already had the dialogue and images ready. It already had ways to set it up for being tagged by various tagging services, like delicio.us.

I had to pare down the single image more than I would for Comicgenesis, which means the single picture suffers in picture quality compared to MM, due to WCN's preset limits. (Now I understand why so many of the Webcomics Nation comics are black and white...)

Now, they ARE constantly changing it. I sent Joey Manley my impressions (and a suggestion that he have two kind of "free" accounts---one for web neophyte and one for web designers.) and got a personal reply that there are many more changes in store, and he appreciated the feedback.

But I thought I'd report it here, to let you know my experience. I AM planning of keeping on adding to this new comic, so I'm going to keep on using the Webcomics Nation interface.

Anybody else using both? --Al

Dotty · Post by **Dotty** » Fri Jan 05, 2007 6:45 am

I am. When Knights of Vesteria started up, I had to put it on Comic Genesis as well, because WCN was having major issues with uptime. Joey is a saint, though. He'll listen to anything you say. My only beef is when he doesn't believe you.

Elvenbaath is hosted on WCN. I've had a good run with them. My only beefs with WCN is the domain thing still hasn't been fixed, and it's been over a year now. (I'd like it to say Elvenbaath.com, not http://www.webcomicsnation/stuff/morest ... series.php) Also, the stats page is god awful.

Warren · Post by **Warren** » Fri Jan 05, 2007 6:50 pm

It can't possibly be as bad as SmackJeeves.

Although, self-hosting is the bestest.

McDuffies · Post by **McDuffies** » Sat Jan 06, 2007 8:40 am

I'm using both too. I'm also used to writing page from the scratch so WCN's system was a bit bothersome, but when I got into it, I started taking it as a challenge, to twist WCN't system so that I get what I wanted.

Generally I find WCN superior for following things:
-I post short unrelated stories, WCN allows me to pos them all separately and automatically puts them on list it uses later.
-Cross-promotion on WCN is in my opinion, stronger than on CG.
-Joey alswers to many requests and tries to build them into the system. Our admins give their best, but they're still volunteers with real jobs in first place.
-Calendar thingy script when I upload, so I don't need to check the callendar on my wall when I'm dating comics.
-I can sell adds on WCN.
-Fanart gallery is automated, so is mailing list and some other things.

For other stuff, including freedom in webdesign, community, easiness of FTP uploading, possibility of parking a domain, shorter URL, etc, CG still seems to be better. Automated Cast and other pages don't make much difference to me. WCN would be ideal if I could FTP-upload comics and turn off all automation that I don't want.

The greatest difference is, I think, that WCN and CG audiences and communities are rather separated. It's like WCN audience is looking for comics that are more artsy, while CGers stick to more conventional type of webcomics. With my decision to draw one-shot stories (even if 200 pages long) instead of series, I think that WCN audience is more interested in that sort of thing. In any case, I think that having a comic on both can help you get to a larger scope of people.

Note, I'm having 1st level account that I got as a Graphic Smasher, I don't know what free account actually contains.

Spqrblues · Post by **Spqrblues** » Sat Jan 06, 2007 9:25 am

I tried WCN before joining CG. I can't recall now what the problem was, but I absolutely could not get an account set up. Some sort of technical glitch. I wrote in for help, got a nice reply, but never did solve the problem, and the e-mails about it are now gone to dust. I already post the comic in three places, but I wonder if I should add a fourth, to go after that artsy crowd McDuffies mentioned.