Before I start this entry, I need to make a point. When I single out a webcomic or even several webcomics, it's not because I hate them. On the contrary, these are comics that I read on a regular basis. I think it's my enjoyment of them that leads to the picking apart of them because I want them to be as good as they can be. I just felt that I needed to get that out there.

I mentioned in a previous entry the difficulty of writing a webcomic that mixes humor and drama. Usually if an inexperienced or poor writer tries it, it ends up being an oil and water mixture. You have both floating around, but they never come together and form a cohesive structure. But it can be done. Just look at movies like The Royal Tennenbaums. You have a drama-drenched story involving bitterness, hatred, redemption, and love, but you laugh your way through it. It works. But it's a fine line to walk.

So what brought this up today? I submit to you exhibit A: Questionable Content from Monday, March 10th. We've had the build up to Faye and Dora's confrontation, and this strip was part of the pay-off. I was feeling good panels one through four, but that last panel... *sigh* This is a case of oil and water. The drama is moving smoothly, we're getting into the moment, but Jeph, god love him, sneaks his trademark last panel jokiness into the mix. Unfortunately, because of the dramatic build-up, the comedy just doesn't work, and it ruins the dramatic moment.

Far be it from me to tell another webcomic creator what to do, but here's my opinion of how it should have worked. The dramatic dialogue should have continued all the way into the last panel, but Penny eating popcorn - which was funny - should remain there. That's non-intrusive comedy on the dramatic moment. We get our dramatic moment, and then we glance over at Penny calmly watching and eating popcorn and we get a chuckle. It works because it's subtle, something that I think a lot of comedy writing folks tend to forget. You don't always have to be so in-your-face with the comedy; what that does is prove that you're underestimating the intelligence of your audience.

There's no set formula to making drama and humor mix together, and that's what makes it so hard. Drama has rules and comedy has rules, but those rules are exclusive to each other and they never get together for a long-term relationship. But if you play your cards right, sometimes they can get together and go bowling and everyone has a good time. I think the real trick to it is to ask yourself if the mixture works. If not, how can you fix it? Can you fix it? If not, then go one route or the other, but not both, or you'll end up doing a split and ripping your pants.

It's been noted in quite a few place, most notably in the popular Webcomics Weekly podcast, that long form comics have less of a chance at succeeding financially using the current business models of daily comics. The main reason is the slow pacing of a story-driven weekly (or even tri-weekly) strip as opposed to the read-and-be-on-your-way pace of a gag-driven daily strip.

I think I've found an obstacle that could be avoided in order to up your chances at succeeding with a long form comic. The problem lies in the attempt at mixing humor/gags into a plot-driven story. It's something that isn't easy to do - keep your story moving while bringing in the laughs.

First of all, lets establish that moving a story along is difficult enough when you're only publishing three strips/pages a week. I know this from experience. It's even more difficult when it's a weekly gig; you need to make sure your story is solid enough that people will keep coming back (take a look at Earthsong; Lady Yates recently dropped down to one update a week, but I can guarantee her readers will keep coming back because of her strong storytelling skills, not to mention artistic ability).

Now let's add humor into the mix. The trick is to only add what you need. It's tough, because, let's face it, you've got a thousand jokes and lots of witty dialogue you want to share with people. But the reality is if you start dropping that stuff, the story takes forever to move forward.

Case in point - College Roomies From Hell!!! This is a comic that I've gone back and forth on (for reasons outside of this subject), but today I came to the realization that the comic suffers from a slow pace because Maritza drops too much humor into the strip. Sure, the dialogue can be funny, sometimes witty, always absurd, but a lot of the time it's forced into the strip, pushing the story to the side. Update days will go by and nothing will happen, except characters talking. Now, if the comic didn't rely so heavily on plot and subplots, this wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing. But Maritza chose to give the comic some meat, in the form of relationships, good vs. evil themes, and all sorts of other dramatic elements. Also, if the comic updated daily, or even five times a week, she could get away with the way she currently does CRFH!!!, although I still wouldn't recommend it. There has to be some compensation to allow for pacing.

Now let's look at a comic that succeeds in this realm - Girl Genius. The Foglios only update three times a week, but they manage to keep the story moving and make us laugh at the same time. They've succeeded in finding a formula of humor and story that works to keep the pacing of the comic marching forward without too many sluggish moments. They keep the plot and action in mind, even when the characters are conversing with each other. Very little of the dialogue is ever dedicated to "fluff talk".

In summary, your best chances at gaining and securing a readership and potentially making money off of said readership when you're doing a non-daily, story-driven comic lie within making sure your pacing is spot-on. If things move too slowly because you're inserting too much fluff into the story, people will lose interest or won't be interested in the first place. Remember two things, and I constantly push for both of these: 1.) Less is more, and 2.) KISS - Keep It Simple, Stupid!