Just to make this clear from the onset, “my problem” with webcomics isn’t that I find them to be lesser than print comics but a number of factors that have made it hard for me to become a webcomics reader.

Johanna today considered why webcomics don’t get mentioned in lists of the best comics and notes some problems with webcomics that resonates with me very much.

I’ve been thinking about this for a while because I’m theoretically interested in webcomics, but have had a hard time finding ones that get me to become a loyal follower. The barriers to me have been:

• Irregular schedules — this can be solved with an RSS feed, but a number of webcomics have initially captured my attention only to lose me when I’d return and find an old comic. If I can’t figure out when to stop by for new episodes, I can’t build a habit of returning to the webcomic. Like I say at the onset, this can be solved with an RSS feed, but I’m surprised at the number of times I’ve visited a webcomic and not found a feed.
• Navigation — when I discover a webcomic, I want to catch up on the series. Unfortunately, I’m a Type-A personality with a history of repetitive stress injuries, so any interface that uses a drop-down menu to view the archives is too inconvenient for me. If it takes me more than one click to get to view past editions, my attention is inclined to wander away.
• Genre — Most of the webcomics I’ve checked out were either humor strips or diary webcomics. While I don’t dislike either genre, the dominance of those two genres make it harder to stand out. Also, both genres take up a very small portion of my print comic reading.
• Design — Some webcomics look like print comics scanned and uploaded to a web page, which means the webcomic isn’t designed to be read on a monitor screen which has a different orientation from a comic book page. Sometimes that does affect my reading experience enough that I have a hard time enjoying the comic.

I’m listing these problems not to bash webcomics, but because I’m hoping that maybe there’s a webcomic that suits me that I haven’t discovered. If anyone can recommend a webcomic that doesn’t fall into the traps that I’ve noted above, I’d appreciate the chance to jump into the format.

One thing I’d love to see is a webcomic that tries to update the old soap opera comic strip (like Rex Morgan or Apartment 3-G) for modern comic audiences (I’ve tried getting into these strips but the stories often feel so dated). I’m surprised I haven’t seen anything like this, but I don’t look at a lot of webcomics (since those searches haven’t yielded results) so there’s a good chance I’ve just missed this in my searches.