When Comicspace launched last year, it seemed that it would become a major hub for comic creators to meet, mingle, and network - that it would become not only a place to exchange information and share experiences, but to actually help form creative teams for ambitious comic projects. It is an incredibly easy-to-use system, is more organized and visually attractive than the MySpace page abominations littering the net, and allows its users to display any amount of their work they want to share in galleries. I love the gallery option; it’s simpler to manage then DeviantArt and doesn’t share the crippling slowness of that more popular art site.

It all seemed like a dream come true for the comic artist, especially the webcomic artist, but so far, not much has come of it. My personal experience hasn’t resulted in more than one or two real new friends, and there just isn’t really a way to network outside of private messages and the comments section. Many users simply work to acquire as many friends as possible, and most serious creators quickly forget about their Comicspace pages. The limited communication is probably the chief cause of this, but Comicspace could really benefit from more interactivity, which is why I’m hopeful that the upcoming merger between Comicspace and Webcomics Nation will allow Josh Roberts to expand on Comicspace. A real forum would be a great place to start; readers could post their tutorials, get crits for their work, and really network. A forum seems like something tacked on and unnecessary, but in this case, it’s a requirement; a place that encourages communication needs an open area for its users to communicate. Others feel that simply being able to personalize their pages more would be add to the attraction of Comicspace - nothing like Myspace, but something as simple as choosing a different organizational layout or background color would suffice.

I genuinely like Comicspace and what it attempts to do, but it limits itself to the point where it hinders its chief goal - allowing creators to meet, greet, and hook-up for new projects. With the merger, I hope that Comicspace will have the funding to accomplish that goal, because with over 23,000 registered users at the time of this writing, it can easily become one of the biggest comic hubs on the internet. I wish Mr. Roberts luck with Comicspace, because I’m really rooting for it to succeed.

If you liked that, try...

1. Comicspace - A Whole New World
2. Announcing the Goldskull Project
3. Revisiting The Superfogeys
4. Gun Baby
5. Your Webcomic Review is Bad and You Should Feel Bad

1 Comment »

1. 
   Migo
   December 23, 2007 at 2:00 pm

   I really want to see Comicspace work, the idea is a sound one and it’s got the potential to be a useful networking and business tool. I’m also a bit sentimental because I was one of the first few to sign up for it and I used to do bug reporting for the site in the early days.

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