One of the comic strips I enjoyed when I was a kid was Andy Capp by Reg Smythe. I don’t know if it was his inability to do work, or his non-chalant attitude about pretty much everything, or that he simply had a cool hat, but I enjoyed seeing what antics he got himself into. Frequently, the seemingly ubiquitous canal!
What I didn’t realize at the time, though, was that it was actually an import from England. The dialogue was a little unusual to me, but I was then unfamiliar with British colloquialisms, so I chalked Andy’s pattern of speech up to just being part of the comedy. I also didn’t know anything about this “Reg Smythe” person whose byline accompanied each strip. I had no clue what he looked like, where he was from, how old he was… for that matter, I didn’t even know if “Reg” was short for Reginald or Regina! Even with the couple of mass market paperbacks I had, there was simply no information about him that I could find. (This was, of course, in the days before the internet.)
Today, as I was going through my feed reader checking out the latest installments of webcomics, I noticed that there were a number of posts that I would open up and quickly dismiss without reading at all. They were all posts that did not contain any actual comics, and were mostly creators making some note about coming back from a holiday break, or plans for the new year, or whatever.
One of the posts I did actually stop to read, though. It was from a comic that I support through Patreon called Star Power. Since I’m more engaged with that particular comic, I was more interested to see what they had to say beyond the comic itself. Their post, interestingly, talked about how they’re looking to be more active with their fans via social media…
We want to make our Facebook page and Twitter feed more interactive, and we want to seem more available to you. We’ll be doing scheduled Q&A sessions where Garth and I will be answering (politely worded) questions as we receive them.
For those who want a more personal way to speak with us but can’t make it out to conventions, we also want to try doing monthly live Google Hangouts!
And I was reminded about Smythe. I had been reading Andy Capp for at least a decade before I found out Smythe was from England. And that nugget I only discovered because I had written a fan letter to him via my local newspaper, which he very kindly responded to using Daily Mirror stationery. I should note, too, that it took about three months between when I mailed the letter, and when I received a response. I expect it was forwarded around a few times before it even got shipped overseas!
But today, readers can get much more easily engage with comic creators at any level they’re comfortable with. You can still read a webcomic, and be largely oblivious to who’s actually making it—as I said, I dismissed a lot of the personal-type posts creators had written if I wasn’t especially engaged with their work. In the case of Star Power, I haven’t talked to the guys working on it, but I’m know a little about them. And in the cases of other comics I read, I’ve actually become quite good friends with the creators.
For as much or as little as a comic speaks to you, it’s generally not difficult to find that the creators speak just as much, or little, to you as well. If you like their work, hang out with them during a livestream, ask them process questions via Twitter, discuss plot points on their own website. Or, if you just want a moment’s diversion with their comic, that’s all you need to worry about paying attention to.