Last week, the 2009 Eisner awards were awarded in San Diego. First thing first: Warm congratulations to Jason for winning the Best U.S. Edition of International Material category. I think it’s wild that a Norwegian can win an Eisner, but when the same Norwegian wins the same category three years in a row, it’s obvious that we have a true star we should be proud of.
And now, let’s look at what I think is one of the most interesting categories… Best webcomic. The winner was Carla Speed McNeil’s Finder. I tried looking at this comic a few weeks ago, but had to give up. I found the comic a struggle to read. Not because of the quality of the comic, but because of how it is presented.
First, look at the URL: http://www.shadowlinecomics.com/webcomics/#/finder/. What is that # doing in there? Isn’t that a very inconvenient URL? “Hi, check out my webcomic, it’s at www dot shadowlinecomics dot com slash webcomics slash number sign slash finder”? Doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue. But it appears that was never the intention, either. You’re apparently supposed to go to shadowlinecomics.com, click “webcomics” and find your way from there.
Now, the first thing you notice there is the huge Flash thingie that the entire comic is presented in. Which annoyed me a lot. What is the purpose of it? Apparently, only to make the reading experience more difficult. The pages of the comic are so large you have to scroll to be able to read all of them, even when viewing it in full screen. That wouldn’t be that big a problem if this was ordinary HTML files where one could scroll, click the button to read next page, scroll, and so on. But here, the previous/next buttons are on a separate toolbar. Meaning: When you’re holding your pointer over the “Next” button, you can’t use the scroll wheel. You can’t use the keypad to scroll, either. And I seem to recall that when I tried reading this comic in Opera (my browser of choice — but not the one I use at work, where I currently am), the scroll wheel didn’t work either. Goddarn it, why not just let me progress forward by clicking the page itself?
It seems as if this comic is being updated on a semi-regular basis. Well, that’s good, but if I’m a regular reader, how do I get to see the latest page? Most webcomics either display the latest page on the frontpage or they have a link to it from most other sites. Here, if you want to see the latest page, you either have to click “Next page” fifty-seven times, or you have to find the thumbnail button, open the thumbnails (which you’ll want to close again as soon as possible because it takes up even more of the screen so that you have even less space to view the comic), drag the scrollbar all the way right, and click the correct thumbnail. Imagine doing that three times a week.
The Flash format has a few nifty advantages, for instance you can zoom in on the comic if you want to. However, there are also some disadvantages that may or may not be intended. In addition to the navigational problems mentioned above, one thing that annoyed me was that there seems to be no way to print the comic. Okay, I understand that McNeil wants me to buy her books, but this comic is hardly ideal for viewing on a screen, so why can’t I just print it as long as it’s free online anyway?
And every time you click to view a new page, you have to watch the Shadowline logo while it’s loading. As long as you’re using Flash, why not actually take advantage of it and pre-load the next page while I’m reading the first?
Notice that in the <title> field, words like “Finder” or “Carla Speed McNeil” aren’t mentioned at all. That’s probably one of many things that make this comic near-impossible to find in search engines. If you google “Finder Carla Speed McNeil”, the Shadowline comic won’t show up in the top ten. However, you will immediately find a link to Carla Speed McNeil’s website, where she also publishes “Finder”. Wait, I’m confused. This looks as if it’s a completely different comic? Okay, apparently it has run for thirteen years, so I understand that there are tons of different material to choose from, but the stories seem so very, very different. The “Finder” we learn about on McNeil’s website appears to be “a secret society of hunters, trackers and more“. The comic published on Shadowline’s pages… I’ve only read the first thirty pages, but I get the impression that it’s about a beauty contest and that there’s a species of people where men have boobs there.
Oh, and by the way, this comic isn’t finished. No, seriously. I don’t mean that the ending isn’t written yet, while that seems to be the case it’s not really a disadvantage, but most of the last 26 pages haven’t been inked yet. Only pencils are published. I would link you there, but that’s another disadvantage of the Flash navigational system used… Linking to or bookmarking a specific page is impossible. But seriously: Why on Earth isn’t the entire comic inked before publication? That just looks unprofessional.
I’m sure McNeil is an excellent writer and artist and that the Eisner award was well-deserved. But this was a terrible, terrible way to present a webcomic.
Steve Dismukes
juli 28, 2009 at 12:29
I have to agree with your observations on a lot of points.
Having talked to a friend who’s more familiar with the comicbook industry, he advises me that Carla Speed McNeil was initially a self-publishing comics artist who made the jump to the web later on – the reverse to the path that webcomic artists tend to take. By all accounts she’s very good, and I found the work displayed on the Shadowline site to be intriguing and well-done, but as you say, very much unfinished.
The Eisner judges’ definition of what qualifies as a webcomic are… not entirely straight. I’d tend to say that a webcomic is a comic primarily published online – the website is The Main Event, and sale of collected print editions is secondary. With Finder that’s reversed. The online portion of things is incomplete – first-chapter tasters on her own website, unfinished pencils on the Shadowline site, all aimed at encouraging people to buy the books, which are The Main Event.
I’m pretty sure there are webcomics out there that meet Finder’s high standards of art and writing and focus mainly on the online aspect of things, but that doesn’t seem to be what the Eisner judges are looking at. Maybe they believe that any comic that has an online presence is a webcomic.
I’m not saying that Finder doesn’t deserve an award, just that “Best Webcomic” might not have been the most appropriate category.
Olaf Moriarty Solstrand
juli 29, 2009 at 14:16
@Steve: I agree. I think it seems to be a pretty good comic, but it feels as if they don’t know anything about publishing webcomics at all.
Robert Hubbard
august 20, 2009 at 02:34
Came across your site, in the midst of looking for FINDER. Have some issues in being able to access the Shadowline site — I’m not able to scroll down to see the full page.
I do agree about the navigational issues, but as to the rest of your comments… first of all, the pages on Shadowline appear to be the next installment after the most recent trade paperback release, FIVE CRAZY WOMEN. The Shadowline comics should be “Voice” – which was the segment I was searching for, thus the navigational issues are REALLY frustrating.
FINDER isn’t something you can just start in the middle and hope that you’ll suss it out by story’s end – the world that Speed Mcneil creates is a vast one, and it doesn’t just concentrate on the central character. This is part of why I like the series, but it is pretty frustrating for someone who’s just discovered it to figure out what the hell is going on.
FINDER’s official site seems to be undergoing some renovation – one used to be able to access the older issues, but now a new segment appears to be up — and it appears to be in pencil rough form.
One can carp about aesthetics and professionalism — being a regular reader, I find the pencil roughs fascinating, and not distracting from the story. I can see where it may be a chore for others, however.
You might want to check out the LIGHTSPEED PRESS site, once it’s fully operational; you might find that site much better to navigate.
Olaf Moriarty Solstrand
august 20, 2009 at 08:00
Hi Robert! Nice to hear from someone who knows this comic a little better than I do. The navigational issues are basically what I dislike about this comic: The story itself doesn’t look bad. I do believe that it’s pretty bad presented, however. You’re telling me that this is the next installment after the most recent paperback — and I wish that Shadowline Press could have told me that. I clicked around a lot to find information about this comic, and I didn’t find a single place saying “do not read this comic unless you’ve read the paperbacks first”. I was new to McNeil’s universe, and wasn’t even told that I started in the middle of a story. I have, however, looked at the Lightspeed Press site, and it looks a lot better than the first impression I got from Shadowline. Basically, I’m not saying that the comic is bad, but the way Shadowline presents it, it’s difficult to get a god first impression of it.
Call me old-fashioned, but I think that when one chooses to publish a comic page, all inking should be finished. Publishing sketches later as an extra service for dedicated readers is a nice touch, but I’m not a big fan of publishing them instead of the real thing. I will, however, admit that it has a certain fascinating aspect, too, but I think we’ll have to disagree on that one. I also think that it’s easier to be fascinated by the sketches when you’re already a Finder fan.
I think Steve Dismukes summarized it pretty well in the first comment here: “I’m not saying that Finder doesn’t deserve an award, just that “Best Webcomic” might not have been the most appropriate category.”
On the “return” of Finder; can Smut Peddler rise from the ashes, too? « The One and Only Trisha Lynn
august 24, 2009 at 04:28
[...] On the “return” of Finder; can Smut Peddler rise from the ashes, too? By Trisha Lynn As many of you know, Carla Speed McNeil’s Finder is one of the best indie comics both on the web and off of it. I’ve been a fan ever since my days at Sequential Tart, and I was beyond pleased to learn that she had finally won an Eisner award this year at the San Diego Comic Con, even though some people don’t believe she should have won for “Best Digital Comic”… [...]