Webcomics are roughly what it says on the tin: comics, which are posted on the web!

So, are they just like comics in print, except online instead?

Kind of! There are a lot of comics online which are formatted very similarly to print comics, and the reasons for this are varied. Sometimes it’s because the creator intends to print them later, and it makes this process easier if the pages are already laid out appropriately. Sometimes it’s just because that is the type of comic they enjoy reading, and which they’re inspired by.

So they’re like webtoons?

Yes and no. Webtoon is a brand name– a very popular brand, but just as not every can of soda is a coke, not all webcomics are webtoons, although arguably all webtoons are webcomics. They are, after all, sequentially illustrated and use many narrative conventions associated with comics (speech bubbles, panels, etc), and are published online.

But that’s far from the only type of webcomic out there! In the earliest days of webcomics, formats tended to be constrained by users’ bandwidth and limited monitor sizes, so simple art and layouts were a must, as well as small file sizes. But as technology improved and more people started reading and creating webcomics, people started to experiment and play with some of the options that digital formats have to offer. (In particular, use of animation, or of interactive elements such as components of the page that appear or change when a user hovers their mouse over a part of the graphic.)

During the run of the popular webcomic Homestuck, there were a number of updates whose content consisted of full-on video games within the browser screen, which would allow readers to use keyboard commands and mouse movements to control a sprite character and interact with an environment within the browser window, including dialogue trees with other characters, events, and so on. These were mainly coded in Adobe Flash, which has since ceased to be supported, making these games difficult to archive in playable form, but similar effects can be achieved with Javascript, as the popular stick-figure strip comic XKCD has used.

What do webcomics look like?

The style and format of many early webcomics were inspired by newspaper strips, and the daily posting schedule of a webcomic is a close approximation to the way in which newspaper serials were historically published, making it an easy fit. Some of the first webcomics to become widely read utilized this format, such as Penny Arcade. Many of these strip comics are comedy-centric, with each update being a new joke; sometimes, but not always, featuring a central cast of characters. Some comics used the format to branch out into longer ongoing stories, occasionally reaching beyond the comedy genre into fantasy or drama storylines, building dedicated and passionate fan bases as they went.

As the medium became more widely known, more and more different styles and approaches began to appear. For every genre or style of physical comic or graphic novel, there are now webcomics utilizing similar storytelling approaches. Some are inspired by western comic books; by bande dessinee or other European books; photo collages (fumetti), or by manga.

Some webcomics will release a single horizontal row of 3-4 panels in an update. Some may release a full page with 6-10 panels or more, filled with painstaking detail, Some may update with animations, or a single panel at a time almost like a storyboard. And still others use the infinite canvas of the digital screen to create a vertical scroll for the reader to read, which can contain the equivalent amount of content as 2-10 ‘standard’ comic book pages.

What kind of content or themes do webcomics contain? 

Hoo boy everything under the sun, huh

Because of the nature of webcomics being without the need of a traditional publisher, the content created has an enormous range in artistic freedom. Many webcomics are more intimate, passion projects that take advantage of the flexibility provided without boundaries, making it an excellent outlet for anyone to create to their heart’s content. The stories vary from a traditional comic style approach with a long running cast and story, auto-bios from the artist’s experience, gag strips, animated games, and much more!

So, ultimately:

They are what they are!
Webcomics are in the name, comics published on the web. Varying in artistic quality, format, content, and style, this medium of comic has a diverse range of stories and possibilities. With a large majority free to read, webcomics are both accessible and abundant!