Though webcomics are typically published primarily on the World Wide Web, some webcartoonists may get publishing deals in which comic books are created of their work. Sometimes, these books are published by mainstream comics publishers who are traditionally aimed at the direct market of regional comic books. Some webcartoonists may pursue print syndication in established newspapers or magazines. In other cases, webcomic creators decide to self-publish their work. Crowdfunding through Kickstarter is often used in order to fund such projects.
Publication of webcomics
Though mainstream comic book publishers have typically been wary of licensing webcomics and adapting them into a print format, the rise of webcomics in the 2000s coincided with an American boom in graphic novels. Anna Baddeley, writing for The Guardian, stated that the established fanbase many webcomics have could give publishers a chance to attract new audiences to the print format, making webcomics an attractive focus for publishers. The traditional audience base for webcomics and print comics are vastly different, and webcomic readers do not necessarily go to bookstores. For some webcartoonists, a print release may be considered the "goal" of a webcomic series, while for others, comic books are "just another way to get the content out."
Caitlin Rosberg, writing for Paste Magazine, noted that "digital-first" comics, as found on platforms such as ComiXology, Marvel Unlimited and DC Comics' Digital First, share more aspects with printed comics than with webcomics. With the exception of two-page spreads and the occasional large-panel layout, the formatting of such digital comics are indistinguishable from their print counterparts. "Digital-first" comics can almost seamlessly transition from screen to print, as they are designed with this leap in platform in mind. Rosberg claimed that such comics are not webcomics, as webcomics are designed for consumption only on the World Wide Web, often using infinite canvas techniques or uncommon page formats. Similarly, Lauren Davis wrote for ComicsAlliance that "webcomics are not print comics that happen to appear on the web. They're a distinct animal, offer a distinct reading experience, and should be evaluated accordingly."
Webcomics have been seen by some artists as a potential new path towards syndication in newspapers, but attempts have rarely proven lucrative. According to Jeph Jacques (Questionable Content), "there's no real money" in syndication for webcomic artists. For instance Jeffrey Rowland uploaded his webcomics to the internet in order to gain constructive criticism after being rejected from various syndicates in 1999, but eventually found that he didn't need to get his work syndicated when he started selling merchandise of his webcomic Wigu. To The Boston Globe, Rowland said that "if a syndicate came to me and offered me a hundred newspapers, I would probably say no ... I'd probably make less money, with more work." When Diesel Sweeties found syndication by United Media in 2007, its creator Richard Stevens still made 80% of his income through his website. Other webcomic creators, such as R. K. Milholland (Something Positive) and Michael Terracciano (Dominic Deegan), wouldn't be able to syndicate their work in newspaper because they fill up a specific niche and wouldn't be accepted by a broader audience. Some webcartoonists have proven more successful with newspaper syndication since: in 2015, Dana Simpson syndicated her webcomic Phoebe and Her Unicorn through Universal Uclick to over 100 newspapers.
Many authors opt to self-publish their webcomic in print. In order to do so, many comic artists may use the crowdfunding service Kickstarter, which successfully funded 994 comic and graphic novel projects in 2015.
Published webcomics
In 1996, David Allen launched Plan Nine Publishing, a small press American publisher focused on printing webcomics. The first webcomic Plan Nine published was Bill Holbrook's Kevin and Kell. Plan Nine published over 70 titles, printing late 1990s and early 2000s webcomics such as Sluggy Freelance, Ozy and Millie, Greystone Inn, and College Roomies from Hell!!!. Since 1997, various webcomic creators worldwide have made book deals with larger publishing companies, resulting in their webcomics being adapted into comic books and distributed to retailers.
Note: This alphabetical order ignores the first "the" in the title.
Webcomic Publication title Creator(s) Publisher(s) Initial publication Issues Issues total Ref(s). Acception Coco “Colourbee” Ouwerkerk Syndikaat 2016 2 Achewood Dark Horse Comics 2008 3 The Adventures of Dr. McNinja TopatoCo 2007 3 6 Dark Horse Comics 2011 3 Always Human Ari North Simon & Schuster 2020 1 American Elf Top Shelf Productions 2004 4 Ant Comic Ant Colony Drawn & Quarterly 2014 1 As the Crow Flies Iron Circus Comics 2017 1 Aoi House Seven Seas Entertainment 2006 4 Ava's Demon Michelle Czajkowski Fus Skybound Entertainment 2020 1 Axe Cop Malachai and Ethan Nicolle Dark Horse Comics 2011 6 Bad Machinery Oni Press 2013 8 Battlepug / Allen Passalaqua / Chris Crank Dark Horse Comics 2012 5 Bee Shutterbug Follies Doubleday 2002 1 2 Motel Art Improvement Service Dark Horse Comics 2010 1 Blindsprings Hachette 2018 2 Bouletcorp Notes Boulet Delcourt 2008 10 Bucko / Erika Moen Dark Horse Comics 2012 1 Buzzer Beater Shueisha 1997 4 Check, Please! First Second Books 2018 2 Cheshire Crossing / Sarah Andersen Ten Speed Press 2019 1 Comical Psychosomatic Medicine Young King 2010 15 copper GRAPHIX 2010 1 Cosmoknights Top Shelf Productions 2019 1 Crocodile in Water, Tiger on LandAnonymousHarperCollins India2015 Crossdressing Pandemic Kill Time Communication 2020 2 Crossplay Love: Otaku x Punk Tooru Mag Garden / Seven Seas Entertainment 2019 7 Cucumber Quest First Second Books 2017 4 Cyanide & Happiness Explosm It Books 2009 2 4 Boom! Studios 2014 2 Demon First Second Books 2016 4 Diesel Sweeties Oni Press 2013 3 Digger Sofawolf Press 2005 6 Dinosaur Comics TopatoCo 2010 3 Eelke de Blouw and Tjarko Evenboer Syndikaat 2006 7 Excuse Me Dentist, It's Touching Me! Shueisha 2020 4 Fangs Andrews McMeel Publishing 2020 1 Forming Nobrow Press 2011 2 FreakAngels / Paul Duffield Avatar Press 2008 6 General Protection Fault Mating Call of the North American Computer Geek, Gone With the Windows, And the Geek Shall Inherit the Earth, Surreptitious Machinations, $ which spoon /usr/bin/which: no spoon in $PATH Jeffrey T. Darlington Plan Nine Publishing 2000 4 5 Moonbase Press 2009 1 Get Your War On Soft Skull Press 2002 2 3 Riverhead Books 2004 1The Glass ScientistsSage CotugouRazorbill, Penguin Random House202311 Gunnerkrigg Court Archaia Entertainment 2008 7 Hark! A Vagrant Hark! A Vagrant /Step Aside, Pops Drawn & Quarterly 2011 2 Heartstopper Hachette Children's Group 2019 5 Henchgirl Dark Horse Comics 2017 1 Hetalia: Axis Powers Gentosha 2008 6 Homestuck TopatoCo 2011 3 6 Viz Media 2018 6 Hooky Míriam Bonastre Tur Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 2021 1 hori-san to Miyamura-kun Hero Square Enix 2007 10 How to Keep a Mummy Futabasha 2016 4 I Think I Turned My Childhood Friend into a Girl Ichijinsha / Seven Seas Entertainment 2020 3 I Was Kidnapped By Lesbian Pirates From Outer Space Platinum Comics 2007 6 Inverloch Seven Seas Entertainment 2006 2 Josou o Yamerarenaku Naru Otokonoko no Hanashi Kobashiko Kadokawa Shoten 2021 1 I Cross-Dressed for the IRL Meetup Kurano Kodansha 2020 3 The Joy of Tech The Best of the Joy of Tech / Bruce Evans O'Reilly Media 2003 1 Kill Six Billion Demons Image Comics 2016 3 Leaving Richard's Valley Drawn & Quarterly 2019 1 Ma vie est tout à fait fascinante Delcourt 2012 1 Marine Corps Yumi and Kodansha20127 Wendy Pini's Masque of the Red Death Masque of the Red Death Go! Comi 2007 1 Megatokyo / Rodney Caston Studio Ironcat 2003 1 6 Dark Horse Comics 2004 3 CMX 2006 2 WildStorm 2010 1 Ménage à 3 / David Lumsdon Udon Entertainment 2018 10 Mimi & Eunice Misinformation Wants To Be Free CreateSpace 2010 1 Mob Psycho 100 One Shogakukan 2012 16 MotherloverLindsay IshihiroIron Circus Comics20251 Mom's Cancer Abrams Books 2006 1 Mooncakes / Lion Forge 2019 1 Moving Pictures / Stuart Immonen Top Shelf Productions 2010 1 My Lesbian Experience With Loneliness East Press / Seven Seas Entertainment 2016 1 Nimona HarperCollins 2015 2 Octopus Pie Image Comics 2016 5 Oglaf / Doug Bayne TopatoCo 2011 2 Ojisan and Marshmallow Ichijinsha 2014 4 One-Punch Man One / Yusuke Murata Shueisha / Viz Media 2013 18 Owlturd Comix Emotions Explained with Buff Dudes Andrews McMeel Publishing 2018 1 Parade (with Fireworks) Image Comics 2007 2 The PC Weenies Rebootus Maximus Krishna M. Sadasivam 2009 1 Penny Arcade / Mike Krahulik Dark Horse Comics 2006 5 9 Del Rey Books 2010 2 Oni Press 2012 2 The Perry Bible Fellowship The Trial of Colonel Sweeto and Other Stories Dark Horse Comics 2007 2 Polar Dark Horse Comics 2013 2 Princess Maison Shogakukan 2015 2 Problem Sleuth TopatoCo 2010 5 PvP Dork Storm Press 2001 1 45 Image Comics 2003 45 Questionable Content TopatoCo 2010 6 The Red Hook Image Comics 2018 2 Red String Dark Horse Comics 2002 3 Rice Boy Iron Circus Comics 2018 1 Sabrina Online A Decade in Black & White / The Tail of Two Decades / Baby Steps/Homecoming & Skunks Day Out Eric Schwartz United Publications & Distribution Ltd 2012 4 Salamander Dream AdHouse Books 2005 1 Sarah's Scribbles Adulthood is a Myth / Big Mushy Happy Lump / Herding Cats Andrews McMeel Publishing 2016 3 Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal Save Yourself, Mammal! / The Most Dangerous Game / Science: Ruining Everything Since 1543 Breadpig 2011 3 Schlock Mercenary Hypernode Press 2000 16 Senpai wa Otokonoko Pom Ichijinsha 2021 1 Serenity Rose Slave Labor Graphics 2005 3 Sinfest Dark Horse Comics 2009 2 Sleepless Domain The Price of Magic Hachette 2018 1 Seven Seas Entertainment 2021 Smile Smile GRAPHIX 2010 1 A Softer World / Emily Horne TopatoCo 2009 4 5 Breadpig 2016 1 Space BoyStephen McCranieDark Horse Comics201813 Spy × Family Shueisha / Viz Media 2019 9 Strong Female Protagonist / Lee Knox Ostertag Top Shelf Productions 2014 2 Sunstone Image Comics 2014 6 Top Cow Productions Templar, Arizona Iron Circus Comics 2007 4 Tsuredure Children Kodansha 2012 12 Tu mourras moins bête Ankama 2011 2 4 Delcourt 2014 2 Uchi no Kaisha no Chiisai Senpai no Hanashi Saisō Takeshobo 2020 5 Unshelved Gene Ambaum, Bill Barnes Overdue Media 2004 12 Up and Out Super Late Bloomer: My Early Days in Transition Andrews McMeel Publishing 2018 1 User Friendly User Friendly 1.0, User Friendly, Evil Geniuses in a Nutshell, The Root of All Evil, Even Grues Get Full, Ten Years of User Friendly.org O'Reilly Media 1999 4 5 Manning Publications 2008 1 Van Von Hunter / Ron Kaulfersch Tokyopop 2005 3 Witchy Lion Forge Comics 2019 2 Woman World Drawn & Quarterly 2018 1 Wondermark Beards of Our Forefathers, Clever Tricks to Stave Off Death, Dapper Caps & Pedal-Copters David Malki Dark Horse Comics 2008 3 The Wormworld Saga Lion Forge Comics 2018 4 Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku Fujita Ichijinsha / Kodansha USA 2014 11 xkcd xkcd: Volume 0 Breadpig 2009 1 Yarichin Bitch Club Gentosha / Viz Media 2012 3
Webcomics syndicated in newspapers and magazines Some webcomics have been regularly published in periodicals such as newspapers and magazines.