So many webcomics, so little time

June 14, 2005 7:32 AM

Comic Alertis a free, elegantly designed service that provides RSS feeds for just about every comic with a web presence, allowing you to track updates from the newsreader of your choice. And since it links directly to artists' webpages without copying their images, it neatly sidesteps any pesky copyright issues. Those who prefer a dedicated comic viewing application might want to check out Comictastic or iComic, although some comic creators would prefer you didn't. (Via)
posted by yankeefog (7 comments total)

Oh no... you, you... ENABLER! The last thing I need is an excuse to spend more time reading webcomics.

By which I mean, thanks yankeefrog, these are cool.
posted by ITheCosmos at 7:58 AM on June 14, 2005

One of the reasons that I never really got into web comics is that I don't like having to track down a million different websites, wait for them all to load, and deal with their shitty architecture.
It also amazes me how people can be content providers and not understand how copyright works (or how a browser works).
The economics of comics has always been brutal; from newspapers to the web, there have always been more cartoonists than people willing to pay for cartoons.
That said, first off, all of these cartoonists should have an RSS feed. The "Oh, I'm an ignorant artiste! I can't do the 'puters!" is bullshit. If you have chosen web publishing as your medium, you should learn enough about it to be able to add a simple fuckin' RSS link. It's no different than buying bristol board: you have to be reasonably competent in your medium to have any level of success.
Second, they should be working to get a piece of this software revenue, if only through adding ad streams into their RSS. Ideally, setting up a premium relationship with Comictastic would probably be their best bet. This guy is charging for his work, and while not legally obligated to, he should realize that it is in his best interest to have as many web comics posted in a form that his program can read. The commenter in the forum was right: if the web comic creators disallow hotlinking, Comictastic will die. But so will a lot of web comics that are spread through word of mouth and blog links. Setting up a structure that pays a tenth of a cent per subscriber per comic wouldn't be that hard, and would allow him to make at least a token payment. (And then more people would be interested in paying for the service, so long as cash went to the creators).
posted by klangklangston at 8:59 AM on June 14, 2005

I have This Comic Page as one of the tabs on my homepage.
I much prefer to scan through them, and read the simpler-funnier ones, than going to every artists webpage.
It's probably bandwidth theft, and copyright infringement.
The layout is no nonsence, straight up comix!
You can minimise the ones in wierd languages, and assemble them in any order you want them, to have your favorites on top.

I need my White Ninja!
posted by Balisong at 11:45 AM on June 14, 2005

Actual Comictastic Page

I used this program quite a bit a year or so ago. Getting them via RSS along with all my other feeds is just as easy for me now, though.
posted by heydanno at 12:56 PM on June 14, 2005

Oh my god. Thank you.
posted by dougunderscorenelso at 2:01 PM on June 14, 2005

I made a bookmark subfolder in Firefox, and every morning I "Open in Tabs" that whole folder. Not quite as clean an interface, but the sites get my ad impressions, and I don't have to go to each site one by one.
posted by Happy Monkey at 2:01 PM on June 14, 2005

For the Perl-enabled geeks among us, this might be of more use. I've managed to get this working on my Linux box at work, and my Windows XP box at home. Now all I have to do is get Windows XP to wake up from power down to fetch these, then go back to sleep ...
posted by Mur at 1:29 PM on June 16, 2005