Comics have long been defined by the limitations set by the newspaper layout. However, comics are more and more published online. My research question is how much the digital environment has changed the form of comics or their layout and has there even developed a completely new genre vitally different to printed comics. The narrative can’t be overlooked but it’s not the main focus of this paper. I concentrate on web comics that are read directly online, in contrast to comics only distributed online.

An interesting feature is that web comics are read through one’s own screen and the actual comic may look very different on different devices. How does this affect the work and is it the same work? A web comic may not be available at all times as it’s not published in the traditional way. This leads to a rather philosophical question of how possibly temporary works of art should be treated. Web comics also usually provide the possibility of user interaction. Some comic artists even change the plot according to the readers’ feedback.

A starting point to explore the different views on web comics is McCloud’s Reinventing Comics (2000) where he presents possible forms of development for Internet comics. Various researchers have since studied different aspects on digital and web comics. It might also be useful to find out how reading in digital environments has been treated in different studies.

Hilda Ruokolainen