Revisiting The Webtoon Problem

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   / @coopergalanis  

Check out Scott McCloud’s article - it’s a fantastic read. McCloud is a true pioneer of this whole field of discussion and is obviously about ten gazillion times more informed on this subject than my dumbass:
https://scottmccloud.com/4-inventions...

PUTTING THE WEBTOON PROBLEM TO REST:
I originally made “The Webtoon Problem” because I wanted to make a video discussing different comic formats, and especially, the things I love about manga paneling. I wasn’t sure how to frame that video in a way that was interesting, and after a while I thought, hey, I know! I’ve always found Webtoons to be really annoying to read! maybe i can tie the two together! And then it snowballed into a hate-fest of the scrolling comic format as a whole. I guess I had a lot of latent annoyance for Webtoons festering in me - people would always recommend them to me, and I could never get into them because of how irritating I found their reading experience to be.
But the problem with this method of writing is that you run the risk of framing subjective issues as objective facts, which is what ended up happening. When I rewatch “The Webtoon Problem,” now all I can think is, why the hell am I talking about comic history? What does Calvin and Hobbes’ evolution have anything to do with discussing my personal preference for page formatted over scrolling comics? Why am I talking about phones? This is supposed to purely be a discussion of paneling! Really, it’s just shit writing.
The vast majority of people agreed with what I was getting at in my last Webtoon video. But some people didn’t. Most of which were obviously just malding because I was shitting on their precious power-scaling isekai. And those people can kiss my nuts - I really don’t care if my opinion makes you angry. But other people left long, respectful, well-written, and very insightful criticisms on my take. After reflecting on those comments, I realized - you know what? They’re onto something.
But I hope it’s clear that my personal preference for manga/page formatted comics HAS NOT CHANGED. I still much prefer manga over Webtoons, I still find them quite annoying to read, and I still have a strong distaste for their common tropes. This is not me “going back” on my previous points in an attempt to appease haters or whatever. I didn’t have to make this video, but I wanted to because as an artist and comic lover, and for the sake of my integrity as a critic, I felt as though I should - I don’t want people to think of me as the Webtoon hater guy, and I certainly don’t want to discourage aspiring artists that like the scrolling format, or want to use it to promote their work. We ought to make the comics we personally find beautiful, whatever format they might be in. Who am I to say one is somehow “wrong” and “bad”? Art is always evolving. That’s my new stance on the matter.

Music credits: Me. I produced the music, bitch. Call me jacob coggsier

check out my art!:   / coggsie.art