Webcomics Nation

Webcomics Nation was a webcomic hosting and automation service launched on July 29, 2005 by Joey Manley. Unlike Manley's previous webcomic sites, Webcomics Nation was based on user-generated content[1] and relied on online advertisement revenue, which increased in viability in the second half of the 2000s. Webcomics Nation quickly became Manley's most financially successful website, and encouraged him to turn his Modern Tales sites partially free as well. Manley began merging Webcomics Nation into Josh Roberts' ComicSpace in 2007, but this process took longer than hoped and Webcomics Nation eventually closed down in 2013.

Webcomic Nation
2013 logo
October 2005 screenshot
OwnerJoey Manley
URLwebcomicsnation.com
LaunchedJuly 29, 2005 (2005-07-29)
Current statusdiscontinued, URL occupied by malware site

Concept

Though Joey Manley was well known for creating a family of webcomic subscription services (consisting of Modern Tales, Serializer, Girlamatic, and Graphic Smash), he stated that he mainly focused exclusively on the subscription business model because online advertisement rates were low and bandwidth was expensive in the early 2000s. When online advertisement became more lucrative in the mid-2000s, and the subscriber numbers of his existing platforms remained stagnant, Manley decided to transition into a business model more similar to that of Keenspot. Webcomics Nation was designed to host and distribute webcomics in a similar fashion to how services like Blogger and Flickr host blogs and photos respectively.[2][3] Webcomics Nation offered unlimited Web space and support to any cartoonist for $7 USD per month,[4] but the website was mainly known as a free hosting service, supported entirely through advertisement money. As the revenue of free webcomics supported through advertising eclipsed the increasingly unpopular subscription model, Manley eventually turned Modern Tales into a free website as well.[5]

Webcomics Nation also aided cartoonists with little to no experience with web technologies to set up a webcomic. Talking with Publishers Weekly, Manley stated that "A lot of people don't have that kind of dedication to technology. The younger cartoonists do, but some older cartoonists don't."[6]

History

Manley launched WebcomicsNation.com on July 29, 2005 after having the service beta tested by a large number of major cartoonists (including James Kochalka, Lea Hernandez, Roger Langridge, Tom Hart, Cayetano Garza, Daniel Merlin Goodbrey, and Spike Trotman). Manley advertised the service in part through its use of modern Web technologies such as XML, RSS, and "web services". Paying users were offered unlimited bandwidth and disk storage, the ability to lock their own webcomics behind a subscription wall or to sell advertisements on their own pages, an automated email list, a scheduling system, and an archive management system, among other features.[7] Webcomics Nation quickly became Manley's most profitable project.[6]

The free version of Webcomics Nation became available in 2006. Eric Millikin, beta-testing new Webcomics Nation features in late 2006, described the evolving user interface as closer to that of Adobe products than a typical Web-based interface.[8] By 2006, many cartoonists were running webcomics on Webcomics Nation, including Modern Tales usuals such as Shaenon K. Garrity,[9][10] Lea Hernandez, and Tom Hart, as well as print comics veterans like Jay Stephens, Batton Lash, and Ingalill Roesberg.[2]

In 2007, Manley collaborated with OnlineComics.net-creator Josh Roberts to expand on ComicSpace, Roberts' comics-oriented social media and publishing platform. Webcomics Nation was merged into this platform, alongside some of Manley's other websites,[1][11] and ComicSpace was planned to "relaunch" in the second quarter of 2008 as an "all-in-one solution for webcomic creators [and] social networkers interested in comics".[12] In January 2009, Manley wrote that the merger was "one of the more technically difficult projects" they had undertaken, and that it was taking longer than he had hoped.[13] Webcomics Nation and Manley's other websites closed down in April 2013, and he died in November that same year.[14][15]

References
  1. Spurgeon, Tom (2007-11-02). "Newsmaker Interview: Joey Manley". The Comics Reporter. Archived from the original on 2018-10-17. Retrieved 2020-03-25.
  2. Deppey, Dirk (July 2006). "The Joey Manley Interview". The Comics Journal. Archived from the original on 2018-09-29. Retrieved 2020-03-25.
  3. Boxer, Sarah (2005-08-17). "Comics Escape a Paper Box, and Electronic Questions Pop Out". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2019-10-20. Retrieved 2020-03-25. There's even a new site out there called webcomicsnation.com, which is supposed to do for Web comics what Blogger did for blogs and Flickr did for photo sharing.
  4. Walker, Leslie (2005-06-15). "Comics Looking to Spread A Little Laughter on the Web". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 2017-07-30. Manley ... has concluded that advertising represents the industry's future. So he is preparing to launch Webcomicsnation, a site that will offer unlimited Web space to any cartoonist for $7 a month. Manley hopes to turn a profit selling ads. ... 'I am no longer the publisher. I am the service provider.'
  5. Garrity, Shaenon (2013-11-15). "Joey Manley, 1965-2013". The Comics Journal. Archived from the original on 2017-12-14. Retrieved 2020-03-25. Manley introduced WebComicsNation, a free hosting platform for webcomics. As free comics supported by ad revenue started to eclipse the increasingly unpopular subscription model, Manley turned Modern Tales into a partly free, then entirely free site.
  6. MacDonald, Heidi (2005-12-19). "Web Comics: Page Clickers to Page Turners". Publishers Weekly. Archived from the original on 2018-11-06. Retrieved 2020-03-25. Webcomics Nation has already become Manley's most profitable project ever.
  7. Manley, Joey (2005-07-29). "Webcomics Nation is Open for Business". Talk About Comics. Archived from the original on 2005-11-15.
  8. Xerexes, Xaviar (2006-12-16). "The Comixpedia End of 2006 Roundtable". Comix Talk. Webcomics Nation engine is already amazing, but what I've seen from beta testing some of the new features of the 2.0 version makes the future look even more incredible. There's parts of the next generation interface that feel more like you're using Adobe products then a typical web-based interface.
  9. "Garrity new Modern Tales editor". Comics Beat. 2006-08-01.
  10. "Garrity's Skin Horse collection out from Couscous". Comics Beat. 2009-07-07. Skin Horse ... is the most popular comic strip on the WebComicsNation hosting site.
  11. Alverson, Brigid (2009-07-28). "Unbound: Rethinking Girlamatic". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on 2018-10-15. Retrieved 2020-03-25.
  12. Horton, Steve (2008). Webcomics 2.0. Cengage Learning. ISBN 978-1598636826. Formerly separate websites ComicSpace (created by Josh Roberts) and Webcomics Nation (created by Joey Manley), ComicsSpace is relaunching in the second quarter of 2008 as an all-in-one solution for webcomic creators, social networkers interested in comics, or both.
  13. Manley, Joey (2009-01-29). "ComicSpace Merger Status Update for January 29, 2009". TalkAboutComics. Archived from the original on 2009-02-07.
  14. Melrose, Kevin (2013-11-08). "Modern Tales founder Joey Manley passes away". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on 2018-09-26. Retrieved 2020-03-25.
  15. MacDonald, Heidi (2013-08-11). "RIP Joey Manley". the Beat. Archived from the original on 2014-07-06. ... that site [ComicSpace] and Modern Tales were eventually shut down.
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