Levels of Engagement

One of the comic strips I enjoyed when I was a kid was Andy Capp by Reg Smythe. I don’t know if it was his inability to do work, or his non-chalant attitude about pretty much everything, or that he simply had a cool hat, but I enjoyed seeing what antics he got himself into. Frequently, the seemingly ubiquitous canal!

What I didn’t realize at the time, though, was that it was actually an import from England. The dialogue was a little unusual to me, but I was then unfamiliar with British colloquialisms, so I chalked Andy’s pattern of speech up to just being part of the comedy. I also didn’t know anything about this “Reg Smythe” person whose byline accompanied each strip. I had no clue what he looked like, where he was from, how old he was… for that matter, I didn’t even know if “Reg” was short for Reginald or Regina! Even with the couple of mass market paperbacks I had, there was simply no information about him that I could find. (This was, of course, in the days before the internet.)

Lately, as I was going through my regular reading and checking out the latest installments of webcomics, I noticed that there were a number of posts that that did not contain any actual comics, but were mostly creators making some note about taking a break for the holidays, or plans for the new year, or whatever.

One of those posts I did actually stop to read, though, was from Runaway to the Stars. December coincidentally lined up with the end of a chapter, and they're spending the time in between talking with readers...

The interchapter lore page will go up next, then I'll be doing character AMAs again... I will probably do AMA responses for 2 weeks because I am hoping to finish chapter 6 pages by the end of this year. Those are what's currently going up on Patreon!

And I was reminded about Smythe. I had been reading Andy Capp for around a decade before I found out Smythe was from England. And that nugget I only discovered because I had written a fan letter to him via my local newspaper, which he very kindly responded to using Daily Mirror stationery. I should note, too, that it took about three months between when I mailed the letter, and when I received a response. I expect it was forwarded around a few times before it even got shipped overseas!

But today, readers can get much more easily engage with comic creators at any level they’re comfortable with. You can still read a webcomic, and be largely oblivious to who’s actually making it-- I dismiss a lot of the personal-type posts creators write if I'm especially engaged with their work. In some cases, I'm lucky to remeber a creator's name but in other cases, I’ve actually become quite good friends with the creators.

For as much or as little as a comic speaks to you, it’s generally not difficult to find that the creators speak just as much, or little, to you as well. If you like their work, hang out with them during a livestream, ask them process questions via Mastodon, discuss plot points on their own website. Or, if you just want a moment’s diversion with their comic, that’s all you need to worry about paying attention to.

Related Items fandom newspaper strips webcomics