man is a political animal.

i'm not sure i should even be writing about this and its ensuing controversy (?), because i am not a webcomic artist, i am merely a passive consumer of them. on the other hand, i'm pretty much guaranteed that no one with any real stake in the matter (emotional, financial, or otherwise) will ever
read this, so that's ok ;)

*shrug* and i like penny arcade (as well as goats). i respect that webcomic artists need to make money off their art, because they, like everyone else, need to eat and pay for housing and feed their families. and while i can't pay probably as much as they would like, i am the proud owner of a plushy bun-bun and two volumes of the megatokyo manga, and i also once sent a handwritten cheque to penny arcade because i don't believe in paypal, but i don't hold against them the fact that i never got my subscription to Over Easy (ok, so maybe i'm not a passive consumer). webcomic artists are, in many cases, lucky enough to be in the position where they can make money doing what they love. i completely respect those that open up stores or provide extra content to those who can donate on a regular basis.

but i think these guys succeed because they're writing good comics. they're funny, they're well-written, in many, many cases the art is amazing. just because my silly little blog isn't boingboing or time magazine, i'm not going to go sobbing about some evil media conglomerate The Man keeping me down. sure, everyone wants to hit the big time, and while people even say i have talent, and i'm a good writer and researcher, and so forth, i'm not so wrapped up in my own dreams of fame and fortune that i'm going to do anything but say, "thank you" and send my friends some cyber-snuggles (er. or something. i'm not really the snuggling type:) sure the web is a fairly new and different entertainment and information dissemination medium, and sure it's a heck of a lot more democratic than the "traditional" forms previously, but just because you have something on the web doesn't mean it's amazing and is only being kept down because of who you are (or aren't, as the case may be), and where your content is being published.

i guess what all this rambling is bringing me to is that i don't really believe all the hype about the web being this awesome brave new world. i recognize the extremely strong democratic and meritocratic underpinnings and reward system, but when you get down to it, it's the people who have money to advertise, the people who are already People Who Know People who succeed. i probably would have never read, for instance, megatokyo if they hadn't bought ad space on penny arcade. but if you suck, you're still going to suck on the web. maybe writing or comicking or music or whatever just isn't your Thing, as much as you may love it, as much as you may want to succeed at it.

i was just going to ask if there wasn't something better to do than navel-gazing, but then i remembered i'm writing on a blog. even if it is a blog that encourages commentary ;)

i don't know, maybe my ego just isn't big enough. i lack the self-aggrandizement gene. but i think maybe i'll go support the creators of a funny and wonderfully well-done comic by buying some of their stuff.