There’s an incredibly stupid grudge match going on between the webcomics community and the newspaper comics community. Loudmouths on both sides have been disparaging the other, making the entire art form look bad to any average Joe unlucky enough to hear about it. (There’s also staunch defenders of both types media on both sides, but just like with politics, they’re drowned out by the noise.) The whole thing is pointless, and really annoying.

While some arrogant creators have taken unfriendly potshots at their opposite numbers, the majority of the blame lies with the fans. And since we’re in the age of the Internet, which gave rise to webcomics in the first place, it’s the obsessive-compulsive fans of that particular format that are the root of the entire problem. Especially notorious are the younger fans, whose lives practically begin and end with the Internet.

I think a lot of the vehemence directed at newspaper strips by webcomic fans is simple subconscious rebellion: newspaper comics are well-established and enjoy mainstream popularity, while webcomics are a new medium with a niche audience. Therefore, many fans of webcomics feel the need to “rebel” against the newspaper strips. We see this all of the time across countless media. For example, the same exact thing happened with the alternative music explosion in the 1990s, and punk rock in the 1970s. There’s no real rhyme or reason behind any of it; it’s just a shunning of what is popular and established in favor of what is less popular, yet new.

It’s not a slight against the medium, but webcomics just don’t have the reach or cultural status that newspaper comics do, and it’s unlikely that they’ll ever reach that level. There’s just too much historical precedent, and facts are facts, so the crazed fans just need to get over it. It doesn’t matter how rich and influential the guys behind Penny Arcade have become; most of the US population has no clue what their webcomic is, let alone who they are. They’re the biggest fish in a small pond.

A big difference between the two media that also gives rise to mudslinging is that there’s no quality control system in place for webcomics, unlike their printed peers. The best thing about webcomics is that anyone can create and post them…but the worst thing about webcomics is that so anyone can create and post them. There’s a lot of newspaper comic strips out there that I find boring, but every single one of them was vetted by an editor, and those creators are still getting paid for quality work, no matter what any of us may think of their product.

With webcomics, it’s the complete opposite: since there’s no line drawn that determines whether a comic can be published, webcomics certainly outnumber their printed counterparts. At the same time, the vast majority of webcomics are absolute garbage. They’re poorly drawn, poorly written, sometimes poorly produced or scanned…you get the message. I could take a dump, shoot a photo, add a word balloon, upload it to a free comic book hosting site, and guess what: it’s a webcomic. That kind of shit (get it?) would never fly in the publishing world. Finding quality webcomics is often like searching for a needle in a haystack. As a result, there’s a scant number of webcomic creators who make decent money, and only a fraction of that number can actually make a living off of their profits.

I’m not trying to say that newspaper comics’ wide syndication and popularity automatically means quality; we all know that’s certainly not true. Out of the maybe forty comic strips that appear in my local paper, I enjoy less than half. Comic strips like Judge Parker and Funky Winkerbean (which used to be funny, damn it) bore the shit outta me. However, there’s also stuff like Lio and Non Sequitur, which are positively brilliant, and have earned widespread critical and cultural acclaim.

The financial decline of newspapers and other printed publications is obviously affecting all content within them, including comic strips, which has led to some really ardent webcomic fans rejoicing. I’d like to think that most fans know how stupid that is, as the fall of any medium is going to have a profound negative impact on anything connected to it.

There’s clearly plenty of room for both properties in the world, especially since they’re two completely different markets. If printed publications ever disappear entirely, then newspaper comic strips will go online themselves, the term “webcomics” will finally lose its meaning, and this stupid debate will finally be put to rest. The maniacal fans just need to relax, and get a life.