April 17, 2008

When it comes to subject matter there is a lot of variety in comics and comic strips. To name just a few, there are the saga strips that can go on endlessly, there are strips that deal with political foddor, and there are niche strips that focus on very specific issues like places or people. I think it's very difficult to make these kind of comics work because in many cases it limits your audience to the ones who can understand or relate to the subject. The others that don't have that inside knowledge can be left in a symphony of chirping crickets as they try to figure out what's going on. Of course, the plus side to something so specific is that it can provide good immediate exposure to your work. I'm sure there are exceptions to the rule and some comics that can develop past that barrier and branch out to larger more diverse audiences will have a better chance at long-standing success.

One strip that I think works very well at this is "Dilbert" by Scott Adams. As we all probably know this strip takes place almost exclusively inside a corporate style office. While that is very niche specific, it's also general enough partly in the way it is simply drawn and partly because the cast of characters are rich and diverse, bu mostly because just about all of us can relate in some way to the corporate lifestyle, and it's that ability to relate that is an earmark to the lasting power of a comic or strip. I don't run into the niche issue too often in newspapers, and that's because editors are very cautious to pick only those that can speak to a broad enough audience. Of course that can bring out a different problem which are dull comics that are TOO generic.