Comments on: GoComics Decisions and Other Comic-Related Chum

By: Garrett

Garrett — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 03:26:54 +0000

There seem to be benefits to both ways of staggering, so I say compromise and don’t stagger. I consider both sites’ visitors to be just as deserving of the newest comics. I wouldn’t want to punish anybody for visiting the “other” site.
As for the best-of comics at first, I’m agreeing completely with everybody else. New visitors require an introduction. As for how many “best-of” comics, that’s up to you. You mentioned that you probably need to give more introductions than would fit into the time of the ending of this storyline. You might.

By: jim (JP&TM)

jim (JP&TM) — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 01:56:35 +0000

The only way I wouldn’t go would be to stagger the strips so the newer ones appear on your site… and I say this only because I know your primary goal isn’t to get traffic directly to your site, but to get to print, and if web traffic figures in at all in regards to deciding who gets print deals, then why jeopardize that?

As for staggering them the other way, the only reason you’d do that is to try and make your established fans go to gocomics every day to bump your traffic numbers… but you’re going to hurt your feedback rate if you do that, and it might effect your web traffic to your site in general.

It’s a tough call… I personally think you should post the same day on both sites. You could still get your faithful to hit gocomics for traffic numbers, but you wouldn’t hurt your feedback. Let’s face it, even the gocomics decision makers have to be aware that internet audiences tend not to transfer over to print, so I can’t imagine traffic would be the primary means of deciding whether you get a print deal or not, and if you want to make money off your comic on the web, gocomics probably isn’t the primary place you’ll do that.

By: MJ

MJ — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 20:13:12 +0000

From the word go the strip was a hit in my opinion.

By: Wit

Wit — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 19:52:57 +0000

I’m going through the archives here. I think I may need two weeks worth of “character introductions.” There are a lot of strips I completely forgot about.

By: MJ

MJ — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 19:50:26 +0000

Agree with Kevin. I would do a few one-offs (like a current best of) of each character for new readers to get a feel for the strip. I also would probably not stagger the strips myself, but you might consider it putting the new strip at GoComics first to get the best / most possible page visits at GoComics for the strips. I know that they track stats (Business side of things) Plus the strip is so freakin’ cool I believe the Pinkerton Pals would drop in on GoComics if they knew the newer material was there first. I would, and will even though I don’t like the GoComics site as it is.

By: Tom

Tom — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 18:40:43 +0000

I was wondering how you’d handle the introductions of the characters to the GoComics crowd. In the original strips, you made an effort to drop names, and you may have to do that again, in order to get people “up to speed”. One good way to do that would be the one-shots in order to synchronize the story arc and drop a few names in the process.

My instinct is to do the one-shots in order to give people a smooth ramp rather than a sudden jolt into the middle of an existing story arc. The faithful can forgive the duplication, because lots of later followers make us look cool.

I’d be disappointed if they weren’t synchronized between the two sites. One cool part of Pinkerton is having the comments section attached directly to the comic in question. If I had to wait a day to comment, it wouldn’t be the same. You’d get much different feedback, and some of that would probably be over-analyzed.

By: Kevin

Kevin — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 18:29:19 +0000

I would do a few one-offs (like a current best of) of each character for new readers to get a feel for the strip. Current Pinkerfans would probably read through as well. I don’ think a story arc would be the best way to showcase the overall feel of the strip. After a week or two I would sync the two sites just to make it easier on yourself. Good luck with the store… just make sure I get the recognition for the Knuckle Tucker beer cozies.

By: me! (Head of Pinkerton Merchandising)

me! (Head of Pinkerton Merchandising) — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 18:14:23 +0000

That’s better.

And I take “crackpot” as a compliment. Also on the rocks.

By: Wit

Wit — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 17:25:17 +0000

Oh, don’t you worry. When I say “store” I just mean the place to house all your crackpot merchandising ideas. Carry on.

By: me! (HEAD of Pinkerton Merchandising)

me! (HEAD of Pinkerton Merchandising) — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 17:15:29 +0000

How can you have a store without me? I’m Head of Pinkerton Merchandising. Is this your way of firing me? Because I think I’ve done a good job. I’ve got at least 10 t-shirt designs, 2 waves of action figures, and an entire line of Knuckle Tucker products. What gives?