Of course, every day we log onto DD, the comic on top of the list is Craving Control. But if you really take a step back and look at the list, who's comic is on there twice?

Elijah and Azuu

At any given time, I've seen Elijah and Azuu and Elijah and Azuu Classic on that list.
My personal favorite on the list is Culture Shock, and I'm sure it would be number two, if Hawk had time to update.

Then you look over to Most Read strips, and you see the usual. Hero By Night, Charby the Vampirate, Pinky TA and maybe a good comic that was featured etc etc.


Now honestly, seeing Craving Control back on the top of the list personally pisses me off. Because in my opinion, it doesn't deserve to be on top. The story is about average, and it's not even the same art anymore (which was the reason I liked it.)


After hearing all the aforementioned, one has to wonder...

"Do the comics on the Most Read Lists, DESERVE to be on there everyday?"

HBN is frickin' awesome, Charby the Vampirate is the same, no idea about TA, Elijah and Azuu is good, and I agree with you on CC. That, and it has hardly updated at all lately.

Actually if you check the search and browse section you'll see what the order is ^_^
Craving Control is currently number 5 most popular comic. Most of the popular comics are stories and not strips... That's interesting.

But it's not a case of deserving to be anywhere, these comics simply draw more visitors... that's all there is to it. What you really have a beef about then (even if you don't realise it) is what some comics draw more visitors than others. One way to explore that would be to have a look and read through them for yourself. ;)
There are other factors like advertising etc... Obviously. But that's mainly all there is too it.

I don't know weather this should be discussed or not since it's been addressed in the "how to get popular" thread somewhere and the "breaking the Glass ceiling" thread in General, as well as the bug thread about Troop 37... But if you can think of an interesting angle?

Anyway, it's up to Hawk.

Well Elijah and Azuu has been around along time, he built his way up to that top list and diserves every part of his popularity.
Come to think of it, every comic up there belongs to be on the top 10 read. It's art, apparently art that people like and enjoy looking at and reading. How is that not a good enough reason to have a top spot on the Duck? Even if it may not be a well constructed comic, if it's gimmicky enough to be on the list, props to them. You know it's actually hard to make a gimmick work.

I mean the title alone: I Was Kidnapped By Lesbian Pirates From Outer Space automatically got me interested enough to read (Not saying that comic is bad, just saying it got me to look). Now a title alone can't keep an audiance, it's just something to lure you in. And if it keeps you in... well there's nothing else to say.

Sometimes it's eye candy, sometimes it's story, sometimes it's the notoriety, in any case it's up there for a reason.

I'm very touched, Rusty Knight, thanks! :) I'm actually working on situating myself to be able to update more, but I've been in a strange transitional state between jobs and graduation.

This topic is kind of hard to make a debate out of, so I hope you don't mind me moving it to the Comic Discussion forum.

Now, I guess to go along with topic, I'd like to say I've often thought about what puts comics on top. When it all comes down to it, you just can't judge based on whether or not you like the comic. Even if you don't some other group or demographic does, and that's what puts the comic on top. No webcomic author can account for all peoples' tastes, but I suppose the comic that appeals to the most people has the best odds of hitting the top.

Some comics that breach the top have done so purely by buying out advertisement slots to attract readers. Is this a bad reason to be on the top 5? I think having to pay money for attention is its own punishment, so comics that pay for advertisement don't seem to bother me much.

Craving Control has been a much discussed comic here on the forums and even in its comic comments. I suspect that a bit of its readership can be attributed simply to people coming back to read the crazy arguments that are happening. And I guess for the rest of its readership, it begs the question: If a webcomic has concocted a formula appealing enough to make it popular, is it justified in being popular, no matter how "cheap" that formula appears to be? I believe that if Craving Control really is cheap and hollow inside, it's to be proved in the long run. Other comics have built their foundation on sex appeal and have had long, healthy lifespans, probably because they proved to have substance beyond the cheesecake. Proving it has substance is probably Craving Control's most important challenge.

Mostly true. Heh, these discussions are a bit weird to me because with admin powers come a little more insight into the matter (not that much but enough), so I'm better able to come to conclusions about why comics get were they are... but no one ever believes me, which is the weird bit. It's like "but I KNOW this to be true because I can actually see stuff that proves it!" and others go "NO, I think THIS so it MUST be right!"

Look... there are certain simple factors, the simplest of which is links referring to your comic, and that's the main one:
People have to click on links to bring them to a comic, OK? Where would these links come from and how would they exist?

Well... The links in DD come from your profile, forum sig banners, people's DD favourite lists, and any links you post in the forums. Also any comments you leave around will likely eventually bring people to your comic through your profile.
Then there is the front page recently updated list, the top ten list, the features, and any news posts. And lastly the search and browse section. If your comic is linked there or in a favourable place in search and browse all can bring in hits. ;)

]*]Where else? Well top lists on webcomic forums also bring in hits. The more you get people to vote, the better the position of your comic on the lists, the more likely you are to get visitors.
Then you may pimp your comic out at other comic forums, many offer you that service... You might also draw hits from other places you leave your links like your Deviant art gallery, forum sig banners in other forums, link lists on your home websites, and comic link lists elsewhere, etc.

Then there's other people!!!!! This is one that affects comic that have been around longer like Hawk's lovely Culture Shock, or Amy's Charby The Vampirate, or Chuck and Steve's The God of Arrkelaan. What happens is that the longer a good comic has been around the more its reputation spreads through word of mouth, the more people will bookmark it to check out regularly to see if it updates or not, the more likely it'll get recommended on other popularly trafficked blogs, review lists etc which will draw in even MORE people; That means this gets them links spread widely by other people, and some links put in high traffic places.
-this is something new comics, or comics with a low profile can't get much of, so it's stupid to advise people to wish for this and depend upon it, it only comes with time and/or a high profile. ;)
Some factors will increase this though; notoriety, or if your comic is that impressive when you initially advertise. Often times your comic can get a good build-up at the start, it helps if you can capitalise on this and manage it. If you lose momentum though, it dies too.

Lastly, there's paid advertising. Usually this is better for comics with a bit of an archive, or else most of the people that come in may not ever come back unless there's something to really keep them, like a good promise of sexy images or something. Advertising is just a way getting a prominent link in a highly trafficked spot, just another way of getting a good link for your comic. It is however a short term prospect in most cases.
-unfortunately as time moves on there are more comics on the web and advertising becomes more important because you're less likely to be "found" in the big ocean of the world of internet comics these days... It's not as simple as it was when there were just basic offerings like PVP and Penny Arcade around. ;)

Now, let's look at the top ten or so comics... What do you notice?
*Well the most popular ones are the "stories", not the "strips". (and some "strips" with good stories like Culture Shock and E&A)
*Most of them have a LOT of pages.
*Most of them have updated fairly recently.
*Most have highly finished or nicely styled artwork.

Given those factors you can better analyse why some comics are where they are...
Not many comics ever get into the top ten just coming onto the scene with only a few pages, Craving Control is one. It still stayed in the top even when it stopped updating and with not many pages... Therefore we must deduce it had a big advertisement somewhere or was linked for some reason in an extremely popular place. Mostly likely it had and has a very good advertisement or two. It has a very good standard of art and a so/so story, but its own deliberite pandering "cheese" factor makes it an appealing prospect and has gained it a notoriety at DD because of it. -Trust me on this though: most hits come from elsewhere.

What about Culture Shock which hasn't updated in a while? Well it's unlikely that Hawk would bother to advertise given his stance on it here, but especially because he doesn't update much so there's not much point. Besides, look at how long he's been around and the quality and the depth of the story, the fantastic art: that points to "other people"; word of mouth, people leaving lots of links and some good links... As well as bookmarkers who always check back for updates.

We know that Cowboys and Aliens got there because it had a spike of interest in the film deal, but is dropping down because news moves on and those links get archived... Besides, it's stopped updating and the sort of people who click on links from movie sites are probably just curious and don't read webcomics anyway, despite the good site and great art.

Hero by Night updates very regularly, has a decent 'comic' story, a great site and excellent art and production values, so all that keeps the readers, but it's recently moved up higher in popularity, we can obviously attribute this to gaining a higher profile and that most likely through advertising, I mean you can see advertisements for it within DD... But very likely given its profile here at DD networking as been a factor too. It IS a flagship product afterall.

My Pinky TA has a regular schedule (although weekly), what I would like to think of as good production values and a decent website, as well as a good sized archive, it's been around a few years now, has its share or sexy characters, but has only recently moved into the top 5 list. And that indicates its profile has risen suddenly and that's due to advertising.- links in good places.
-I will add though that it lost a lot of initial audience and linkers in the past due to DD's collapse, then being moved over onto many sites (splitting the traffic), and a very long hiatus.

Gods of Arrkelaan is a bit of a fixture, this is due mainly to longevity which has garnered many regular readers, a lot of word of mouth=good amount of links other people leave. Its also good quality with great stories and a good update schedule. The other thing is that its intrinsically linked to this site through Chuck's long involvement and great contributions to DD and has some internal advertising as well, but main interest comes from the benefits of longevity and networking: fans, reviews, toplists... People bookmarking it!

Troop 37 is has recently made it in, this is almost entirely due to it being a popular colob comic linked from a popular forum.

Elijah and Azuu has been around for a long time, has pretty consistent art quality, has gained a lot of links due to longevity and interest in the great stories and great characters, and is a real DD mainstay, what I have to say for Charby applies to E&A as well, but to a smaller extent.

And finally the star, Charby the Vampirate. As far as I know Charby isn't hosted anywhere else, this helps with funnelling all interest to one place (although it makes it vulnerable when the site goes down). Charbs is an extreme case of the longevity syndrome: it's been around, has a massive archive, has gained many regular readers, and this has meant its fame has spread to links elsewhere, popular reviews, and always; favourable links! Mainly because it's such a massive story with SO much work in it; in the art, all the character development, the different story lines, the overall theme that people can see developing and WANT to see follow through...

Any questions? Links, it all comes down to links; why the exist, who leaves them, how many there are, and where they are.

ozoneocean
most popular comic. Most of the popular comics are stories and not strips... That's interesting.

I think strips have a lot more competition outside of the DD community. Besides PVP, CAD, PA, and the like, there's GU Comics, Something Positive, Perry Bible Fellowship ... etc, etc, etc.

Plus I've always found comic strips tougher to do than comic books. I did Superchum in an actual 4-panel strip format for awhile. It didn't mesh too well.

Aw, I didn't get an analysis, I'm sad now. lol!

But really. If a comic is on the top list, there is no real argument if it "deserves" to be there or not. It's there. Like OO said, it either got there through a feature, through advertising elsewhere, being around forever, being high quality, or just having a whole lot of drama surrounding it. The only real way I could see justifying the argument of comics "deserving" the spot they're in or not is if they were personally hand-picked by the admins to show up on the front page every day, and they're not.

Just because something is not to your particular taste doesn't mean that a whole lot of other people don't like it. Are there comics in the top ten I don't like? Sure. But there's no real point in obsessing over the place they're in just because I don't like them, because obviously, if they're in the top ten, there's a lot of people who disagree with me and see something I don't. =p

I really don't think it's that big of a deal, and I'm personally getting a little tired of hearing people complain about Craving Control, although it does make the comments quite a lot of fun to read. Just think, every time you mention it on the forum, someone else is going to go look at it out of curiosity, thus boosting its stats. =p

Heh, you're right, I forgot Purgatory Tower and Ethos! :)
TWO Great comics in the top ten that Silent Kitty is involved with, one as the sole driving force and the other as the artist (I think?)

These are relatively new comics to Drunk Duck, although Ethos appears to have quite a long history elsewhere. Both of these were quite quickly boosted into the top. Both had features (I'm pretty sure), and both advertise (I'm fairly sure), and both have obviously top notch art. Ethos has a very large archive as well and most likely quite a presence on the web already (although I don't know), and Purgatory Tower may get some referral through Ethos or some connection to ethos (and the other way around), but that's all I can surmise.

Regarding Purgatory Tower specifically though, it didn't start very long ago but has continued nice and strongly since, with lots of updates, beautiful full colouring, an exciting story, a great looking website and a creator that participates well in the forums and engages in a friendly way with her readers: all reasons why Purgatory Tower maintains and gathers viewers.

If the toplist was about sheer merit, these two would still be on that list.

Once I get my penis in the top ten, it won't ever leave it. I'm around #43 right now, I've climbed as high as 28 with it.

Is this really a big deal?

As long as you enjoy drawing your comic, should your popularity matter?

Nicotine has a huge point, but at the same time I think sort of misses the point made in this topic (unless it changed in those long replies, I can't be bothered to read them).

Having fun with your comic should be your number 1 priority, because if you don't have fun with it, you make bad comics, and other people have to read said bad comics. Everyone loses. You don't eat a meal to take a crap afterwards, you eat a meal because it tastes good (or you need to stay alive, but it's more often the former).

I'll be honest and say right off the bat I don't read a lot of comics on the top 10 in either category. I have read Charby from time to time, and it's really fun to read, but it's not my kind of comic. It has quality, though, and even though I'm not too huge on it, I can say it totally, from what I can see, deserves the top spot on there. The art is fantastic, it's funny, witty, and has a certain charm to it, which is what makes most comics popular. Also, not that it has much to do with the comic's popularity (or maybe it does?) Amelius seems to be a really nice person and has a special relationship with her readers, which makes it more appealing for others to read it.

No big secret I don't like Craving Control. At all, really. I don't understand how it's so popular but so far I think the outside advertising theory seems to make the most sense. I try not to let the genre change my perception of the comic itself, but even as a romantic comedy...thing, I think Craving Control is really not deserving of being number 1. I probably sound like a jerk but I can't think of how else to say it. The art is good when it wants to be (namely Lalia) but that seems to be where the quality ends. I've said this before and it goes without saying my comment/rating was not met with much praise. The jokes seem pretty forced and characters other than Lalia look unfinished and sloppy (even in a panel when Lalia was in the background, she had more detail than the main focus of the panel). The art on Lalia, however, looks great, and if I saw that same amount of detail on other characters I wouldn't be so bitter about it.

The only comics on the top spots I read are Nintendo Super Squad, because it kicks all ass, and a little farther down, Bird and Worm. The art in NSS is unique, which makes it a nice breath of fresh air from all the anime/sprite/wannabe Invader Zim comics. I can't think of anywhere else you see a style such as that. The art is zany and random and constantly changes, which is pretty awesome. The exaggerated proportions are really awesome too. The dialog is amazing. The page never seems to be forced and everything just flows with it. I can't say I'm a huge fan of the recent addition of grey into it. The black and white, purposely-bad-yet-still-great style was great. Do I think it deserves to be number 1? No. It's probably the best comic I have seen on DD, but there are probably a lot I haven't read or don't have time to that are much better than it.

Bird and Worm is really great too. Another classic black-and-white style, but even while it has a cartoony look to it, it still retains a great amount of detail. The colored-in Sunday strips are great too. The art is consistent and memorable. The jokes, in all honesty, vary from literal laugh-out-loud funny to some jokes that are just pretty awful. Ok, not awful, just really overshadowed by the number of great jokes in there. It's also nice to get the treat of the occasional mini-story, and even though most of them expand for about ten comics and you may start wondering "how long is this going to go?" the fact that it's daily works for it. Plus, the author has his own fucking wikipedia article. [en.wikipedia.org] That is win.

Well, that's my take on some of the top spots on DD. I'm limited to the ones I have read, but the thing is a lot of the most-read ones have an assload of pages, so I can't read them all. They're probably all really great, and it pisses me off I can't read them.

Edit: holy shit this post came out long. If I decided to not type this, I could have like... read the entire Hero By Night archives! Damn. I guess it also makes me look like a jackass for saying I can't be bothered to read those long replies, but I am a jackass, so it works out. If you actually read this far, here's a little interesting fact to reward you: did you know that "eleven plus two" is an anagram for "twelve plus one"? Pretty wild huh?

I don't have a problem with the Top 10 thing per se (Hey, if people like your comic that much, grats to you for being a great writer/artist! Or a pimp selling his/her character's goods...) but to me it's sort of like the old saying "The Rich Get Richer, and The Poor Get Poorer". Well, the poor aren't necessarily getting poorer here, but if your comic is in the top 5, it pretty much never goes away. I haven't seen the top 5 change in at least a month, and the last comic I saw to change it was Craving Control, and since then THAT hasn't changed. Sure #1 slips to #3 or 4 sometimes, but I haven't seen a Top 5 go down below #7.

However...

Top 10 Most Read comics is a great idea, and I'm not opposing it. I think the 'whoever-did-its' did a good job. You can't please all the people all the time, you can only please some of the people some of the time really. I think as far as Top 10's work or could work, it's doing fine. I mean look at the Deviantart "Daily Deviations" and "Most Popular" section... sure there's other people, sometimes people nobody's heard of before, but then there's always the recurring few that sold their souls to Satan to get front page coverage near-constantly. I like having the drunkduck system, because people who are new to The Duck have 10 strips and 10 stories to sift through right off the bat that they might enjoy and are essential "recommended by the people", which could make them stay, and eventually lead to them writing their own webcomic, maybe even a really awesome one! : D

And as far as the comic in question goes... I think there's more guys in this website than girls (Internet girls are a myth! They're all just "g.i.r.l"s, Guys In Real Life) and there's 3 things guys want:
Beer
Boobs
And they want to see something naked.
CC delivers 1.5-1.8 of those depending on clothing. Big boobs, and skimpy outfits. The beer doesn't count.

"You don't eat a meal to take a crap afterwards, you eat a meal because it tastes good." Best quote I've seen on DD in a long time, Zir. <3

You people all say CC gets outside advertisement... but I've NEVER seen any posters or popups for it. I mean, I've never even seen the artist/writer post of the forums or so much as show him/herself either! Am I missing something?

Puff
"You don't eat a meal to take a crap afterwards, you eat a meal because it tastes good." Best quote I've seen on DD in a long time, Zir. <3

You people all say CC gets outside advertisement... but I've NEVER seen any posters or popups for it. I mean, I've never even seen the artist/writer post of the forums or so much as show him/herself either! Am I missing something?

Thanks, Maddox actually said that in an interview, and I forget who HE was quoting, but it's not mine. I stole it from Maddox who stole it from some other guy.

As for CC getting outside advertising, that doesn't really mean that they would make it so you get an ad for it when you visit newgrounds. I don't think anyone wants to spend that kind of money for a comic hosted on a free site. At that point I would just get my own URL. CC (the author) may have plugged their comic on another, popular forum. I did that with my comic, but either the forums I frequent aren't very popular or my comic isn't very good. I'm leaning towards the former because the comments I get on the forums and on here remain usually positive (<3 u guys).

Nicotine
should your popularity matter?

;)

Lol! Awesome.

Popularity isn't the point. When you've been doing webcomics long enough, you know they're nothing without viewers, readers, people who follow and support you. "Popularity" doesn't really matter... It's that your comic is doing well.

Ok, I've explained to you why the comics get where they are, I didn't post that for my own benefit. ;)
I know, you don't, simple as that. :p

Feel free to ignore it though :)

We should listen to Ozone, he's not only smart, he does Pinky TA, and that comic is ACTUALLY up there in the top 10-5. Who better to tell us about top Top 10... than someone in the Top 10?!

Ozone, I think you and SK are the only two people who are in the top 10 that actually come on the forums regularly. Inkmonkey used to, but I never see him anymore. Not that it has much to do with the discussion, just something I noticed.

I think the current system works fine. Who are we to say what "deserves" to be on the top?

It's neat to me that a comic as new as CC can make the top so quickly. That author made an instant hit most everyone wishes could happen. I know I wouldn't mind it =P

I've been gone all weekend (Not my choice) so here's MY response to a few points I skimmed across.

Popularity SHOULDN'T matter, but it does to most people. Ask ALMOST any artist just starting out, if they put time and effort, sweat and blood into their work, and nobody gave a hoot. They wouldn't continue to do it professionally.

Somebody mentioned something about one of the artists having a Wikipedia page about him. That amounts to a big stinking pile of naught. Anyone can make a wiki article. I could go off and make one about myself right now, (in fact that's not a bad idea!) but it doesn't mean I'm a good comic maker.

Someone sent me a PQ, asking me, if you think Culture Shock is so great, why wouldn't you say it would be number one? Because I garuntee, even if Craving Control STILL wasn't updating, it would still be in the top five. And the reason why is exactly what OzoneOcean said.

LINKS!

Sure, the art's nice, but I've seen comics that has a masterpiece on ever page, that get ignored. But because of the "cheesecake factor", and especially because of her uncontrolled eating, it hit a vibe with a certain fetish group. So that means on every forum that has to do with that fetish, there's a thread, and a link, and 10 new readers a day there now.

So people who hate CC's popularity, think about that. But I don't want to sound like I want CC to go away. If CC came back and started doing the art again, I'd start reading it again.

No I did not know that "eleven plus two" is an anagram for "twelve plus one" AMAZING!

My two cents-

I'm going to shoot the next person who makes another thread about fucking Craving Control. I'm sick of listening to people bitch about it.

That's all I have to say.

Rusty Knight
Somebody mentioned something about one of the artists having a Wikipedia page about him. That amounts to a big stinking pile of naught. Anyone can make a wiki article. I could go off and make one about myself right now, (in fact that's not a bad idea!) but it doesn't mean I'm a good comic maker.

Having a Wiki article in itself is not much of a big deal- but having a Wiki article that hasn't been deleted by the webcomic-hating WikiNazi admins is.

Hijuda
I'm going to shoot the next person who makes another thread about fucking Craving Control. I'm sick of listening to people bitch about it.

This isn't a Topic about Craving Control...

Rusty Knight
This isn't a Topic about Craving Control...

Well, my apologies. Allow me to rephrase...

Hijuda
I'm going to shoot the next person who whines about fucking Craving Control. I'm sick of listening to people bitch about it.

Hijuda

Rusty Knight
This isn't a Topic about Craving Control...

Well, my apologies. Allow me to rephrase...

Hijuda
I'm going to shoot the next person who whines about fucking Craving Control. I'm sick of listening to people bitch about it.

Sorry. Let me just cast myself in the fiery abyss for including CC in a topic relevant to it.

I'm in the top ten comics and no one EVER mentions me in threads like this. XD I don't quite know what to make of that but yeah... *laugh* I never see Supah Nario Bros mentioned either while it's actually the only strip comic (aside from the recently featured Super Fogeys) that I actually follow... but it makes me think:

Hawk
If a webcomic has concocted a formula appealing enough to make it popular, is it justified in being popular, no matter how "cheap" that formula appears to be?

My comic has shonen-ai which I think puts it down in most people's opinions as being mindless fangirl fodder. lol! SNB is targetting the massive combined audience of Mario and Naruto fans... Are our supposedly "cheap" formulas what's keeping us up there? Or is it that we work hard on what we do~? ^^; A lot of comics do shonen-ai much better than mine and a lot of comics do the gamer thing or the manga thing better then SNB... we must be doing something different...? O_o

Do they deserve to be there - of course! A fairy doesn't appear in the night and pop someone's comic on the top spot~ if it takes time, hard work, or advertising, the creator has invested something in their comic and it's got them to where they are. I'm repeating what I said in the "Glass Ceiling" thread but generally people who get loads of pageviews have worked their way up from the bottom for a long long time. Everyone was crap and unpopular once; it's taken grit to get where they are and that shouldn't be begrudged.

Do they deserve to be on the front page every day? Well... I'd like to see some variety and rotation going on but why shouldn't someone be rewarded for the work they do and the number of pageviews they get for DDs advertisers? XD

wyldflowa
I'm in the top ten comics and no one EVER mentions me in threads like this. XD I don't quite know what to make of that but yeah... *laugh* I never see Supah Nario Bros mentioned either while it's actually the only strip comic (aside from the recently featured Super Fogeys) that I actually follow...

Well, RC and SNB don't attract much attention because neither occupy the #1 spot for their respective comic type. The #1 spot commands much more attention than the #6 spot, #3 spot, or even the #2 spot. For example (and please, don't take the following example the wrong way- it's not an indicator for the quality of any comic on DD), take Burger King. I'm fairly sure that Burger King makes some greasy or unhealthy foods- but McDonalds, however, is put on the spot for having unhealthy foods, while Burger King and other fast food chains get off relatively easy. Why? Because McDonalds occupies the #1 spot for fast foods, making it an easy target. The same logic applies to DD (once again, if it's not taken the wrong way.).

It also must be said that I am very bad at organizing my thoughts, and am way too lazy to fix them later.

Rusty Knight
Somebody mentioned something about one of the artists having a Wikipedia page about him. That amounts to a big stinking pile of naught. Anyone can make a wiki article. I could go off and make one about myself right now, (in fact that's not a bad idea!) but it doesn't mean I'm a good comic maker.

The reason I mentioned the wiki article is that usually when people have their own wiki article they have done something to deserve it. You can make your own wiki article, but it will be deleted in no time, because wikipedia doesn't keep random articles. The author who I linked to is an established artist in the cartoon world and has worked on a lot of big shows (Rugrats, for example). Plus I never said that makes him a good comic maker, I just said it was win.

wyldflowa
Everyone was crap and unpopular once;

I wouldn't equate crap with unpopularity.

wyldflowa
I never see Supah Nario Bros mentioned either

No original characters or concepts; fangirl stuff. I wouldn't mention it, either.

Nicotine
I wouldn't equate crap with unpopularity.

I'm not~ I meant crap as in unskilled. No one is born a good artist/writer - it takes loads of practise. We're all rubbish at what we do at some point. ;)

Nicotine
No original characters or concepts; fangirl stuff. I wouldn't mention it, either.

Despite the fact it actually managed to knock Elijah and Azuu off the top waaay before CC did? Despite the fact that yeah, it does cater to fangirls? And that it uses other people's characters? I'm not bitching at all because I love the comic~ it's hilarious. But people moan about CC like it's the only comic out there that's fanservicy and that caters to a specific audience... Would VG Cats be as popular as it is if it didn't reference well-known computer games? Would Megatokyo be as popular if it hadn't targetted the Japanophiles of the world? Would Girly be so popular if the lead characters were butch feminist lesbians? It doesn't deter from the fact that they're good comics... but they still used popular devices to get where they are.

Hijuda
For example (and please, don't take the following example the wrong way- it's not an indicator for the quality of any comic on DD), take Burger King. I'm fairly sure that Burger King makes some greasy or unhealthy foods- but McDonalds, however, is put on the spot for having unhealthy foods, while Burger King and other fast food chains get off relatively easy. Why? Because McDonalds occupies the #1 spot for fast foods, making it an easy target. The same logic applies to DD (once again, if it's not taken the wrong way.).

I'm not taking it the wrong way at all hun. I understand what you mean~ I should count my blessings that I'm not a target of the bad press some people get here. '_' I've had a few "your comic's only popular cos it's yaoi" but nothing on the scale some poor people get... I honestly admire the fact they can find the energy to carry on when people are being so blah about their work. It's equally, if not more admirable than the fact they worked their way to the top-spot in the first place.

Plus I personally prefer Burger King anyways. ^_~