''Art Comics Daily'' is a pioneering

webcomic Webcomics (also known as online comics or Internet comics) are comics published on a website or mobile app. While many are published exclusively on the web, others are also published in magazines, newspapers, or comic books. Webcomics can be co ...

first published in March 1995 by Bebe Williams, who lives in Arlington,

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

, United States.Peterson, Iver (October 28, 1996). "The Search for the Next 'Doonesbury". ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', Pg. D9 The webcomic was published on the

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

rather than in print in order to reserve some

artistic freedom Artistic freedom (or freedom of artistic expression) can be defined as "the freedom to imagine, create and distribute diverse cultural expressions free of governmental censorship, political interference or the pressures of non-state actors." Gener ...

. Williams has created two other daily webcomics – ''Bobby Rogers'' and ''Just Ask Mr-Know-It-All'' – and ''Art Comics Daily'' has been on permanent hiatus since 2007.

History

After Williams' comic strips were repeatedly rejected by newspaper syndicates, he brought them to the Internet where he had more artistic freedom. He saw in webcomics the possibility to earn money from advertisers or help land a job as a print cartoonist. In 1998 he described his views about online publishing to ''

The Atlanta Journal and Constitution ''The Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the only major daily newspaper in the metropolitan area of Atlanta, Georgia. It is the flagship publication of Cox Enterprises. The ''Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the result of the merger between ...

'': "Cartoonists can show comics to an audience despite the powers-that-be at print syndicates, who are not interested in modern alternative humor. It's my belief that the print syndicates are holding back the evolution of modern dailies in general."Braddock, Paige (November 8, 1998). "A healthy dose of comic relief: For cartoonists who find the print media too stuffy, too exclusive or too much hassle, the Internet is a technological godsend". ''

'', Pg. 1P Williams has created two other daily webcomics, one being the

Xeric Award The Xeric Foundation is a private, nonprofit corporation based in Northampton, Massachusetts, which for twenty years List of Xeric grant winners, awarded self-publishing grants to comic book creators, as well as qualified charitable and nonprofit ...

winning

photo comic Photo comics are a form of sequential storytelling that uses photographs rather than illustrations for the images, along with the usual comics conventions of narrative text and word balloons containing dialogue. They are sometimes referred to ...

''Bobby Ruckers'', and the other being ''Just Ask Mr-Know-It-All''. The website for ''Art Comics Daily'' has also hosted webcomics by other artists. However, ''Art Comics Daily'' itself now appears to be on permanent hiatus, having last updated in February, 2007.

Reception

The Australian ''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition, ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964.Bruns, Axel. "3.1. The active audience: Transforming journalism from gatekeeping to gatew ...

'' has described Williams' webcomics as being "strange but diverting" and having more sociocultural leanings than ''

Doonesbury ''Doonesbury'' is a comic strip by American cartoonist Garry Trudeau that chronicles the adventures and lives of an array of characters of various ages, professions, and backgrounds, from the President of the United States The president ...

'' and ''

Dilbert ''Dilbert'' is an American comic strip written and illustrated by Scott Adams, first published on April 16, 1989. It is known for its satirical office humor about a white-collar, micromanaged office with engineer Dilbert as the title characte ...

'', Pg. C10

References

External links

* {{Early webcomics 1990s webcomics 1995 webcomic debuts