What do you expect from a webcomic?

[Kasaii]

Am I the only person who wants loads of clicky-buttons that lead off to random links that describe the cast in absurd levels of detail or back-histories of the world that are never implied in the story?

I hope not, or else I wasted a lot of time last week...

More seriously, I think this is a bit tricky. I feel like using a phrase like "I expect X" implies that the author is deficient if they don't provide it, which isn't true. What is true is that if my attention drifts, I will eventually wander off, and I may or may not return based on how interested I was back in the day.

That's not a value judgement on the author. It's just a fact. Certainly, over the last few months, my own update schedule collapsed from "five a week" to "four a week" to "anywhere from none to three each week", and if I lost readers for it... well, I deserved it for generally being a fool about updating.

As a rule of thumb, once-a-week updates have to be damned good for me to read them (currently, Goblins and No Rest For The Wicked are the only ones I can think of that I read). Twice a week still have to be good enough to keep my attention. Three a week is ideal for anything, and people who can do more than that have my admiration.

[Eve Z.]

irregular update schedules are good. people will check everyday.

you know what I expect?

Seriosity.

[Jekkal]

Regular updates. I mean the kind that I can set up on Morning Coffee, and at midnight *click* I've got Comic. Mebbe wait until midday if I really like the comic, or set it back for the day after an expected update sometimes (in the case of Suicide for Hire and Penny Arcade).

Everything else is gravy. Awesome, but gravy.

[Geekblather]

I also like art that doesn't make my eyes bleed.

That's just messy.

[Jekkal]

My different expectations don't really depend on the length of the individual pages or the quality of the art. It's more dependent on whether the artist is doing it as a hobby or if they're actually earning money from it. In case of the latter, update when you feel like it. In case of the latter, a regular update schedule, frequency depending on the quality and complexity, must be met, as I'm technically paying you for it by reading your commercials.

Although a frequently and regularly updated "amateur" comic is greatly appreciated.

In my case, I'm doing it when I don't do schoolwork, so I'm trying to maintain a professional veneer with the Buffer of Ridiculous Length™. Even if I can't post more than once a week because I'm scared of running out before the schoolyear ends, I can still invest towards it (so I get karma and updates and shiz).

Yeah, it's a hobby, but I still want my fifteen minutes, so I may as well approach it like a job. Heck, Last Resort was practically my summer internship.

[Pattyannboyd]

I'm an eye-candy whore, I need lovely art. I will sit through ugly websites, irregular updates, and fricken cans of peas being hurled at my head for a lovely webcomic.
Also, I need a decent story. I've tried to stick with a few good-looking comics but the story just wasn't good enough to keep me coming back. I must confess I've lost patience for another gay-assed shonen ai comic (we need more story than angsting over being a homo) or another magical girl, or another take-my-characters-from-D&D-comic. If it has a good new fresh twist I'll bite, but following cliches and conventions are a turn-off

[MrEff]

I expect my comic to be drawn for me.

-MrEff-