Sensible file size for new arty comic?

[Galaxydefenders]

Hi everyone!

A small question, in a similar vein to one which graced these forums a few months ago - what file size is sensible for comics with larger (width, height) dimensions?

I've just launched an epic sci-fi comic/graphic novel - Galaxy Defenders: 1999 - with influences from 50s to 70s sci-fi. The best description is "retro-futuristic"; I feel the art has to be colourful and engaging to carry the genre.
But - now that I've settled (in the last two updates and the one on the drawing board) into a sort of portrait A4 ratio for the comic with a width of 800 pixels (recommended max) I find that each update is between 290 and 360k.

I worry that this is prohibitive to dial up users, but at the same time, the first seriously eye-distracting compression artefacts begin to appear at only 50k less than the file size I chose - which would save only a mere fraction of the download time.

I'd appreciate any advice on strategies to deal with this - or whether i should just accept it. I'm using Photoshop, save-for-web options.
Any other critique of the comic/art (based on ink/brush, rather than pen) as it stands would be welcome, however there are only 5 updates online so far - and I have given almost no effort to the layout of the webpage yet.

Here is the most recent update.

Here is the first of the 5 updates.

Thanks Muchly for everything, in advance.
-T

PS. As I am in the process of moving between webspace providers, my avatar and signature banner may not currently appear.

[Joel Fagin]

Stop making it pristine. You, as the artist might, but most people don't examine the comic in any detail. They look at it as a whole, scan the content, read the words and are done. I have spotted grotesque deformities in proportion in comics that I simply didn't notice first time around. A few JPEG artifacts are nothing compared to that. Most people won't ever notice them.

And if you want proof, just grab an old American analogue TV. The quality on those was far worse than your comic, believe me. 320x200 resolution (approx.), blurry pixels and a problem (I understand) with the colour red all made the analogue television watching experience quite abyssmal. Yet those people who even noticed generally didn't care.

Don't get me wrong, there are limits and, personally, American TVs dipped below for me, but you should be able to get the comics down to 150KB - 200KB fairly painlessly.

- Joel Fagin

[Galaxydefenders]

(I tried to submit this reply once but seem to have lost it)

Thanks Joel! I've looked at my comics, and I guess I was just being a bit too precious about the whole thing.

At each point when I was using "save to web" I was blinded by the recent slaving and time spent on the current creation. The urge to protect my baby was too strong.
Reveiwing all my images I've re-uploaded them - replacements - at an average of 50-60% of the previous file size. No problems are apparent.

Thanks for the help, and also kudos for the tutorials - I read most of them before embarking on this project.