Webcomics and Genre

The idea of genre is somewhat obvious, and somewhat murky. It can be rigid for some fans, and irrelevant to others.

I was reading some thoughts from readers of various niches that were very particular about what belongs in them and what doesn't. There were some complaints there about indie authors attaching certain genre labels to their books which the actual content didn't match. There are certain elements that fit that subgenre and other elements that took the book out of that niche completely, thereby deceiving the readers.

Whether the deception was on purpose or by accident, I agreed with the folks that it was a deception and not a good thing for those authors to do.

A romance story has its major conflicts centered around relationships. We see the initial spark, then the struggle to make it work, and the loss of the relationship, and finally the recovery and happy ending. That's the genre. There is room for variation, but there are certain things that the genre is. And certain things that it isn't.

A high fantasy story has certain "rules" to fit into that genre, as does a police procedural, slasher, or heist story.

There are mixed genres of course, which helps readers find more closely what they're looking for. There are paranormal romances featuring vampires, for example. And within that subgenre there are probably more specific types for different readers. Also, there are surely variations in tone and level of raunchiness within that.

I've never purposely followed any "genre rules" as far as my comic goes. It has the same characters in separate, mostly standalone stories, and it's a workplace sitcom. But it's the cartoon/comic version of that, which gives it the freedom to dip slightly into different genres, and even get meta here and there. I'm doing a full-length episode now that's a meta-adventure.

But I wouldn't go more than one episode (or maybe a two-parter at most) without returning to my base. And even then, I would keep the same characters and tone for the most part. There's lots of flexibility, but I wouldn't push it too far. The comic could lose its identity.

It seems to me that webcomics are more able to get away with mixing genres, having murky genres, and maybe even changing their genre as the comic goes on. But even though we might have a little more freedom, I believe we still run the risk of alienating our readers if we push too far away from our baseline genre/genres.

Does your comic fit into an overall genre? Is there any point to thinking that way in your opinion? What are the limits of what you could change? Are there any?


wishing you all the best,


Banes