Poll results
From 10 June 2017 to 26 July 2018, the following eight polls ran on the Gaia website. It’s time to present the results:
Poll from 10 June 2017:
I’m not surprised that Viviana received the most votes. It’s interesting to compare the new results with the same from 1 October 2013. Back then, Viviana already received 50% of all votes. Lilith had a significantly higher vote count at 27%. Ilias was at 10%, Ryn at 7%. Alissa got 4% of all votes and Sandril 2%. So not all that much has changed since then.
Poll from 10 June 2017:
Breaking All Barriers was sometimes criticized for being too slow. But overall our readers really enjoyed the chapter. The Tower in the Sky and Monster suffer a bit from their role as intermediate chapters that set up future plot lines. My personal favorite is Breaking All Barriers as well.
Poll from 10 June 2017:
San de Vertis has been in a good number of pages since the poll ran, so I guess she would receive some more votes today.
Poll from 10 June 2017:
Yeah, that’s also my personal order. Viviana also looked cute as a redhead, but blond suits her best.
Poll from 10 March 2018:
Probably not too surprising given Gaia is a high-fantasy comic with scientific elements. I’m not a big fan of comedy fantasy as well. Most comedy fantasy sucks, in every medium. Is it especially hard to write or does the genre attract the worst writers?
Poll from 10 March 2018:
Most of our readers don’t read many webcomics. 72% read 12 webcomics at most. In the poll from 1 May 2014, that number was only 60%. This is just another data point that illustrates that we have left the golden age of webcomics, for a good number of reasons:
- Bad work ethic of many webcomic creators (missed updates, endless hiatus) soured the opinion of the interested audience about the medium
- Several popular long-running webcomics have become stale since their creators ran out of ideas
- Comics are not an optimal medium for mobile viewing on the small screens of smartphones
- Increased competition from social media
Poll from 10 March 2018:
Our readers like to have a look at the comments, but few read them religiously.
Poll from 10 March 2018:
Only 16% of our readers have bought a book collection from more than one webcomic. That’s a quite low number. It’s no surprise that so many webcartoonists struggle to make a living when you look at numbers like that.
There are four new polls that appear randomly in the voting widget in the right sidebar:
- Are you male or female?
- Are you in a steady relationship?
- Since when have you been reading Gaia?
- What are your three favorite comic genres? (a specific comic is often part of several genres)
As always, I like to comment on the polls, though I doubt anyone reads my comments.
Regarding fantasy comedy, it is hard to write in an interesting manner, even if it’s got stellar dialogue – it’s hard to make the plot interesting and still keep the fans engaged with a fantasy setting at the same time, while also delivering solid one-liners and quips that don’t make people groan. This effectively puts it in the same creative wheelhouse as puns, which similarly are judged critically and harshly, as a matter of routine. To make it even more difficult, it is nearly impossible to create comedy fantasy without making the fantasy elements follow slapstick rules, and the comedy elements anything but real-world references.
I would, however, love to see someone break the mold here and make a success of it.
On the matter of webcomics read and their popularity, I estimate I read upwards of 200 of them, and at least 30 on the regular. This is facilitated only by following most of them with RSS feeds, which are basically a requirement for readership for me at this point, due to the aforementioned soured opinion about webcomics that poor work ethic (and, equally if not more fair to blame, often self-defeating health consequences of the webcomicking process, e.g. wrist injuries ruining your career) has indeed produced.
I would also suggest (though the claim could use some more data to back it up) that mobile viewing is a temporary, if generational setback for webcomics, and that “golden age” philosophizing (as in any arena) is bound to lead to regressive nostalgia-bound infighting and paranoia in any community it visits, much like a superstition that becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. (See the “golden age” of paperback comics, and what followed it, for an example.)
I believe a direct poll inquiring about the cause of decreased number of “comics read per reader” asking about the primary reasons you’ve suggested here is in order 🙂
As to favourite secondary character, there is no question: Malva is number one. She is in my opinion one of the must evolved personalities, but also a very lovable person. Obviously a scholar already, with a philosophical mind, and a fine horticulturist, but at the same time a brave and competent fighter when needed. I actually think the lead characters are presented as more one-dimensional, compared to Malva. I hope we will see much more of her and she is the one character so far that I most would like to meet in person. 🙂
I really feel the need to defend comedy fantasy. One of my favorite authors is Terry Pratchett, and his witty and extraordinarily funny Discworld books are, in my opinion, great fantasy, comedy and satire.