u/notagoodcartoonist

Online, the newspaper comic strip community is extremely small compared to various other mediums of visual storytelling, but one thing that always confused me is where newspaper comic strips fall in terms of what broader community they belong to. On sites like Youtube, what little newspaper comic strip fans that exist tend to be members of the broader animation and western cartoon community. At least for more well known postwar strips from 1945 onwards. Because as far as pre 1945 comic strips (outside of ultra well known ones like Popeye), most fans of pre 1945 and platinum age comic strips on Youtube tend to be comic book fans, though some comic book youtubers do cover post 1945 comic strips from time to time.

However, on Reddit, most newspaper comic strip fans very rarely tend to be western cartoon and animation fans and instead are usually from comic book collecting fandoms, comic history fandom, comics-as-art fandom, or alternative comic fandoms. This is why a lot of the comic strip fans on Reddit tend to focus on platinum age comics as opposed to post 1945 comics. So where do you believe newspaper comic strips fall in terms of what broader fandom culture they belong to? Do they belong with the western cartoon community or do they belong with the comic book community? Personally, I'd say it depends on the era of comic strip (western cartoon fans tend to gravitate towards post 1945 comics whereas comic book fans tend to gravitate towards pre 1945 and platinum age comics) and the culture of the site in particular (as I mentioned earlier, it differs between sites such as Youtube and Reddit). That being said, I'm a newspaper comic strip fan who gravitates far more towards the animation community and the western cartoon community as opposed to comic books and graphic novels.

Online, the newspaper comic strip community is extremely small compared to various other mediums of visual storytelling, but one thing that always confused me is where newspaper comic strips fall in terms of what broader community they belong to. On sites like Youtube, what little newspaper comic strip fans that exist tend to be members of the broader animation and western cartoon community. At least for more well known postwar strips from 1945 onwards. Because as far as pre 1945 comic strips (outside of ultra well known ones like Popeye), most fans of pre 1945 and platinum age comic strips on Youtube tend to be comic book fans, though some comic book youtubers do cover post 1945 comic strips from time to time.

However, on Reddit, most newspaper comic strip fans very rarely tend to be western cartoon and animation fans and instead are usually from comic book collecting fandoms, comic history fandom, or alternative comic fandoms. This is why a lot of the comic strip fans on Reddit tend to focus on platinum age comics as opposed to post 1945 comics. So where do you believe newspaper comic strips fall in terms of what broader fandom culture they belong to? Do they belong with the western cartoon community or do they belong with the comic book community? Personally, I'd say it depends on the era of comic strip (western cartoon fans tend to gravitate towards post 1945 comics whereas comic book fans tend to gravitate towards pre 1945 and platinum age comics) and the culture of the site in particular (as I mentioned earlier, it differs between sites such as Youtube and Reddit). That being said, I'm a newspaper comic strip fan who gravitates far more towards the animation community and the western cartoon community as opposed to comic books and graphic novel.