Free from the stranglehold of syndicate and newspaper editors, webcomics have the luxury of unfettered imagination, allowing creators to develop their characters however they wish, catering only to their own (and presumably their readers') whims. The protagonist may be a lighthearted loveable oaf, a brooding anti-hero with deep psychological scars, or a seductive vixen with dubious motives.

Vince Coleman has a unique perspective when it comes to both education and creating online comics. Here's an artist who majored in studio art and Japanese at the University of Texas in Austin before flying halfway around the world to Sapporo, Japan, for love and to learn Japanese amid the activity of creating his Web site, www.vince-coleman.com.

It was around this time last century that the concept of motion pictures was developed. There were many attempts early on to capitalize on the idea, one of them being Thomas Edison’s “Kinetoscope”. Edison's kinetoscope reflected the inventor's determination to do “for the eye what the phonograph does for the ear.” He hoped to duplicate the commercial success of his phonograph, which was then attracting patrons who paid a nickel to hear a brief recording through a set of earphones.

Expanding Your Comic-Reading Horizons

It's easy to let your comic-reading patterns become stagnant after a while. Everyone has their favorite comics that they read every month in print or multiple times a week on the web. These are familiar characters, reassuring faces, and a standard that you can count on. But with that set pattern comes a slippery slope: You stop looking for anything else.

greeneyes, an independent webcomic encompassing several simultaneous plotlines and artists, is run and primarily written by William Van Hecke. It tells of the events surrounding one of the more unusual classmates of Wilkinson School, Urbanite, Mars -- the intriguingly-named µ, a young girl with luminescent green eyes, bone studs rather than eyebrows, and a nasty habit of collapsing in inconvenient places.

These days you'll rarely find a webcomic that fits into just one genre. The concept, art style and tone can all affect the perceived intent of a comic, and most refuse to be pigeon-holed, weaving themselves into eclecticism. Suburi 's Tril0kan is no exception to this, and manga-comedy is its hyphenation of choice. More hyphens will follow...