By Courtney Mengel ’19, staff writer

Two LVC guest speakers recently discussed comics and the future of comics publishing in the digital age.

Cate Barron, vice president of content at PA Media Group, and Megan Lavey-Heaton, PennLive digital producer and co-creator of the graphic novel “Namesake,” led the lecture.

To start the discussion, Barron spoke about her experience with comics. When faced with deciding which comic to cut from the Patriot Newspaper in 2001, Barron and a coworker chose Marmaduke. The company received a lot of negative feedback via email and telephone regarding the decision.

“We had 500 plus angry calls and emails,” Barron said. “The calls showed the emotional ties people have to comics.”

Barron then discussed the history of comics in newsprint.

In the early 1900s, comics were printed in black and white, but by the 1930s, comics grew in popularity and were eventually printed in color. As a result of growth in the comic fan-base, newspapers fought over cartoonists. Most cartoonists then left newspapers to work with syndicates for publication. These publishers made books from the comics they ran which led to the creation of comic books. However, as time progressed, the digital age advanced.

Lavey-Heaton then took the podium and discussed webcomics, which emerged over the internet in the 1980’s.

Early webcomics appealed to “your white-computer-geek-males,” Lavey-Heaton said.

When creators of webcomics, such as Lavey-Heaton, wanted to reach a broader audience, Kickstarter opened a door. Kickstarter is a website that provides webcomic creators with the opportunity to display their work.

“Kickstarter enabled us to get such a wide range of diversity we couldn’t before,” Lavey-Heaton said.

With syndicates, cartoonists not only had a salary but also a middle-man who handled promotion and publication. Kickstarter allows fans to directly support webcomic creators with funds to not only self-publish and self-promote their work, but also make a profit.

“Kickstarter cuts out the middle-man,” Lavey-Heaton said. “Artists do it all. We’re everything.”

Some webcomics are now featured in newsprint, which shows how everything has come full circle – from newspapers to the internet, from the internet to newspapers.