God, help us. Someone has given Gary Groth a bigger soapbox... If you think the Internet defines hyperbolic vitriol as an artform, you haven't seen anything until you've read this guy. Frankly, most of the arguments in this debate strike me as spurious. This is not about the paperness (or lack thereof) of the paper -- and we're doomed if it is about animated gifs -- it is about the same issue that has always plagued the comics industry : distribution and, by extension, control. Okay, McCloud stops there long enough to talk about micropayments, but then seems to devolve into goofy arguments about how paper is dead and and and ...and painting has been dead for about six thousand years now, too. This is art school level posturing and just makes everyone involved look like children. It is, rather, an issue of economics : it's cheaper produce words-and-pictures online than it is in print. Further, there is the chance of reaching a larger audience in the process. That is, swag notwithstanding, the entirety of the Internet revolution. The degree to which the art form you practice suffers in the transition is just the price you pay. Trust me when I say you don't want to see comix artists doing work about the "materiality" of the Internet. see also : McCloud in Stable Condition Following Review, Groth Still at Large