So I woke up to no less than six hundred emails with the premise of “Webcomic Appreciation”. Apparently Hawk over at Applegeeks put up some rant concerning how people don’t have a right to bitch and moan about webcomics, because they are put up for free. I’ve been told he also suggested that everyone email the creators of the comics they read and thank them for what they do, which would account for the sudden influx of similarly themed email. Sort of a Webcomic Appreciation day, I guess.

Here’s the thing… I always get fanmail. I get some of the best email in the world, along the lines of “your comic really made me laugh, and it helped me get through a difficult time in my life” or “I used to play video games, and your comic really makes me want to get back into the scene”. It doesn’t get any better than that. I love hearing that people are enjoying what I put so much work into. But you don’t have to email me just because someone made you feel guilty about reading my comic for free.

See, I know people appreciate the work that I do. The reason that I know this is that I am able to make a living at it. I wake up every morning, and the very first thing I do is remember how thankful I am for all of you. It is because of all of you, and your continued support over the years that has allowed me to have the best job in the world. And I appreciate you for it.

Every webcomic artist gets hatemail sometimes. We post our work on the internet, for free, where it is immediately accessible to millions of people. When you are going to put your work in front of that many people, you have to go in with the understanding that not everyone is going to like what you do. It’s just a fact. Therefore you need to focus on the people that do enjoy your work, and ignore the people that don’t, because despite which of the two groups is the majority, it does no good to concern yourself with people that are negative towards your efforts.

People do have a right to bitch about whatever they want, unfortunately. They may be misinformed, misguided, or just downright mean, but free speech provides them the right to complain their unhappy little asses off. Fortunately, however, free will gives us the right and the ability to just ignore them.

As far as I’m concerned, every day is Webcomic appreciation day, because every day I’m thankful for this webcomic and everything its done for me, and I’m appreciative of the readers who made it what it is today.

Thank you guys.