Character Tagging Systems

A Win-Win for Webcomic Readers & Creators

By Izzy “Strontium” Hall

Imagine this: You’re reading the latest update of one of your favorite webcomics. In it, a character does something that inspires you to leave a comment. But as you start to compose your message, you realize you can’t remember the character’s name!

A quick scroll up to the page reveals it isn’t mentioned in this update. You could navigate to the cast page, hope to find the character on there and come back to finish your comment… but given the steps involved, it’s more likely you’ll give up on writing a comment at all.

Now imagine you’re a webcomic creator. You want to receive comments on your pages, but significant friction points are stopping your readers from leaving them. There’s got to be a way to fix this – and there is, through the power of character tagging systems!

What are Character Tagging Systems?

Character tagging systems are add-ons to personal webcomic sites that work similarly to tags on sites like Tumblr. Creators add the names of all characters that appear on a page to a tag field on the backend. When readers view the update, they’ll not only get an easily accessible list of character names, but also a way to check a character’s past appearances.

This is what the character tagging system looks like on the backend of my webcomic, Heroes of Thantopolis. I have a field where I can enter the names of all characters on the page:

The published page contains URLs of all the characters I tagged on the backend:

Clicking on Cyrus’s name opens a page with all of his tagged appearances:

How Character Tagging Systems Help Readers & Creators

Character tagging systems smooth out those prickly friction points that cause readers to give up on writing comments. They help readers recall a character’s name (including how to spell it) and what they look like. They also allow readers to refresh themselves on a character’s past appearances. No longer will readers wonder, “Is that the character that did X?” With these friction points smoothed out, readers may be more likely to leave comments on a webcomic.

Creators benefit from character tagging systems, too. With a tagging system in place, creators do not need to add every minor recurring character to the cast page. More importantly, tagging systems like the one shown above allow creators to visually sort through their archives. When looking for a particular page featuring a given character to share with others, it can be challenging to remember the exact chapter and page number. Visual archives alleviate the need for creators to memorize every characters’ on-page appearances.

Using Character Tagging Systems for Metatext

Aside from the accessibility benefits of character tagging systems, savvy creators can use tags as metatext – commentary on the comic that adds to the reading experience.

The Teaser

Sometimes, a comic may tease an important character before their proper introduction. Giving that teaser character a tag is a great way to add intrigue and suspense.

Take an example from Leif & Thorn, a comic with a large cast. A never-before-seen character was teased in the last panel of this page, with the tag of “Little White-Haired Girl.” Clearly, this girl was going to be an important character. Speculation ran rampant until she was properly introduced – three whole years later. Talk about a tease!

Color Styling

Creators of black-and-white comics may struggle to differentiate characters in a large cast. To combat this, creators will sometimes assign signature colors to important characters to help them stand out. Some comics take it a step further by assigning signature colors to the characters’ tags!

For example, the main magical girl trio of Arcana Watch has the signature colors of red for Jenna, green for Maria and yellow for Elizabeth. That applies to their tags, too!

When transformed, the girls’ signature colors are loud and vibrant, but even in civilian mode, if you see red, green and yellow, you know who’s Jenna, who’s Maria and who’s Elizabeth.

Conclusion

Character tagging systems are an essential accessibility feature that can benefit any webcomic hosted on a creator’s personal site. Although they can feel like extra labor or a gimmick, they make it easier for readers to read comments and easier for creators to find particular pages. Now that’s what I call a win-win!

For adding character tagging systems to Wordpress webcomic plugins Comic Easel and ComicPress, check out this guide.

For adding character tagging systems to Toocheke, check out this guide.

Izzy “Strontium” Hall is a cartoonist, writer and creator of Heroes of Thantopolis. Follow them on tumblr or Bluesky.