followup/beard: the two biggest changes/developments in comics in the last 15-20 years are the change from writing single-issue contained stories to writing for full-length trade paperbacks (most of the people I know who read comics pick up the trades) and the rise of webcomics, which are essentially the new vanity press. For every Penny Arcade or Achewood or other successful comic, there are a hundred (thousand) Keenspot abortions that produced four strips and then were abandoned.