page_title: List of early webcomics
section_title: Webcomics of the 1980s
hierarchical_section_title: List of early webcomics / Webcomics of the 1980s
caption_attribution_description: English: Photo of artist Eric Millikin downloaded from https://www.flickr.com/photos/ericmillikin/6743277869/ where it is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 License.
context_page_description: Webcomics predate the World Wide Web and the commercialization of the internet by a few years, with the first webcomic being published through CompuServe in 1985. Though webcomics require a larger online community to gain widespread popularity through word-of-mouth, various webcomics pioneered the style of self-publishing in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In A History of Webcomics, cartoonist T. Campbell stated that "few strips from this period are remembered. But a few are notable early explorers of the art form."
context_section_description: The earliest known online comic was Eric Millikin's Witches and Stitches, which he started uploading on CompuServe in 1985. By self-publishing on the internet, Millikin was able to share his work without having to worry over censorship and demographics. Witches and Stitches quickly rose to popularity, inspiring other artists to upload their works as well.
  Joe Ekaitis' T.H.E. Fox was a furry webcomic that started in 1986. Initially published on CompuServe, Ekaitis moved on to Q-Link and GEnie as the internet grew. Early strips consisted of one panel each and were drawn as pixel art on a Commodore 64 KoalaPad, first using KoalaPainter, then Advanced OCP Art Studio. T.H.E. Fox was eventually renamed Thadeus and started featuring regularly drawn strips, before Ekaitis stopped updating the comic in 1998.
caption: Eric Millikin created the first known webcomic.
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