Why are there so many BL comics?

[Almightyra]

Seriously? And most of the GL comics don't update. What up with that yo?

[Enokitake]

In my observation, I have noticed that BL comics gain more reviews and fans than majority of non-BLs. Maybe artists draw shitloads of BL to have more reviews/fans?

I srsly don't know. Lol.

[darkenergy]

In my observation, I have noticed that BL comics gain more reviews and fans than majority of non-BLs. Maybe artists draw shitloads of BL to have more reviews/fans?

I srsly don't know. Lol.

It's a vicious cycle. The more it's drawn, the more people come here to see it, and then the more people end up drawing it for fans....

Personally it is some kind of personality trait of the modern female artist. Well, most of them.

[ApaFox]

Now, now. Let's not get our jimmies in a rustle.

[Inxerene]

The logic of your typical man x man fangirl

> Doesn't matter how poorly drawn the BL is, if it has BL in the banner, expect more than 50 fans.
> The comic always needs a smut scene. If it doesn't, it isn't worth reading. People come for the sex.
> Girls in BL's don't exist. They're all LIES. They're guys with stuffed bras. We all know that every BL character is living in a man's-only world.

[Sonic-ock]

Because we all get wicked mad boners for hot sweaty dude sex. I have a massive rager Right now from just reading the BL in the title.

[darkenergy]

Because we all get wicked mad boners for hot sweaty dude sex. I have a massive rager Right now from just reading the BL in the title.

Saw you promised BL, I jizz in my pants.

...seemed like the logical mash up of your comment and sig.

[blankd]

bcuz its so kawaii desu ~^___^~

If you want a serious answer, sure I'll give it a shot:
There are "so many" BL webcomics because it really doesn't exist in other mediums (books, movies, TV shows, video games, professional comics/manga, cartoons/anime, etc.)

People simply tend to flock to and give their loyalty to that subject because the pickings are slim. I would even go so far as to say they are so desperate for things of the BL variety that they will go to it even if it's godawful. (It's silly but that is probably the closest truth of it.)

As for whatever yuri comic you're talking about ("Why hasn't it updated"), I wouldn't be able to tell you but it's probably a fault of the author, not the genre they're drawing.

EDIT: Also because female fans feel they finally get something that panders to THEM for once instead of dudes. And [insert TL;DR about the state of female depictions in media is]

[The Bearded Man]

Funny thing about my comic:

There are lesbian characters because they were based off a RP group on Deviantart. You may thusly say that my comic reflects that reality about standardized personality trait for female artists. But even then, some of the original creators were really of that same orientation so I guess it can also reveal some interesting odds about DA's population.

So maybe, there so happen to be many BL comics because of a phenomenon of them being numerous and thusly leading to a trend in which even other artists may just end up complying to.

[eishiya]

I think it's a combination of the vicious cycle darkenergy mentioned and the scarcity blankd described. How does that work? Simple - there's not that much BL if you take webcomics (and especially all entertainment media) as a whole, it's all just concentrated here, in pockets on dA, and on y!gal. There's not a lot of it elsewhere, so fans flock to it where they can find it. The scarcity* means that even the crud 90% can get an audience.

Most BL authors make BL not for the fans exclusively, but because they want to make BL. Fans mainly determine whether they make a comic at all and how long they keep going. I think most BL authors would have stuck to BL doodles and illustrations if they didn't think they could get a bigger audience by doing a comic.

Although I'm sure there have been cases where someone not interested in BL made a BL comic just for the fans, I believe there are rare exceptions.

I could be imagining things, but I think BL's been declining in popularity on SmackJeeves since Admin kicked out some of the more popular graphic comics. I think the fangirls started to move away with the big comics.


* I think more than scarcity is at play when it comes to the fact that even a very low-quality BL comic can do pretty well. BL is associated with low quality and the fans mistake the status quo for the ideal. The first few works they read likely form their standard, their bar, but those works were very likely mediocre. They're simply not trained to see or care about flaws that people who got into comics through better-made comics find to be glaring problems. Many of them are young too, their lack of experience contributes to their low standards.

[H0lyhandgrenade]

Wow, we've probably had a new record for how long we've gone without a 'Why all the BL' thread coming up. We deserve a prize. As good as these are for gag replies and deep answers both, surely we should just sticky one of these or something...

[JoKeRcologne]

I don't get it ...

Hey there is BL on it... ...are you wet now??



This was meant in an ironic way!!

[eishiya]

Just when I thought we finally had a civil "why so BL?" thread going... D:

[JoKeRcologne]

"why so BL?"

Wahahahaha ...this is good ...

[mitchellbravo]

Can someone make a macro of the Joker saying "Why so BL?"