Keenspot
is a webcomic portal started in 2000 by Chris Crosby, Terri Crosby, Darren Bleuel, and Nathan Stone.
The formation of Keenspot is a result of the collapse of an earlier webcomic portal Big Panda, which shut down in 1999. Many ex-Big Panda creators would move to Keenspot as a result.
In summer of 2000 they launched Keenspace, a free webcomic hosting service. Because many of its comics that it adds to its list were from Keenspace originally, this led to the impression that making a comic on Keenspace was just basically making an "audition tape" until Keenspot "promotes" you. Which is why they put a stop to this thought by changing Keenspace's name to Comic Genesis.
In 2009, Keenspot made it clear they did not have many plans on enlisting new comics, and has been pressuring comics to leave the site so they can put more focus on publishing their own works. Despite this, they've been adding new comics to the site since the start of 2011, though not as much of a big fish they were at the Turn of the Millennium. Nowadays they're barely a blip on the radar anymore as webcomics have since branched off into other, more manageable sites, be it independent or groups that are more willing to showcase said new talent. As of January 2022, the Keenspot home page only marks seven comics (out of 56 listed) as "currently updating".
Keenspot also had a Web Animation portal that was active circa 2005, called Keen Toons.
Many of the older finished webcomics that are hosted there are not shown on Keenspot's main page or referenced at all, but the site is still up and functioning, just hidden from view.
They also have a forum here, but you can't register there anymore. (See discussion page.)
Some of the webcomics hosted (at some point):
- +EV (left)
- Adventurers! (ended, then left to own website called Giant Robot Club)
- Avengelyne (ended)
- Awesome Gamerz (ended and hidden)
- Avalon (ended and hidden)
- Banzai Girl
- Big Ones (ended, hidden and most of the files gone forever)
- Boy Meets Boy (ended and hidden)
- Brawl in the Family (ended)
- Bruno the Bandit (ended and hidden)
- Candi (left)
- Checkerboard Nightmare (left)
- Chopping Block (still hosted there as of 2022 but dead)
- The Class Menagerie (ended and hidden)
- Cool Cat Studio (ended and hidden)
- College Roomies from Hell!!! (left)
- Count Your Sheep (ended)
- Dominic Deegan (left)
- Dungeons & Denizens (left)
- Elf Only Inn (ended and hidden)
- El Goonish Shive (left to 910CMX, then Hiveworks)
- Exploitation Now (left)
- Exposure
- Filthy Lies (ended and hidden)
- Flipside
- Friendly Hostility (formerly)
- Gene Catlow
- Goblins (left)
- God Mode
- Greystone Inn (ended)
- Head Trip
- The Hunters of Salamanstra
- It's Walky! (left)
- Living In Greytown (ended and hidden)
- Lizard (ended and hidden)
- Look What I Brought Home (ended and hidden))
- Marry Me (Bobby Crosby)
- Men in Hats (ended and hidden)
- Ménage à 3 (left)
- Melonpool (left)
- Newshounds (ended)
- No Pink Ponies
- No Room for Magic
- Nukees (one of the first, though it has moved on to a new host)
- Out There
- Ozy and Millie (ended and hidden)
- Penny and Aggie (left)
- Purple Pussy (ended and hidden)
- QUILTBAG (ended; Penny and Aggie Spin-Off; moved from the Penny and Aggie site to Keenspot)
- Real Life Comics (left)
- Road Waffles
- RPG World (This comic is aborted and hidden. The site itself is still up, but the artist deleted all the pages.)
- Schlock Mercenary (left)
- School Bites (left)
- Sorcery 101 (left, on not quite happy terms.)
- Sore Thumbs
- The Suburban Jungle (ended and then left)
- TwoKinds
- Two Lumps
- You Damn Kid
- Zap! (left)
- Zebra Girl (left)
