History Main / NewFirstComics

* ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'' has a prominently labeled New Reader's Page that can start new readers off at least a year into the archives. (It used to be later!)..

* ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'' has a prominently labeled New Reader's Page that can start new readers off at least a year into the archives (it used to be later!).

* Webcomic/GeorgeTheDragon has been slowly re-doing some of the older strips.

* ''Webcomic/BobAndGeorge'' actually started out as {{filler}}, because the author wasn't able to get the hand-drawn comic ready on time. He attempted to launch the hand-drawn comic twice (the second time after killing the AuthorAvatar in the sprite comic), but poor pacing, a premise that intimidates ''Webcomic/CollegeRoomiesFromHell'', and other things ruined it. He now [[http://www.bobandgeorge.com/archives/000530c encourages you to skip to the "Just Another Day" storyline]], the first real storyline in the sprite comic (which was ironically born out of WritingByTheSeatOfYourPants).

* ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'' is going to make the Bringing Silly Back arc the New First Comics, to help people past the unnatural amount of exposition in the first year or so.

* PlanescapeSurvivalGuide added a new "Prologue" chapter in its second year that became the new starting pages of the comic. The original starting pages followed after, including newly added color to most of the original black and white pages.

* 'I Talk To The Wind'' has nothing on its site that links to the first few dozen comics. They're still available, but almost impossible to find.

* Webcomic/CharbyTheVampirate didn't redraw the start of the book, but it did insert an origin story for the main character as a new beginning. Also, periodically pages throughout the archive are completely redrawn, either because the author wanted a plot-important scene to have more legs, or because she simply lost the original image file.

For works that undergo aesthetic or minor plot revision ''after'' they're finished, try the GeorgeLucasAlteredVersion.

* ''DresdenCodak'' has a dozen or so shorter, less coloured comics in its gallery. They ''used'' to be hidden at the back of its archive, viewable by replacing "013" in the first comic's URL with a smaller number.

* Same Starting Point: The comic starts with the same comic ''plotwise''; early comics are revised to show the ArtEvolution endemic in the comic's run. Sometimes only a few comics (including the first) are redrawn to emphasise plot points or just to show new readers that ItGetsBetter.

* ''Webcomic/BobAndGeorge'' actually started out as {{filler}}, because the author wasn't able to get the hand-drawn comic ready on time. He attempted to launch the hand-drawn comic twice (the second time after killing the AuthorAvatar in the sprite comic), but poor pacing, a premise that intimidates ''Webcomic/CollegeRoomiesFromHell'', and other things ruined it. He now [[http://www.bobandgeorge.com/archives/000530c encourages you to skip to the "Just Another Day" storyline]]. Additionally, the first eighteen comics were remade, and [[http://www.bobandgeorge.com/archives/000401c the originals can be viewed in the commentary]].

Some webcomics just get off on the wrong foot. Maybe they took a [[CerebusSyndrome hard left turn]] in the middle of the archives, maybe they just had [[ArtEvolution horrible art]], scripting or were just plain boring. Sometimes, it just pays off to give new readers a new place to start off.

The two most popular options are to declare a midpoint in the run as "the beginning" (which works well if it's the start of AnArc, especially if earlier comics were mostly one-shots), or to go back and redraw the earliest strips -- either all of them, or just a few in order to demonstrate to new readers that ItGetsBetter.

* ''DividedSky's'' first few chapters are in the process of being re-written and re-drawn. In fact, the artist had the first few pages up before redesigning the site.
** Now she's completely redoing the story, with ArtEvolution to boot.
* ''SluggyFreelance'' has a prominently labeled New Reader's Page that can start new readers off at least a year into the archives (it used to be later!).
* ''Webcomic/ItsWalky'' ''was'' redrawing its first storyline, to help people around three years of the comic from which it spun off. This effort was eventually abandoned, for the sake of prioritizing new material.
** David Willis eventually doubled back and redrew the entirety of ''Roomies!'' (under the URL, "bringbackroomies.com") and is currently working through ''It's Walky!'', with the stated plan of redraws through to the initial story arc.
* Similarly, ''Webcomic/{{Shortpacked}}'' started out as a gag-a-day comic and was very quickly rebooted with a permanent cast and storyline, displacing the old version.
* ''Melonpool'' started all over, once, but the artist eventually decided to devote himself to new projects and put the old archives back online.

* ''Webcomic/PvP'' had an entirely different look once upon a time. The comic went into hiatus for a few weeks and came back looking like it does today.
** Actually, its done this at least twice, generally for an ArtShift
* ''The Midlands'' (now called ''Heliothaumic'') had its author make up a completely new prologue for it and relegate the old prologue into more or less oblivion (It was still available on The Midlands' keenspot site but links to that are hard to find). Also, the author cut out a good chunk of Chapter One.
* Rich Burlew regretted starting ''[[Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick Order of the Stick]]'' with an obscure edition change joke (it started as a side piece of his hardcore gamer site), so he started the first compilation book with a new intro that also properly introduced the setting and the main characters.
* Used as a plot point in ''Webcomic/TheJapaneseBeetle'' after the shift in publishers. The first few strips of the 2003 series are essentially better-drawn updates to the series' 1998 beginnings. Later on, it's discovered that it was AllJustADream.

* {{Altermeta}} started over with what appears to be an alternate universe altogether. The old comics are still available in a separate archive.
* The earliest NothingNiceToSay comics have been redrawn but this is due to the originals being in a file format that prevents them from being usable for the upcoming book. The original first strips are still online so anyone can see the ArtEvolution if they want.
* Averted with ''LookingForGroup''. New readers are [[http://lfgcomic.com/splash/index.html encouraged]] to start from the first page.
* Also averted in SomethingPositive, where the first page's gag sets the tone for the entire strip. Provides a handy resource for experienced readers when new fans complain the comic has gotten too mean.
* The author of ''{{Earthsong}}'', upon securing a publishing deal, considered her original work to be too unprofessional for a published volume and she began what started out as only a partial reboot of the earlier chapters. Though the publishing deal ended after the first book sold poorly, the author proceeded to do a complete rewrite of the entire comic and stopped production of the storyline in favor of continuing the comic with a pure reboot. The archives of the old comic no longer exist.
* ''{{Strays}}'' is in the process of redesigning its first few pages. The original exposition didn't work out as well as the author had planned, so she's making a new one.
* ''RedString'', after securing a publishing deal, redrew and rewrote its first few chapters. The original first chapter, which was the standalone short-comic the artist based the rest of the series one was completely rewritten into a proper introduction to the series. The original second chapter taken out entirely and some of its events retooled and placed into the new first chapter. The following chapters had progressively less changes made to them, mostly a few redrawn pages and tweaks to the art and story so they would flow better. Unusually, all of this was done without interrupting the production of the current comic.
* ''Webcomic/AngelMoxie'' went though a format change horizontal strip to a more traditional four-panel layout with bigger art and proper word balloons and dialog. The original format using tiny panels and even tinier fonts and speech balloons was used because the author thought he could possibly get his strip to run on cell phones. Upon discovering this venture to be economically unfeasible, he eventually changed the format and slowly redid the original strips to match as he progressed with new strip updates.
* [[http://www.jaydenandcrusader.com Jayden and Crusader]] placed up a new first page on December 6th 2008 to act as a cover page. On the artist's [[http://crusader1089.deviantart.com deviant art account]] there are several redrawn pages the artist has stated he eventually intends to replace the current first pages.
* [[http://elvenlacryment.com Elven Lacryment]] was an halfway through with issue 2 when the original artist had to focus on real life. Another artist was brought in, but she didn't get very far. Now the original artist has returned and the comic is starting fresh.
* ''{{Picatrix}}'' has a long history of restarts. Picatrix began as an MS-paint-esque comic and ran for about a year after which the artist decided to restart the comic in a manga style. Several chapters in, the artist took a hiatus to work on her art and came back with the current version of the comic. Purportedly, the comic is currently undergoing additional editing to prepare it for print.
* ''{{Drowtales}}'' also had this, in part to remove the [=DnD=] references from the setting. Also, to fix problems with the story. (For one thing, an enemy who is locked away in a cardboard prison is now dead, and some of Ariel's kick-the-dog moments were removed)
* [[http://millennium.senshuu.com Millennium]] had a complete reboot in 2008, its older version archived (and still available to read). The author essentially describes the reason as a need to tell the story a different way before it snowballed into something else entirely.
* After ''{{Exiern}}'' got a proper artist, they went back and redid the introduction, eventually catching up to the point where the new artist signed on. In the process, they also threw out a lot of nonsensical filler, including a lengthy and confusing "just a dream" sequence.
* ''TheInexplicableAdventuresOfBob'' started out as a print comic in a 1990's college newsletter. When it was [[{{Revival}} revived]] in 2006, it began by posting scans of the original strips?the earliest ones of which were very crudely drawn. But the first strip posted was a newly drawn introduction, giving all the regulars a cameo and explaining the strip's printed origins.
* ''NamirDeiter'' started in 1999. In 2003, a new first page was added to better explain things.
* ''[[YouSayItFirst Unlike Minerva]]'' started out as a [[NoFourthWall fourth-wall breaking]] parody strip. Then it rebooted and didn't do that kind of thing any more. And [[TheBarnum Kimberly]] showed up.
* GeorgeTheDragon has been slowly re-doing some of the older strips.
* After the art shift and colorization in ''AGirlAndHerFed'', the author began releasing a second archive parallel to the original with the new art style (it has eyes!).
* ''{{Girly}}'' proposed a starting point at Chapter 12, or around 500 of what would eventually be a 750+ page comic. Still enough to cause some minor ArchivePanic but it made for some nice BookEnds.
* CharbyTheVampirate didn't redraw the start of the book, but it did insert an origin story for the main character as a new beginning. Also, periodically pages throughout the archive are completely redrawn, either because the author wanted a plot-important scene to have more legs, or because she simply lost the original image file.
* The first dozen pages of ''Webcomic/EmergencyExit'', which had been random gags, were redrawn in August 2009 with far better art as an introduction to the main characters.

* ''Webcomic/ITalkToTheWind'' has nothing on its site that links to the first few dozen comics. They're still available, but almost impossible to find.
* ''Webcomic/{{Goblins}}'' has a variant: Thunt doesn't start you at a later date, but put up a comparison of his current art with his original art so you "wouldn't think you accidentally clicked on the wrong comic".
* ''Webcomic/BobAndGeorge'' actually started out as {{filler}}, because the author wasn't able to get the hand-drawn comic ready on time. He attempted to launch the hand-drawn comic twice (the second time after killing the AuthorAvatar in the sprite comic), but poor pacing, a premise that intimidates ''Webcomic/CollegeRoomiesFromHell'', and other things ruined it. He now [[http://www.bobandgeorge.com/archives/000530c encourages you to skip to the "Just Another Day" storyline]]. Additionally, the first eighteen comics were remade, and [[http://www.bobandgeorge.com/archives/000401c the originals can be viewed in the commentary]].
* ''Webcomic/QuestionableContent'''s art has improved out of all measure, and Jeph redrew some of the early strips for the first print edition that he no longer has the original high-res art for.
* ''Webcomic/RubyNation'' is a continuation of the story in ''Webcomic/RubysWorld'', but the perspective has shifted to that of [[NaiveNewcomer Elise]].
* Webcomic/FunnyFarm did this, but only after the series had formally ended. The author decided to release the series again, one strip at a time but redrawn in his current art style and with a spoileriffic commentary on each strip.
* In a strange comic book example, the publishers of ''ComicBook/MortadeloYFilemon'' had around a hundred of their early strips (including [[http://mortadelo-filemon.es/images/photos/Articuylos/MartinezOsete/Remakes/Pulgarcito1394_Siguiendoelrastro.jpg the first one]]) redrawn by unrelated artist Martínez Osete to account for the changes Ibáñez introduced after 1969- mainly, changing the heroes' roles from private detectives to secret agents and adding their new boss, Súper, who would take in many cases the role of Filemón, now Mortadelo's sidekick instead of his employer.

----

** David Willis eventually doubled back and redrew the entirety of ''Roomies!'' (under the URL, "bringbackroomies.com") and is currently working through ''It's Walky!'', with the stated plan of redraws at least through to the transition to ''Joyce and Walky.''

** David Willis eventually doubled back and redrew the entirety of ''Roomies'' (under the URL, "bringbackroomies.com") and is currently working through ''It's Walky'', with the stated plan of redraws at least through to the transition to ''Joyce and Walky."

* In a strange comic book example, the publishers of ''MortadeloYFilemon'' had around a hundred of their early strips (including [[http://mortadelo-filemon.es/images/photos/Articuylos/MartinezOsete/Remakes/Pulgarcito1394_Siguiendoelrastro.jpg the first one]]) redrawn by unrelated artist Martínez Osete to account for the changes Ibáñez introduced after 1969- mainly, changing the heroes' roles from private detectives to secret agents and adding their new boss, Super, who would take in many cases the role of Filemón, now Mortadelo's sidekick instead of his employer.

* ''{{Achewood}}'' did this twice: the first batch of comics was never even officially published (and is now subscriber-only content), but one of them, "Philippe is standing on it", became the first episode of the series proper. However, the comic only ''really'' took off with "The Party" (its first storyline), and the first couple dozen strips now aren't actually linked in the drop-down storyline menu.
* ''ITalkToTheWind'' has nothing on its site that links to the first few dozen comics. They're still available, but almost impossible to find.

* ''BobAndGeorge'' actually started out as {{filler}}, because the author wasn't able to get the hand-drawn comic ready on time. He attempted to launch the hand-drawn comic twice (the second time after killing the AuthorAvatar in the sprite comic), but poor pacing, a premise that intimidates ''CollegeRoomiesFromHell'', and other things ruined it. He now [[http://www.bobandgeorge.com/archives/000530c encourages you to skip to the "Just Another Day" storyline]]. Additionally, the first eighteen comics were remade, and [[http://www.bobandgeorge.com/archives/000401c the originals can be viewed in the commentary]].

* FunnyFarm did this, but only after the series had formally ended. The author decided to release the series again, one strip at a time but redrawn in his current art style and with a spoileriffic commentary on each strip.

Some webcomics just get off on the wrong foot. Maybe they took a [[CerebusSyndrome hard left turn]] in the middle of the archives, maybe they just had horrible art, scripting or were just plain boring. Sometimes, it just pays off to give new readers a new place to start off.

* Used as a plot point in ''TheJapaneseBeetle'' after the shift in publishers. The first few strips of the 2003 series are essentially better-drawn updates to the series' 1998 beginnings. Later on, it's discovered that it was AllJustADream.

* ''AngelMoxie'' went though a format change horizontal strip to a more traditional four-panel layout with bigger art and proper word balloons and dialog. The original format using tiny panels and even tinier fonts and speech balloons was used because the author thought he could possibly get his strip to run on cell phones. Upon discovering this venture to be economically unfeasible, he eventually changed the format and slowly redid the original strips to match as he progressed with new strip updates.

* ''Webcomic/ItsWalky'' ''was'' redrawing its first storyline, to help people around three years of the comic from which it spun off, but that seems to have slowed.

* ''[[Webcomic/GoblinsLifeThroughTheirEyes Goblins]]'' has a variant, Thunt doesn't start you at a later date, but put up a comparison of his current art with his original art so you 'wouldn't think you accidentally clicked on the wrong comic'