In “The Loneliest Astronauts”, Kevin Church and Ming Doyle depict two astronauts stranded in space—but instead of being dramatic, the tone set is humorous.
My group read a chapter of Kashtan’s Between Pen and Pixel, where Kashtan notes that a comic does not need to be exclusively either online or in print. In fact, he notes that the webcomic can serve as a cheaper option to prove a concept as successful before being printed. All content creators need to get money somehow, and this is reflected in comic design. That is, while some webcomic artists embrace the affordances of online media, many keep their comics designed so they can be easily translated to print for sale. (Kashtan 2018)
Indeed, the creators of the “The Loneliest Astronauts” did consider a book release of their comic; their last page declares this, and on the top bar there is an option to “Buy In Print”.
But as we see here, all the link gives us is a broken webpage. While the comic has sold merchandise in the past, it is no longer available. Why not? Clearly, the strips have been designed with print in mind—all the panels are rectangular and are all the same size. There would be no significant changes to the comic in the conversion to print.
I believe that the comic’s low potential to spread may be at fault. Only some of these strips make complete sense when taken out of context. The strip above is an example; there’s no explanation for why Steve is so pessimistic, so the whole strip feels like half a joke. There is little to convince people to investigate.
That is not to say that the webcomic as a whole is low quality. However, the background needed to enjoy it requires a time investment that few are willing to pay. If this comic started out as a book, it might have been successful as a buyer would have already paid for it, and so is already invested; however, it would be difficult to sell something like this to a publisher without proof that it would work out. It appears that the system that causes so many webcomics to be successful comes at the cost of comics where interest investments are front-loaded.
Kashtan, A. (2018). Between Pen and Pixel: Comics, Materiality, and the Book of the Future. The Ohio State University Press.
Webcomics...in Space! 
In my readings, Kashtan explained that only web comics that are flexible (to be flexible is a comic that can easily translate from web comic to print because of its panels and random bits of comics) can be translated to print. It seems that your web comic series is more fixible, (something that is dependent on its current medium). I say this because it seems like the print version did not get as much exposure. I agree with you in the fact that web comics can gain more exposure due to the fact that the affordance of the internet allows people to easily find this comic with a simple link. My comic like yours has a print version, and I believe it is to supplement the comic artist and provide him with extra income. I think you’re right, however, in the fact that this print version only attracts a select few viewers in the web comic community.
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in the reading it did talk about printed comics being far more expensive then web comics. and it has multiple alternatives when making a web comic online. whether that be through ideas, art style, photo shop, blogs, tumbler, twitter, even Tapastic or webtoon. not only is it cheaper but you will most likely receive more views or shares than taking your time and making a printed comic and shipping it to the comic book store that hardly anyone goes to now a days.
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In addition to variation in ideas, art styles, and medium, alternative text and hidden comics can be incorporated as well, adding an additional dimension for the viewer to explore. These are features unique to webcomics that can’t be easily implemented on print copies. Print versions of comics have their own advantages too, however, as they offer a tactile component, gift-ability, and collectibility. Through the use of both physical and digital means, the mediums complement one another and ultimately increase audience reach and retention.
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