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."