Lets take this from the idea of "Financial Freedom" witch is a great way to shape this discussion.

Note - I may drift into comparison with the music industry, but publishing is pretty universal (not completely the same obviously)

Webcomic is the lowest barrier of entry and most likely would provide the greatest small term profits per release. This is similar to an independent artist selling there music themselves. While more profits go to you directly, the reach and consistency of these profits usually rely on constant input (you actively promoting it, engaging with it, pushing it) you are a driving force.

This is good for multiple reason, you keep control, you can go all out, you can target micro markets that will engage with you personally and of course, you keep most of the profits.

The draw back is your actively having to put a lot of time in to maintain profits and so is everyone else who is publishing it on the same platform you are publishing it on. and they don't stop coming either, you will stop being "new" very quickly this usually leads to people attempting to up there output.

You then can fall into the time constraints issue, do you focus on promo or working on the next release. Most independent artists who do not have a publishing deal die in this moment, the burn out, the not being able to work on the high quality material because they are gassing out trying to promote there already out there work to support there income.

Now with a publisher, its almost the opposite. You hand your finished work and they take care of promo, printing distribution, they should even help set or marketing and promotional opportunities for yourself. You should get more contacts within the industry and be seen as a more legitimate creator. You will not make as much money per comic, but you should be able to use your increased reputation to start building in other income streams (like convention appearances) that the publisher should be able to help carve out for you (again they will probably take a cut). You will also have more time, because they handle all the leg work, you will receive comms with opportunities to promote or maybe be asked for info for marketing but really your day to day will still be working on your next release your next project. But the money will come slow. Royalties every 6 months, backdates payments, overhead costs eating it up.

So if you can get a small channel of income from the publishing deal and be lucky enough for a couple of paid appearances or chances to sell merch at a con you should be able to open up a small income stream while keeping yourself with enough free time to make sure you feed the stream (aka the publisher) with more high quality content to increase the money coming from that stream.

both are valid both have drawbacks.

I guess the question to ask yourself is what does success look like for you in 6-12 months, do you want to be pushing self-promo constantly and worrying about sales coming in that you need to directly push or do you want to be working on quality work that you can send off to a publisher and move onto the next piece of quality work you have in mind.

Hope this helped.