Month: January 2004

A Jam Session with Jazz Age Chronicles’ Ted Slampyak

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Ted Slampyak broke into the comics scene in 1989 with The Case of the Beguiling Baroness, published by Caliber Press. This story turned out to be only the first in his stylish adventure series, Jazz Age Chronicles, which followed the blueblood adventurer, Clifton Jennings, and the blue-collar private eye, Ace Mifflin, as they pursued supernatural criminals in 1920s Boston. Soon after, he went on to work on projects like Quantum Leap and Neil Gaiman’s “Mr. Hero”, as well as providing illustration and storyboarding services.

In 2002, he returned to his roots, with The Power of Silas Rourke, a new Jazz Age story, and one of the original strips to run on the Modern Tales sister site, AdventureStrips.com. After the unfortunate demise of AdventureStrips.com, Ted remained with Modern Tales, repurposing his JazzAgeComics.com site as a single-creator subscription site, and the official home for Jazz Age on the web. The current story, No Escape updates weekly (the current strip is always free), with pages from his original Beguiling Baroness story and other extras added to the member section throughout the week.

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Ctrl+Alt+Del by Tim Buckley, reviewed by Matt Trepal

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There are some subjects, common wisdom states, which should not be brought up in polite company. Religion and politics are two of the biggies, but as of late, computer operating systems and gaming platforms seem to be flowing in the same vein. The sheer amount of energy invested in the holy wars over gaming platforms is impressive, and more than a little puzzling to the outsider. Regardless, there seems to be no shortage of webcomics willing to jump into the fray with their BFGs blazing. Continue Reading →

Obey Your Comic Cravings: Sprite Comics Explained, by Ericka Crouse

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If you look up the definition of sprite in a dictionary, you’ll probably see an entry that tells you that a sprite is a spirit, fairy or elfish-type person. If you google it, you’ll find references to a form of upper-atmosphere lightning discharge being researched by people all over the world, references to a classic Australian car, references to various pieces of software and, of course, references to the soft drink.

So you might not quite understand when someone starts talking about “sprite comics”. Continue Reading →

Why Do Online Comics by Iain Hamp

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For about as long as I have been doing online comics, I have wanted to try my hand at a 24-hour comic (please visit this page if you are unfamiliar with the concept).

I loved the idea of it. I thought the challenge seemed like something I would enjoy. Most of all, it seemed like a sort of “trial of passage” event that every comic artist worth their salt and serious about their craft would eventually have to pass through. Finally, in November of 2003, I found an opportunity to do one. Continue Reading →

Genericon is upon us!

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Upstate Troy, NY will see some inevitably fun webcomic events on the weekend of January 16-18. The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s Genericon promises another year of panels and special guests, plus some new surprises. The small, intimate convention has been an annual gathering for anime, comics, and gaming fans for years. Check out some guests you can expect to see: Continue Reading →