Month: June 2006

So I finally carved out a couple of hours last week to sit down and read T. Campbell's History of Webcomics. I knew the book had been the subject of some controversy. Some had postulated that writing the history of something that was less than a decade old seemed a bit superfluous and that perhaps one should wait until a bit more history has occurred before the history is written.

I might have been inclined to agree with that supposition had I not written an article for Sketch magazine a year or so back detailing my quest to uncover the indentity of the first Photoshop colored comic book. It turned out to be a surprisingly difficult task even though it was certainly a comic published sometime in the early 1990s. It's undeniable that Adobe Photoshop has ushered in a new era in both comics production and comics aesthetics, yet no one (at least no one I was able to find) had bothered to document when exactly this phenomenon began.

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Fluff is way cute and pretty funny. The last two storylines involve the missing lead singer of an 80's polka band (he's a hamster) and the love affair between Urhu and an anthromorphic microscope. You have to give it up to the creators if for no other reason than taking so many silly photos of themselves 🙂 Continue Reading →

So this time last week I was airport hopping, returning from my first manga/anime convention. At least as a guest, that is. I've played the role of "cool uncle" by taking my teenage niece (a genuine manga chic) to a few local, one-day manga/anime shows, but this — A-Kon in Dallas, TX. — was my first stint as a name-in-the-program, seated-in-the-artists-alley guest. Ka-Blam, my digital printing business, had created some materials for the convention and they were kind enough to offer us a table at the show.

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Hello, everyone! My name is Clay Gardner and I'll be a guest-blogger for you this week. My comic interests (if xerexes apt introduction has not made it obvious) concern mainly manga-style comics, and as such, that will probably be the topic of this and future blogs.

It cannot be denied that Japanese manga is taking the world of comics as we know it by storm. A quick look at the local bookstore will reveal that the superhero and indie comics that have shaped and cultivated the American graphic novel have been shoved aside in favor of countless shelves of manga, manwha, and OEL — that's original english language manga — titles. Characters with huge, expressive eyes and technicolor hair have dominated all matters of pop culture. It is not hard to understand why young comic authors have taken to mimicking the style of manga in their attempt at emulating the Japanese stories they've grown to love. Even bigwigs like Marvel have made stints in emulating the Japanese. The problem: the style of manga is not the real reason manga has become so popular.

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Thanks to all the guest bloggers this summer. I'm still working on rebooting Comixpedia for the fall so posting by me may be light this week. If you guest blogged this summer feel free to post this week if you're interested. Thanks!

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We have two guest bloggers this week: Clay Gardner and Barry Gregory.

Clay writes the webmanga Fantasy Realms and is the creator of the OVA Role-Playing Game (www.wiseturtle.com).

Barry is the founder and editor of 01comics.com, and a partner in both Ka-Blam Digital Printing and IndyPlanet.com. His webcomic, The GreenMan, is hosted at 01comics.com.

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This seems like an interesting possibility – Adrian Ramos is the creator of two popular webcomics: Count Your Sheep and No Room For Magic.

Open call – Alright, I've had an idea for a comic for a while now that I've just been itching to do…

Anyway, if you are an artist, and are committed, and would like to be part of what I want to do, please contact me. Except this time, I want to make a comic with action and superheroes in it! It's mostly about people and personal relationships though, but superheroes are a big part of it. Sooooooo, if you're interested, contact me, send me a link to your portfolio, send me some samples, and we'll see!It'll also help if you are a nice person. i like those.

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I never got whether people liked Pupkin or it was just an elaborate put-on. Either way I wonder if invoking Bobby Crosby's name will draw his presence…

I was reading the Ctrl-Alt-Del archives and found a Pupkin joke in 2002.

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Hey don't forget – we got lots of good stuff already in the June magazine – check out the list of articles here.

Stephen Crowley's Magellan has made its archives free on account of its nomination for a WCCA in the Super-Hero/Action category.

Gary Chaloner is selling some of his artwork plus some comics (not his) from his personal collection. Gary is the writer/artist behind the John Law series.

Eric Kim says his webcomic Battle Academy is wrapping up today. Go check out the manga-flavored madness!

A short interview with James Kochalka on music and comics.

Fleen has more photos from this year's MoCCA convention (The Comic Foundry also has lots of MoCCA photos).

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