Archive - Jun 2004
June 30th
New Issue of The Comics Journal
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on June 30, 2004 - 23:23
Flipping through the pages of this issue: an article on the recently announced ICAA, International Comics Arts Association which turns out to be the brainchild of three guys in Illinois. It's a long story, listing all of the plans made by the principal guy and noting that it's just a few guys but not really weighing in on the potential disconnect between the promise of it and the reality of it today, just after its launch. A disappointing article that mostly reads as a press release for ICAA.
A brief article on the annual meeting of the American Editorial Cartoonists Association. Is there no more tired sub-genre of comic than the American editorial cartoon. What other art form so timidly sticks to 18th century forms and label and conceits as this one does?
A short mention that IDT, a telecommunications company has bought up a bunch of comic and animation companies recently. Weird.
TCJ digs up the now ancient Micah Wright scandal story. Wright is quoted, not surprisingly, as expressing a desire that TCJ not mention the story at all.
All in all TCJ should seriously consider ditching its news roundup and resurrecting some sort of blog or news dept. online where it could report daily or weekly on stories when they're still current. Maybe it could limit it to subscribers but at least it would be relevent. Having read 3 issues now I have to say that LOTS of the news stories in TCJ are old and/or not interesting enough to read through the lengthy space they give to them.
Massive interviews in it. One with Jay Hosler and one with Phoebe Gloeckner. Get to them later.
And Goats ad on page 91. Full page, full color one. Cool.
PVP Call for Guest Comics
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on June 30, 2004 - 17:41
PvPonline.com announced it will be holding "Guest Week 2004" during the San Diego Comicon.
Well it's that time again, so anyone and everyone who would like to do a guest strip this year should start sending them in to me. The only requirement is that the strip can not be any wider than 850 pixels.
I'll pick the strips I like the best to run during our guest week. Depending on how many I get, it could run longer than a week.
Business Card Doodles by Comic Artists
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on June 30, 2004 - 15:08
LINES ON PAPER is a comics awareness/promotion type group. They have a cool gallery of their business cards that comic artists have signed with words and art.
June 29th
Evil Network Comics
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on June 29, 2004 - 22:13
Evil Network Comics is back? There was a brief period where all the cool kids wanted to be on the Evil Network List O' Webcomics. Than the evil network disappeared, probably to its lair of evilness, I suppose.
Now it appears the goodevil Doctor Setebos has returned.
Peppercoin Releases Version 2.0
Submitted by Dedos on June 29, 2004 - 10:42
Peppercoin has released the next version of its small (but not quite 'micro') payment system. Peppercoin 2.0 promises smaller per-transaction fees, no required user signup, per-use and subscription models, and easy payment through credit and debit cards.
June 28th
Blatant Plug for a Comic I Discovered From A Forum Signature
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on June 28, 2004 - 22:03
White Hydra can be dumb but it's bright, cheery and funny. Although it's about 75 or so on the bCx List I "discovered" it and checked it out b/c I liked the author's banner in his sig line here at the forums on Comixpedia.
So, um, make funny banners and witty signature lines I guess.
June 27th
Brian Carroll's Instant Classic, reviewed by Damonk
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...and when Litchfield pulls out a gun out of nowhere in comic 97 amidst the flames of the burning theater while Author and a pregnant-but-not-really Kate stand at his lunatic mercy on center stage, you can't help but feel both torn and satisfied – as if this had to happen, no matter how much you grew attached to...
Wait. Perhaps it's best if we start this review at the opening credits.
Tao of Geek's Liz Walsh interviewed by Yolanda Janiga
Liz Walsh is 26 years old and a fairly recent graduate of Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario, where she studied computer science and earned her geek spurs. She grew up and still lives in Ottawa and describes herself as a "creative, passionate, thoughtful, antisocial, ambitious, [and] short temper[ed] (*grin*)" type of person. Her webcomic, Tao of Geek, is about geekery of all stripes, from computers and video games to role-playing games to anime. Walsh is a fan of geeks and her webcomic shows it.
"Geeks can be funny. Geeks can be serious," says Walsh. "It's all in who they are. They're more than just fanatics of some games, or people who dream in C++. They've got minds. They've got family. They've got friends. They've got personality. They can be the person that has aspirations of being on the stage based on how well they roleplay Garok the Mighty. They can be the person whose impeccable logic (from long nights of programming) lets them win any debate they enter, even against tenured politicians. They can be the person who creates a media empire based on the fantasy world they created during those long lectures at school. They can be *anyone*."
Cool Tools for the Webcomic Jet Set
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Creators make webcomics. Cool tools make the webcomic community go round. Here's to the geeks, the code monkeys, and the computer science students who come up with ingenious hacks to help creators automate publishing and fans find a webcomic's latest update.
I - Finders, Keepers!
Redefining Convenience: Places to Read Comics Besides the Bathroom
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In the days before I discovered webcomics, I worked an office job where I generally had at least a couple of hours each day when there simply wasn't anything useful for me to do. Of course, I was still expected to look busy. I couldn't exactly put my feet up and open a book. In fact, when I wanted to read, there was really only one place I could go. And that was – you guessed it – the bathroom. Yes, I confess – I too have spent many hours hiding in the loo with a book.
