Archive - Jan 2005
January 3rd
Should We Have Talked About the Tsunami Disaster/Crisis on Comixpedia?
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on January 3, 2005 - 20:26
Randy Milholland wonders aloud about why webcomics aren't talking about the Tsunami disaster nor doing anything to help with the relief effort.
I don't have a sense today of whether that's fair or not because I just don't recollect seeing a lot of information on how to donate or auctions to raise money or anything about this tragedy on many webcomic sites this past week. But maybe I just missed it.
I also know Comixpedia has avoided it as well. In the past I have referenced news events in posts, sometimes as a means to provide a place to post information and webcomics in one place. I've never been entirely sure whether that was a good idea and since most of those posts did not draw a significant response from readers I'm not inclined to keep doing them.
The suffering and scale of this tragedy is almost unimaginable. If you have money to donate though you should. My wife and I did and while it wasn't enough it was what we could do last month. I'm wondering if we can do a second donation this month (just not sure budget wise yet). There's actually a lot of information on how and where to donate on Something Positive right now so that's not a bad place to start.
The year in review from Josh Lesnick: Eh, Not So Great
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on January 3, 2005 - 20:13
Josh Lesnick, the creator of Girly and other comics posted another view of 2004 in his blog:
I guess my point is that people with 2004 ending, people are talking about it as if it were some supreme year of growth for webcomics. I just don't share these sentiments. Comixpedia listed 25 people who impacted webcomics this year. I think it's generous to think 25 people actually made a difference throught the year. It's probably more like 3 or 4. I know webcomics seem to be a lot more recognized now, and there are more and more people creating businesses and/or livings from them, and that's nice and all. But growth should involve a bit of evolution of the art form too. I didn't see much evolving this year.
(Former Comixpedia EIC, Damonk expressed his agreement in a comment).
Josh makes some good points (he regularly does if you aren't reading his blog) although to be fair the "list" wasn't entirely (or even mostly) about people who created good webcomics in 2004. That'd be a different list. It was more of an attempt to identify people who loomed large (as large as one can on the small field of webcomics) in 2004 and made an impact. Last year a lot of that impact was in people struggling to find a way to make a go at webcomics and trying lots of different ideas out.
I'd also like to point out that Chris Crosby is disappointed that more people aren't outraged over his being #2 on that list. Where's the outrage people! :)
Bad Blood Comic Stats for 2004
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on January 3, 2005 - 19:59
Liriel posts the stats for 2004 for Bad Blood and not suprisingly it turns out that a plug from Warren Ellis can do a lot for your traffic!
Diary of a Rock-and-Roll Machine On Ornery Boy
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on January 3, 2005 - 19:56
Diary of a Rock-and-Roll Machine offers an opinion on Ornery Boy which Comixpedia reviewed way back in July of 2003.
Needless to say Diary Machine did not like Ornery Boy as much as Comixpedia did although s/he does compliment the artwork. Oddly enough Diary Machine found the review through a google search for "a particular phrase regarding bad experiences with a small coffee company I used to work for."
I wonder what that phrase was?
YIRMUMAH Goes Daily in 2005
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on January 3, 2005 - 17:20
YIRMUMAH moves to a daily update schedule. The strip will run Mon-Fri in black and white strip style, then on the weekend a big color comic.
The weekly edition will also run at pvcomics.com.
Visit Yirmumah Daily!
Theater Hopper: New Year, New Character!
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on January 3, 2005 - 17:18
Theater Hopper starts off 2005 with a new storyline that introduces a new character to the mix.
A former rival of Cami's named Charlie has moved in across the street and she harbors a shameful secret!
MomoCon to Feature Webcomic Authors
Submitted by GregUSA on January 3, 2005 - 15:39
Anime O-Tekku of Georgia Tech presents MomoCon, an anime and gaming convention held in Atlanta, GA, March 26-27, 2005 at the Georgia Tech Student Center. MomoCon is a free admission convention, with local vendors and artists selling their wares in addition to numerous special events.
This year, MomoCon welcomes 12 webcomic guests to the convention, including Josh Nickerson, creator of The Nolans and Mid-Shift.
For further information, email Jessica Merriman, MomoCon Director, at drpanda@gmail.com
January 2nd
John Barber's How To for Vicious Souvenirs
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on January 3, 2005 - 01:42
I just hadn't gotten a chance to read most of Vicious Souvenirs before tonight. It's not one of those 2 minutes and laugh kind of comic. It's well worth your time to immerse yourself in it. And it really does improve as the series rolls along - Barber seems to more intuitively use cuts between panels that FLASH allows in the later installments.
One thing worth noting if you haven't read the series is this how to on Vicious Souvenirs that Barber did. It's a technical thing about making the comic this way. It's probably something that Barber should think about offering outside of the MT wall if he hasn't already as it's interesting and not really part of the VS archives when you think about it.
UPDATE: I realized that Barber is now working at Marvel and that's probably the reason why he has not posted anything from the announced (last year) chapter 3 of VS. I didn't see any details on John's forum - can anyone fill me in? If John (or someone else) let's me know, I'll post more here.
The Current Modern Tales Lineup
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on January 2, 2005 - 23:40
Since this post will sound a bit negative once you get through the whole thing let me just set the context:
I'm a real life customer of MT and have subscribed for about 2 years. I like what I get from MT and don't have any current thoughts about quitting. But just skimming through all of MT today (I do that since I subscribe to it!) and it hit me that Modern Tales right now has only 9 series running -- from Donna Barr and Dorothy Gambrell -- out of 43 (there's one coming from Joe Zabel not yet started so I'm not counting that).
That seems like a lot.
Open Book by Jon Morris on MT
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on January 2, 2005 - 15:16
Open Book started off as a free offering on Jonathan Morris' website and moved to MT sometime last year (2004). It now has a decent archive built up there and it's a really enjoyable read. Each installment is basically a separate story except forthe Nat Coogan episode which goes on for about 21 pages.
Morris, of course, is also the creator of Jeremy. In Open Book, however, there is a wider working of many of the themes and moods used in Jeremy.
I've no reason to post about this other than Morris hasn't been mentioned in awhile. When someone is quietly making great comics though, week after week, it's worth reminding folks.
