Archive - May 2010
May 28th
Snakehead Games Webcomic Contest: $1000 Prizes
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on May 28, 2010 - 10:27
Colin Ferguson, Community Director for Snakehead Games, wrote to tell us about a webcomic award they're running within their community. Snakehead runs two free browser games: Star Pirates and Spy Battle: 2165 and Ferguson said that they've been able to build their gaming community in large part due to partnerships with webcomics from familar folks like Howard Taylor, Kris Straub and Phil Foglio. As a thank you, Snakehead is running a poll amongst its members to decide which of 10 remaining webcomics will win two $1000 awards: one a $1000 in Project Wonderful advertising and the other $1000 in cash. The $1000 in advertising goes to the top vote getter and the $1000 in cash will be sort of a lottery (every vote cast in the “Round of 20″ will be put in a virtual hat. One of the votes will be selected, and that’s the winner).
I remember seeing the custom ads for the game Star Pirates that various sci-fi themed webcomics designed and ran and that's a great way to partner with a webcomic. Snakehead Games obviously hopes to get more members and traffic out of this but so what, it's a pretty cool idea and win-win for them and the webcomics involved. The 10 webcomics remaining in their contest are Girl Genius, XKCD, Legostar Galactica, Erfworld, Looking for Group, Order of the Stick, Darths and Droids, Schlock Mercenary, Kevin and Kell, and Questionable Content. Final results of this contest are expected to be announced in mid-June.
Comix Talk Talk
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on May 28, 2010 - 09:25
Well it's a three day weekend here in the 'States so we'll pick things up again on Tuesday of next week (anything on the weekend is pure bonus, baby). Also picking things up next week is Dirk Tiede’s Paradigm Shift which returns from hiatus on Tuesday (h/t FLEEN).
INTERVIEW: Playback has a nice interview with Raina Telgemeier about Smile and the X-Men: Misfits comic.
MAILBAG: Denver Brubaker writes in about his webcomic Tales of a Checkered Man, a comedy take on a Batman-like crimefighter. Brubaker writes "Fans of superhero satire and parody as well as classic adventure pulps and traditional newspaper strips will enjoy this all-new comic strip adventure; think Charlie Brown as a masked-vigilante."
May 27th
Great Webcomic Finales?
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on May 27, 2010 - 10:47
Tom Spurgeon started it by picking his 10 favorite comic endings but Reuben Bolling is right - how could he leave out The Comic Strip That Has A Finale Every Day? Tom also posted picks from his readers here.
So it leads me to think - what are the best webcomic endings so far? It's not all that often that a webcomic is properly wrapped up in finale fashion but I bet there's a few that have struck a chord.
DJ Coffman on Ending Yirmumah and Artistic Ambition
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on May 27, 2010 - 09:23
Long post from long time webcomics creator DJ Coffman about ending his webcomic Yirmumah and focusing himself on new projects. DJ Coffman has always been fairly controversial with a lot of folks, but he's also been consistently active with a number of titles published on the web such as Yirmumah and Hero By Night, and he's been involved in a number of different approaches to trying to makea a living out of comics. It'll be interesting to see where he goes next.
Open Book Toronto Interview with Webcomic Creators at TCAF
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on May 27, 2010 - 08:40
Open Book Toronto produced this great video from TCAF with lots of interview footage with Ryan North, Ramon Perez and Erika Moen talking about the diversity of the webcomic medium and the possibilities it opened up for independent artists. Extremely well done!
May 26th
Comix Talk for Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on May 26, 2010 - 08:18
So is this comix or what? Whatever it is, it's captions on photos and it's (sometimes) lol... (wait did I just type lol? I meant FUNNY)
INTERVIEW: The Daily Cross Hatch talks to Jon Rosenberg on wrapping up Goats, and making a career out of webcomics.
MILESTONES: Shaenon Garrity celebrates the ten-year anniversary of her webcomic Narbonic with a commemorative print you can buy here.
DEAD TREES
- PW Weekly covers Meredith Gran's latest Octopus Pie collection: There Are No Stars In Brooklyn which comes out June 22.
- Johanna Draper Carlson reviews the second collection of Erika Moen's DAR: A Super Girly Top Secret Comic Diary
- Johanna Draper Carlson reviews the first collection of Gunnerkrigg Court - I think the second volume of this is coming out this year.
KICK START MY ART
- Shaenon Garrity has a kickstarter funding drive for the second print collection of Skin Horse.
- Looks like Max Huffman's Kickstarter drive has met its goal. Good news for Mocktopus fans.
FROM THE MAILBAG
- Travis Hanson writes about his webcomic The Bean which is a pretty nicely drawn comic about a young kid working for (owned by?) an orge in a tavern. It has a pretty slow pace so far, but now that the kid has been kidnapped maybe it'll pick up some.
May 24th
Astounding Space Thrills by Steve Conley
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on May 25, 2010 - 02:01
Steve Conley is one of webcomics' godfathers and while he's not unrecognized, he doesn't get nearly enough credit. His groundbreaking comic Astounding Space Thrills existed both on and off the web and last year a collection of the offline comics was published. You can also still read the webcomic archives online.
Voting Open for 2010 Eagle Awards
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on May 24, 2010 - 10:26
Time to stuff the online ballot box at the Eagle Awards. A pretty good list of nominees for "Favourite Web-Based Comic" including Freak Angels, Order of the Stick, PVP, Sin Titulo and xkcd.
May 23rd
Walking on Eggshells: Documentary about Remix Culture
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on May 23, 2010 - 15:06
Does remix culture have anything to do with comix? Good question I guess but regardless I found this really interesting:
May 21st
Comix Talk for Friday, May 21, 2010
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on May 21, 2010 - 09:20
You can all go home now because Joe Hunter give you EVERY WEBCOMIC EVER. His Journalin Comix is pretty funny - worth checking out.
KICK START MY ART: Max Huffman does the webcomic called Mocktopus and he needs a new computer because his laptop died. Pledge some money, get a sketch - help Huffman keep making comics.
Hypin' the Hype: Evil Diva is about an average 12 year old girl who is also a devil. So being good and nice? Kind of a problem. This comic's been up for awhile (archives back to 2008) but escaped my notice before. Cute and funny comic.
Naughty By Nature: Filthy Figments launches in less then 2 weeks and boasts an impressive line-up of artists: GINA BIGGS, Creator of Red String, ROBIN EDWARDS, Creator of Cardboard Angel, JENNIE BREEDEN, Creator of The Devil's Panties, KITTYHAWK, Creator of Sparkling Generation Valkyrie Yuuki, MEGAN GEDRIS, Creator of Yu+Me, and TSUKIYONO, Creator of Patches. WARNING - even the preview splash page up now is NSFW so click carefully. (Also of interest - it looks like the site is owned by Strawberry Comics, LLC, which is Gina Biggs corporate alter ego.)
Sex, RPG & Superheroes: Ryan Sohmer is launching a third webcomic, this one poking fun at superheroes. Longtime Sohmer collaborator, Lars DeSouza is serving as art director with the actual art to be done by a rotating crew of artists.
