Archive - Sep 29, 2010
Finding the Right Webhost
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on September 29, 2010 - 09:12
I thought this post by Novil of Sandra and Woo was a pretty good overview of issues with hosting, particularly as a webcomic grows its readership. There's also a pretty good forum on webhosts at the Comicpress site.
UPDATE: A long thread at ComixTalk from 2006 and renewed in 2008 actually shows up pretty high on the Googleplex results. No offense but the fact that Drunk Duck is still around isn't always on my mind -- how has their performance as a webhost been this year? I also set up a SmackJeeves account -- that's been around awhile too but would love to hear updated views on its performance this year.
Marissa’s Bunny
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on September 29, 2010 - 09:05
A SPECIAL MAILBAG EDITION: Jordan Anderson wrote in to "bring to your attention some generosity by a few webcomics creators. Lar deSouza, Ryan Sohmer and Tim Buckley have brought some attention to a story of a father raising awareness of a rare disease that his daughter was born with. The father created a blog, Marissa’s Bunny, over two years ago with the idea of bringing the story of Infantile Spasms to the rest of the world. Through a set of rabbits that go by a shared name of Fairfax, people around the globe have been telling the tale of Marissa and her disease. The blog shares the highs and lows, the hope and frustration, but most importantly the love."
"More recently, the family has come to a difficult decision. As other treatments have come by with little to no results, a more invasive procedure was put on the table. A costly brain surgery was brought forth as a potential way to lessen seizure activity. Facing fewer and fewer options for treatment, they reluctantly agreed to go forward. Finally caving into pressure from the people around them, Mike decided to put up a chip-in to raise money for Marissa’s upcoming surgery. With an estimate of $28,500 of out of pocket expenses, the family is faced with quite a substantial burden on top of having paid out thousands, upon thousands of dollars already. These creators have rallied their fans to help out a family in need. In the three days since posting on their respective front pages, they have helped raise $6279.50 as of the time I write this."
Archvillain by Barry Lyga
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on September 29, 2010 - 07:07
Every now and then someone sends me a non-comics book, usually an all ages one, probably because I've been reviewing more comics aimed at a younger audience in recent years. Archvillian by Barry Lyga is one such book. Possibly, Scholastic sent it to ComixTalk because of it's superhero-inspired theme (okay make that likely because of...). Lyga has been writing superhero-inspired young adult novels since 2006, but to be honest I'd never heard of him before nor read anything else by him. Which isn't surprising as my kids (aka the X-girls) tend more towards fantasy and mystery more than science fiction so far and I don't think they've ever gone for a superhero story on their own initiative.
Still I gave this one a shot -- it's the story of Kyle Camden who starts off the book as the smartest and most popular kid in school, but also a kid who has already decided that he has no time to suffer for fools and that by and large the rules don't apply to him. He is loved and feared because of a trail of legendary pranks he's committed (although the book's recounting of the "pranks" in his past reveals that they are actually kind of pedestrian). It's a book told entirely from Kyle's point of view too so there's not much of a reality check on what he tells us of other characters in the story or about himself.
