Archive - 2007 - Story
November 25th
Post Thanksgiving Day Weekend Roundup
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on November 25, 2007 - 12:12
BSC WEBCOMICS IDOL 2.0
- This week was the final round (maybe something to tweak next year to avoid having it during the week of Thanksgiving) and it all ends tonight at midnight (pretty sure about that anyhow). It's down to Templar, AZ and Lucid TV - both well done comics in every aspect and good examples of work that is thriving on the web that might not have found their audience without the web. Go vote and check out both comics if you're not already reading them.
WEBSITE WONDERLAND
- Scott Kurtz redid his pvponline.com site -- this time working with Tyler Martin and his comicpress theme for Wordpress. If you've got a webcomic site you ought to check out Wordpress+comicpress as a solution. Wordpress is possibly the most popular piece of blogging software around (so it's not going away) and Tyler has made it work well for webcomics with the custom comicpress theme. All of it open source and free.
INTERVIEWS
- Wizard interviews Mike Hankins, the creator of the webcomic Dorm Dorks.
JUSTIFY MY HYPE
- The Nixonomicron... that's classic! Check out this Non-Adventure of Wonderella.
- A one-stop shop for all things Shaenon K. Garrity - shaenon.com. Cool!
- I really like the in-panel animation Michael Lalonde has been using in the recent Ornery Boy storyline.
WIKI WATCH
- The entry for ComixTalk is still up at Wikipedia so if you're at all wiki-inclined what would help it would be adding any citations to Comixpedia or ComixTalk from other media (preferrably in print as that's Wikipedia's bias).
- My advice to all webcomics is still to start an entry at Comixpedia.org and let it evolve organically there for a good chunk of time (especially if you're just starting out) so that you have a very solid article with citations ready to port to Wikipedia if and when your webcomic is getting enough attention that it might be considered "notable" at Wikipedia. My opinion is that debates at wikipedia over notability and deletion in a lot of cases have much more to do with the actual state of the article on Wikipedia than the subject of the article itself.
AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 BLOGS
- This comic (translated from Korean to "This Is Game") about a daughter and mother's experience playing Animal Crossing is a moving comic that a lot of folks seems to be linking to.
November 20th
Thank You Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on November 21, 2007 - 00:22
Frontpage posting will be light (as in almost nonexistent) this week so keep your eyes peeled for interesting updates in the reader blogs and the forums. It's up to... you!
HEADLINES
- Von Allan has decided to publish his graphic novel, the road to god knows on Girlamatic.com. The press release states it will start on December 3rd, running four time a week. Girlamatic closed its most recent round of submissions in early November - I wonder if we'll see an announcement of more additions to the site in the near future.
- Time to get ready for the annual Monkey Day webcomics festival! Check out the details here.
JUSTIFY MY HYPE
- Tom Spurgeon reviews Set to Sea by Drew Weing. This is a great comic and one I actually look forward to buying in print someday.
- Gunbaby was in the BSC Webcomic Idol contest but didn't last long enough. It's a good comic that seems very promising even as it is less then perfect. Wonderful art (reminds me a bit of Alpha Shade) but sometimes static shots kill the momentum. Interesting story ideas but sudden uncued scene and perspective jumps could be handled a bit better. Creators Matt and Gabe White have talent though - you get the sense that they could get a lot better. I'd definitely give the archives a read.
- Kate Beaton is funny!
MOST READ
- T Campbell takes a second swing at compiling webcomic audience numbers from Alexa and Compete.
DEAD TREES... For me!
- I'm playing around with a book swap service called Book Mooch. Potentially cool, although it's pretty weak in the graphic novel side of things right now... You can check out what I'm willing to trade through a widget on my home page here.
November 19th
Only A Webcomic, It Really Couldn't Help It
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on November 19, 2007 - 10:46
BUSINESS
- Todd Allen has a good overview of recent digital online efforts: comparing Marvel's Digital Comics Unlimited to iTunes and Rhapsody, and then wondering why Zuda and Comic Mix are not maximizing their potential ad revenue.
INTERVIEWS
- Tom Spurgeon has an interesting interview with Rick Marshall, the recently fired former online editor of Wizard. Marshall takes a lot of credit for Wizard's recent online attention to independent webcomics which seems to be continuing through the efforts of staff writer Brian Warmoth.
- Comicgate has a good interview with Dirk Wood, the marketing director for Dark Horse. There's a bit in there about Dark Horse's webcomics on MySpace. Like Marvel's DCU, Wood seems to think that online readers want webcomics to "feel" like reading a comic book. This is, to say the least, wrong. At best, interfaces like this evoke a nostalgia or a "that's cool" feeling for a few days, but then quickly become annoying. If comics can learn anything from the foibles of the music industry, it's that consumers in the intertubes era want maximum flexibility with their content. And there's also this (sadly) accurate description of the direct market demographic (emphasis added): "Whether it's a ten-year-old girl going into a book store or a 40-year-old man going into a comic shop or toystore."
November 14th
Marvel, Marvel, Marvel!
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on November 14, 2007 - 10:23
Marvel Digitalcats Ho! announcement... check.
Marvel website crash... check.
Waking up the morning after... check:
November 13th
I Am The World's Worst Judge... But Here's Your BSC Webcomic Idol Final 3
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on November 13, 2007 - 17:55
I have been utterly lame at giving feedback this year during the BSC Webcomic Idol contest. And at this point it's down to three comics:
- Lucid TV: an utterly brutal but often funny comic about what, dear god!, I hope is an unrealistic portrayal of most doctors.
- Templar, Arizona: which is about a town and a cast of characters and is hugely enjoyable to read.
BlameThank creator Spike for not making it so simple I can actually explain it in a sentence. - Simulated Comic Product: I'm less familiar with this one but I've laughed at the recent ones I've checked out.
Vote, read. It's all good!
Make Mine Six Month Old Marvel!
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on November 13, 2007 - 11:31
HEADLINES
- Dirk Deppey links to Marvel Comics new webcomic effort -- Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited as well as a USA Today story on the new site. The bottom line -- the site will feature 2,500 comics (nothing more recent than 6 months old though) for $9.99 a month, or $4.99 a month if you’re willing to commit for a year. Aren't these guys about 4 years late to the subscription model? Still it'll be interesting to see how it does and who becomes its audience (existing fans or newcomers to Marvel stories).
ADVERTIZING
JUSTIFY MY HYPE
- Reinder Dijkhuis brings back from hiatus his comic Invasion which will resume on November 21, on his Chronicles of the Witch Queen site.
AROUND TEH WORLD IN 80 BLOGS
- Randall Munroe entertains the masses at Carnegie Mellon.
- New dope track from KRiS-ONE at Halfpixel.com.
- Congratulations to Fred Gallagher of Megatokyo on becoming a dad.
- Neil Cohn writes about how using repurposed art for comics doesn't work well.
- The Moderate Voice blog names xkcd as it's top webcomic for 2007. Click here for their top 10 list. (h/t Tom Spurgeon)
November 12th
Dragonfiend: Please Stop Falsely Mischaracterizing ComixTalk
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on November 12, 2007 - 13:16
Sorry to post about Wikipedia again. I made the mistake of checking on the deletion thread there this morning (I blame Dirk Deppey for linking to it in Journalista! this morning and reminding me of it) and I see another mischaracterization of ComixTalk by the Wikipedia user Dragonfiend.
The Webcomic of Our Discontent...
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on November 12, 2007 - 12:30
COMIXTALK
- New feature articles up including interviews with Stephen Notley and Brad Hawkins as well as a new column on self-imposed "constraints" in the creative process from Derik Badman.
- I still need names and addresses from two of the Karas winners - if you're not Wes, JT; Joe; Lou; Charles; Elizabeth; Dave; or Frank email me your contact information! Thanks.
INTERVIEWS
- New York Magazine has a good interview with Nick Gurewitch of Perry Bible Fellowship.
- Wizard talks to Cameron Stewart, the creator of the new webcomic Sin Titulo.
- Jennifer Contino talks to the creators of The Mighty Motor Sapiens, a webcomic that runs on the NASCAR website.
- The FLOG! has some video excerpts from Gary Groth's interview with Charles Schulz biographer David Michaelis. (h/t Journalista!)
- Blog@Newsarama has an interview with Wesley Green, who runs Ambrosia Publishing which hosts serialized webcomics.
BUSINESS
- Richard Pachter has an article about the history of work-for-hire in the comic book industry. (h/t Journalista!)
- Paul Gravett has an article about graphic novels in bookstores. (h/t Journalista!)
AROUND TEH WORLD IN 80 BLOGS
- I predict all webcomics will be required to feature a Cory Doctorow costumed blogger reference next year in comics during Halloween. This year, Jack of All Blades picked up on the joke that started with xkcd.
- Anyone else reading the comic adaptation of 1984? Besides not being able to figure out who the creator is from the site (anyone know?) I also noticed that it was licensed under the Free Art license from artlibre.org. It seems to be a bit like Creative Commons although I didn't read the license carefully enough to be completely sure.
- Peter Bagge has a comic on partying with Dick Cheney. No shotguns were involved.
- Dirk Deppey picks up on the Wikipedia thread on deleting the new ComixTalk entry over there (and no I've had nothing to do with any of it). In honor of all-things-wiki here's a link to "the 8 most needlessly detailed Wikipedia entries".
November 10th
Need Karas DVD Winners Contact Information
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on November 10, 2007 - 11:46
I've got information for JT; Joe; Lou; Charles; Elizabeth; Dave; and Frank. If you're one of the three winners I don't have contact information for please send me an email with name and physical address so we can mail the DVDs out. Thanks.
Should ComixTalk have a Wikipedia Entry? Deletion Debate Underway.... Again!
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on November 10, 2007 - 11:20
I just found that someone had started an entry for ComixTalk on Wikipedia from a google search alert email (I get a bunch of those everyday - its one way I try to track news).
And of course it's up for deletion. I think it's funny - the new article up for deletion is a lot less informative then the one that was deleted a couple years ago but the deletion discussion this time is almost... balanced. Sure Dragonfiend still has a thing for deleting it (I think s/he led the charge on deleting the original Comixpedia entry actually) but others make better arguments for notability than I could be bothered to work up.
If you're interested check out the deletion discussion here and the new article here (the new article, if it stays, will need a heck of a lot of work).
