Archive - Mar 2012 - Story
March 28th
Kickstarter and Creative Commons Changing Art
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on March 28, 2012 - 12:25
I really liked this short PBS documentary on Kickstarter and Creative Commons. Well worth a watch.
March 24th
The Post In Which Xerexes Catches Up On Various Webcomic News Items
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on March 24, 2012 - 14:34
iWEBCOMICS: So the new iPad 3 is out and it has a gloriously densely pixelated screen - RETINA-VISION or some such marketing moniker. Of course I think this bodes well for comics. It doesn't mean legacy publishers won't continue to bobble their opportunities but for everyone not tied to the direct market, printed past, this is the best of times. As far as digital goes I thought it pretty good news that Mark Waid is embracing digital and selling off his comic book collection, if not effective at raising funds is still a keen meta-commitment to his new direction
KICKSTART A WHOLE LOT OF ART: I blogged about some webcomic kickstarter projects yesterday. I saw this morning that FLEEN had done some actual number crunching on recent Kickstarter activity -- worth perusing!
FINDING NEMO WEBCOMICS: I also heard about Just the First Frame from Fleen and it's a nifty idea. Time always tells whether it's a practical idea that one can use on a daily, regular basis but I'm intrigued enough to play with it. Finding webcomics -- filtering -- well it IS the problem for the reader today. This site's approach is to show the first panel of a comic so that you can click through to it. It doesn't really do any recommendation though and the guy behind the curtain is creating the panels manually (crop and paste) so I wonder how long it will be around.
MAILBAG: Lee writes that his webcomic, RiGBY, is updating on a regular basis again. Update were slow for awhile when he was working on the new Screamland series for Image Comics. That series has since concluded, and updates to RiGBY are now back 3 times a week.
March 22nd
Comix Talks the Talk; Walks the Walk
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on March 22, 2012 - 22:20
Hello hello hello. Let's call today's post a rally round the flag, consider splashing some cash kind of all KICKSTART MY ART post. It's amazing how many webcomic projects have been funded now through Kickstarter.
MULTIPLEX BOOK 2: Gordon McAlpin was one of the first webcomic creators to use Kickstarter and now he's back to raise funds to put out Book 2 of his webcomic Multiplex. He's still got a ways to go but 20 days should be enough time to make it. If you're a fan of this webcomic pledge pledge pledge!
ALL NEW ISSUES: This webcomic is running a drive to print its first book. You can check out the webcomic here before deciding whether to pledge or not.
GOATS IV: BACK IN THE SADDLE: It's finally over and I managed to get my pledge in before it finished. Looking forward to my autographed book. Pledges passed $50,000 easily. People love goats I guess.
Fubar Press: These guys have made their goal but they've still got nine days to go. Their project is to print up an anthology to give away on Free Comic Book Day this year. Free comic book day is an annual event, held on the first Saturday in May where just about every major comic book company distributes a few titles for free to comic shops all across the country. The idea is to bring in new fans and get old fans back in on what ends up being one of the busiest days of the year for comic shops.
CARPE CHAOS: These guys are down to the wire trying to raise 7,500 and they have less than 24 hours to go (more or less). The drama of Kickstarter! Jason Bane, Eric Carter, Anthony Cournoyer, Daniel Allen, Joe Slucher, and others create Carpe Chaos, a free web-based sci-fi graphic novel series. They want to create a concept art book called The Art of Carpe Chaos that will featureall of the artwork they produced when we were creating the universe.
We've got a ton of material, we've got graphic designer Christopher Kosek to help us, and we've got a $7,500 quote from a printer. Whether we get 250 books or 1000, the price doesn't change much because most of the printing costs are for getting everything set up to print in the first place. 100% funding means a print run for us!
YEAR OF THE DWAGON: This one is also over but Rob Balder met his goal for Erfworld and ran a pretty impressive Kickstarter campaign while he was at it. Did I say "met his goal"? I meant smashed it, raising almost $85,000.
March 20th
Voting for Eagle Awards Ends this Month
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on March 20, 2012 - 23:14
The very British Eagle Awards for Comics is holding its worldwide vote online right now -- you can vote up until April 1st. For Best Webcomic you can pick between Ace Kilroy, Axe Cop, Freakangels, Hark! A Vagrant, and xkcd.
Eisner Voting for Hall of Fame Ends this Week
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on March 20, 2012 - 17:03
This Friday, March 23, is the deadline for voting in the Hall of Fame for the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards. The Eisner Awards judges have selected pioneering newspaper cartoonist Rudolph Dirks (The Katzenjammer Kids) and comic book artistHarry Lucey (co-creator of Archie) to be automatically inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Awards Hall of Fame this summer. The judges have also chosen 14 nominees from which voters will select 4 to be inducted. These nominees are Bill Blackbeard, Howard Chaykin, Richard Corben, Carlos Ezquerra, Lee Falk, Bob Fujitani, Jesse Marsh, Tarpé Mills, Mort Meskin, Dennis O'Neil, Dan O'Neill, Katsuhiro Otomo, Trina Robbins, and Gilbert Shelton.
Online voting is now open. To vote, you must be a professional working in the comics or related industries, as a creator (writer, artist, cartoonist, colorist, letterer), a publisher an editor, a retailer (comics store owner or manager), a graphic novels librarian, or a comics historian/educator. Eligible voters can visit www.eisnervote.com to register and then select up to four picks in the Hall of Fame category.
March 17th
Bye Bye P.O. Box
Submitted by The Administrator on March 17, 2012 - 17:46
Hey, please note we are giving up our P.O. Box -- do not send anything anymore to it! Go ahead and cross it out! P.O. Box 3362, Arlington, Virginia 22203 Just like that! If you do want to send a physical object to ComixTalk please email us beforehand and we'll provide you with information on where to send it. Thanks!
March 12th
Guten Tag: You're IT
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on March 13, 2012 - 03:10
I'm playing WORLD TRAVELER in Real Life(tm) this week with THE LAYOVER in Frankfurt, Germany. Thank you webcomics for providing me with something more entertaining to do then read translated REPORTS while waiting for the last leg of my travels today.
March 4th
Great New Exhibit on Webcomics in Seattle
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on March 4, 2012 - 12:06
Once again I am on the wrong coast for what looks like a really cool event. Sarra Scherb is the curator of "Morning Serial: Webcomics Come to the Table," a webcomics exhibition that launched this month and will run through June 2012. The exhibit is at the Henry Art Gallery, a contemporary art museum in Seattle with additional work online at Morning Serial Dot Org.
I haven't met Sarra but she's clear got great taste. The exhibit features work from Evan Dahm, Aaron Diaz, Erika Moen, Daniel Merlin Goodbrey, Emily Ivie, Dylan Meconis, Sutu, and Spike Trotman Her'es her description of the exhibit:
Webcomics are a new step in the evolution of independent comics art. Experimenting with digital tools and innovating new narrative structures, webcomics artists create and distribute comics freed from the printed page. Webcomics are a continuation of the anti-establishment comix of the 1960s and 1990s ‘zine culture. As their own editors and publishers, these artists contribute to a diversification of genres, while closing the artist/reader gap. Spike Trotman’s multi-layered city of Templar, AZ, Aaron Diaz’s Dresden Codak, and Dylan Meconis’ sumptuous Family Man carve out genre niches, build complex worlds and push artistic boundaries. Works incorporating sound, animation and interactivity—such as Nawlzby Sutu—prompt us to reconsider our definition of a comic.
And on March 29th -- the night before Emerald City Comic Con -- the exhibition will host a panel of six webcomics artists: Dylan Meconis, Erika Moen, Spike Trotman, Aaron Diaz, Evan Dahm and Emily Ivie, so if you're attending that convention this year you might want to get there early to check out the panel and the exhibit.
March 2nd
Leapin' Lizards It's March Already?
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on March 2, 2012 - 06:03
WEBSITE SIGHTING: Scott Kurtz changed up his PvP website design -- now the comic is not on the landing page. For me I never really like that -- I put up with it for Penny Arcade but only because Jerry writes magic on a regular basis. Or was it he plays magic? Whatever... Also rumor has it that Gabe and Tycho are commandeering Scott's script next week. Yeah rumor has it, wooooah!
NEW STUFF LAUNCHING: Fucking Bleeding Cool has an interview with Simon Spurrier who is launching March 14th a new webcomic Wish You Were Here as part of the Crossed universe. I have no idea what the "Crossed" universe is (MINUS A ZILLION NERD CREDS) but Spurrier name checks Warren Ellis and his FreakAngels series as a template and the art looks good so I will check it out. Maybe you should too.
NOT WEBCOMIC?: Not technically a comic? but I really thought Caldwell Tanner's Office Odyssey Choose Your Own Adventure was funny and well done.
CAUSE HE'S THE SAXMAN, OH YEAH: Gary provoked a discussion on taxes and Kickstarter drives and well, if you are taking any money from folks it's likely going to have tax liability associated with it. Always better to plan ahead of time then to potentially have to come up with a lot of cash later on.
MAILBAGGINS: Jazyl writes that he is the creator of the webcomic The Beast Legion which is fantasy adventure series about young prince Xeus' journey to save his homeland from the clutches of the Shadow Nexus by mastering his Beast form. Jazyl recently won the Best Webcomic Series at the Comic Con India Awards. First off I had no idea there was a Comic Con India but that's great. Maybe we can make it one of Ryan Estrada's next missions to attend it next year (who by the way has posted online what I think is the graphic novel version of his all ages webcomic Aki Alliance).
