Every online comics reader encounters college webcomics sooner or later. They’re so common you might start to feel like every third comic you encounter is college-based. But, despite the history and nature of college comics in print, it seems the most popular "college" strips are scarcely about college life at all, building instead on elements not found in the real world at all, much less college.
Continue Reading
A message from the WCCA (Webcartoonists’ Choice Awards) chairman, Mark Mekkes:
First and foremost, I’d like to thank everyone in the webcomic community for being a part of the 2003 Web Cartoonists’ Choice Awards. Some truly great comics were recognized and rewarded for their wonderful work this year. Every vote and every contribution helped make this year the best one yet.
But we’re far from being done, folks – we’re already on the way towards making next year even better. As always, the WCCA tends to generate a lot of discussion and debate in a variety of forums and lists, expressing thoughts and opinions on how it should be done, and what can be done to make it better. Some brilliant ideas are always bounced around, and with the right kind of commitment and energy, will raise our process to an even higher level of quality.
However, in order to follow through with those ideas we need active and creative people to be a part of the awards process. We need those voices in the forums to come sound off WITHIN our committee. We need to HEAR all your intelligent ideas and suggestions.
We need YOU to join the planning committee for the 2004 WCCA. Continue Reading
Unicorn Jelly, described by its creator Jennifer Diane Reitz as a "MangaStrip," is the story of a society coming to terms with its apparent imminent destruction and its efforts to survive. But it is also the story of the struggle between the heart and the mind, of the power of change in the face of tremendous odds, and of the power of the individual who believes. Continue Reading
There is no shortage of college-based comic strips these days; Residence Life, CRFH!!!, Avalon, Blue Canary – the list goes on and on.
Four years ago, however, David M. Willis helped thin out school-based comic strips when he ended his three-year run of the popular, well-loved Roomies! – a Web comic about two best friends who discover that college life is nothing like what they imagined. But instead of starting from scratch and giving the Web comic-loving community fresh new characters in a totally different atmosphere, Willis started up a Roomies! sequel called It's Walky!
As I write this, Life Assessment Day (also here) is fast approaching. I also don't have a job.
Life Assessment Day, among other things, involves creating/updating a list of ten things one most wants to do before they die. You don't need a yearly day, of course – I encourage you to sit and come up with the ten things you most want to accomplish in this mortal coil. It's exhilarating.
Does 'get a job' go to the top of things I most want in life before I die? Continue Reading
According to the mainstream press, it's the year of the blog. And in many ways that's absolutely true. To name just one example, political blogs are making an impact beyond just providing the kind of thoughtful commentary no longer found on screaming-head talk shows; arguably blogs helped to keep the Trent "We Would Have All Been Better Off" Lott scandal alive until he resigned as Majority Leader of the United States Senate; Howard Dean, candidate for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States, has used his blog as a means to inform, organize and raise significant funds; and we can read Andrew Sullivan and Tom Tomorrow exchanging witty quips as if they were at a virtual table at a virtual Algonquin Hotel.
There are two issues of interest to explore here. First, why are blogs with significantly smaller audiences than webcomics having an exponentially larger impact on popular culture? Second, why are blogs doing a much better job of building community and drawing attention to other worthy blogs than webcomics? Continue Reading
There he was.
He looked nothing like I expected. Instead of thin, parted hair, thick baroque curls snaked around his upper head. He was taller and thinner than his cartoon likeness. But something about the way he carried himself, the way the glasses sat on his eyes… I still recognized him. Continue Reading
The first thing a reader notices about Phil Cho’s Skinny Panda is that it’s about a skinny panda. That may seem self-evident, but in the webcomic business, where success or failure may depend solely upon whether or not the title of a strip is sufficiently catchy to impel a potential reader to click on a link, it is unusual to find one that presents itself so literally. Continue Reading
Picture it in your mind’s eye: the Artist, alone in her drafty garret studio, isolated from friends, family, the ten thousand distractions of the everyday world, the better to concentrate on her struggle with the ineffable. Breathing deeply, she takes up pen or paintbrush, chisel or keyboard, to seek out all on her own the elusive fruits of her solitary labor – her Art.
It’s a persistent image. Downright iconic. It’s pretty much how we think of artists doing art. It’s also a load of malarkey.
Continue Reading
Finding Your Professional Membership Card
A quote’s been bandied around the comic industry that makes me smirk “I don’t have fans, just people after my job.”
Continue Reading
Recent Comments