Kim Smuga
Staff Contributor Continue Reading
Author:
Al Schroeder
Executive Editor Continue Reading
Al Schroeder Talks with Sparks and Neveu of Stoopid Pigeon
A befogged pigeon, an abrasive squirrel with a strap-on, a gay robot who collect vintage records, a skull-faced stripper, an insecure head without a body, and a lustful pumpkin. All are the main characters of Stoopid Pigeon, a long-running (coming up on five years!) webcomic that nevertheless has been under the radar of many webcomic readers. Al Schroeder interviewed the two creators of the admittedly offensive and explicit, but often delightfully funny comic, and you can read the results here. Continue Reading
Why Do Online Comics by Iain Hamp
Perception Is Reality Is The Difference Between Angry And Paying Readers
When I went to Scott McCloud’s panel on experimental comics at San Diego Comic Con International 1999, he planted the idea of webcomics in my mind, and set me on a wonderful journey of discovery and experimentation. I listened to all of the ideas and reasons he had for the Internet as a great new place for comics to flourish. In my mind, one of the most obvious advantages was the ability to maintain an open comic archive so that new readers – rather than jumping into the middle and having to somehow hunt down the rest of the story in other comics, collections of strips, etc. – would instead be able to just click the Back button to read the previous strip, or go back to the very start and read it the whole way through.
This seemed like such a great idea at the time, and over the years it has by and large become standard practice in webcomics – a “no-brainer”, really. It is a great convenience to be sure, though perhaps a little too convenient for our own good. Continue Reading
Juxtapose This! by Bill Mudron
It depresses the hell outta me that when I first learned that the May issue of Comixpedia would revolve around the topic of "sex and violence", I thought that it might transcend some of the old punch-drunk tits n' blood bullshit cliches and instead tackle the issue from both ends of the creative spectrum – perhaps some mock comics about "Mr. No Pants Stabbing the Mailman With His Penis" mixed with a few frank and earnest dialogues regarding the rift between the lightest of psychological violence to stark-raving sadism in comics. Instead this month’s cover seems to suggest that the content within the site may serve to propagate every goofy sex-and-violence-related comic book cliché imaginable, and that’s a shame. Continue Reading
Nudity in Webcomics
Over the last twenty years, the Western world's attitude toward nudity in forms of pop culture has shifted toward a more liberal attitude at an unprecedented rate. Images of nude bodies and sexual themes that used to be confined to either underground or exploitive – i.e., pornographic – venues have today become a mainstay of most primetime programming and blockbuster cinema.
A recent Comixpedia.com discussion attempted to gauge whether the same trend can be detected in webcomics. With the advent of the Internet and its infamous gray legal waters, the passive bystander might have expected a proliferation of nude comic strip scenarios. Continue Reading
Spike and Matt’s Sparkneedle, reviewed by Smuga
Nudity.
It’s one of the big no-nos of family entertainment.
In American entertainment, no one is ever just naked. They’re having sex, or implying that they would like to be having sex, or in the shower while a homicidal killer sneaks up on them, or trying to catch the mischievous dog who’s scampering away with their underwear. The revealing of the butt crack, the nipple, or the genitals serves a purpose, be it to titillate, to shock, to lampoon, or to get you to pull out your credit card. It’s never just there.
Unless it’s in an art museum, or in a National Geographic Magazine , or in a webcomic called Sparkneedle. Continue Reading
The Blue (Inter)View: Dan Piraro, Creator of Bizarro
For we who inhabit the cartooning world, 2004 may well be remembered as the year of Dan Piraro. Piraro is the Reuben-Award winning cartoonist of Bizarro (best panel three years in a row), and in a few short days, he will be attending the Reuben Awards again, this time nominated for "Best Overall Cartoonist". He’s also got a successful book out and has organized a political comedy show tour.
And when Comixtalk asked him for an interview, he was gracious enough to say yes.
I Hate You All by Dalton Wemble
Naked Field Parties and You
When I was a chipper young lad of 12 or 13, there was (as there was every year) an election for Student Council at my beloved Poughkeepsie High. One wag, running for some minor position like Sock Hop Coordinator or Master of the Punchbowl or something, applied all the intellect and graphic design skills that one could expect a 15-year-old who spent most of his time blasted at "field parties" to muster.
Continue Reading
An Interview with Eight by Xaviar Xerexes
Eight is the creator of several webcomics, the most recognized probably being Road Waffles. Road Waffles is a brilliant mess of sex and violence and random plot devices. Other webtoonists agree:
“You’ll never find more conveniently placed objects, characters, or plot devices anywhere other than Road Waffles!” Greg Dean (Real Life)
“Kind of like Natural Born Killers meets Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure… Or not.” Aaron Holm (Joe Average)
“If Quentin Tarantino made a daily webcomic, this is what it would look like.” Josh Phillips (Avalon)
Comixpedia caught up with him to hear what HE thinks of the whole webcomics thing. Continue Reading
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