Steve Conley is one of webcomics' godfathers and while he's not unrecognized, he doesn't get nearly enough credit. His groundbreaking comic Astounding Space Thrills existed both on and off the web and last year a collection of the offline comics was published. You can also still read the webcomic archives online.
Time to stuff the online ballot box at the Eagle Awards. A pretty good list of nominees for "Favourite Web-Based Comic" including Freak Angels, Order of the Stick, PVP, Sin Titulo and xkcd.
Does remix culture have anything to do with comix? Good question I guess but regardless I found this really interesting:
You can all go home now because Joe Hunter give you EVERY WEBCOMIC EVER. His Journalin Comix is pretty funny – worth checking out.
KICK START MY ART: Max Huffman does the webcomic called Mocktopus and he needs a new computer because his laptop died. Pledge some money, get a sketch – help Huffman keep making comics.
Hypin' the Hype: Evil Diva is about an average 12 year old girl who is also a devil. So being good and nice? Kind of a problem. This comic's been up for awhile (archives back to 2008) but escaped my notice before. Cute and funny comic.
Naughty By Nature: Filthy Figments launches in less then 2 weeks and boasts an impressive line-up of artists: GINA BIGGS, Creator of Red String, ROBIN EDWARDS, Creator of Cardboard Angel, JENNIE BREEDEN, Creator of The Devil's Panties, KITTYHAWK, Creator of Sparkling Generation Valkyrie Yuuki, MEGAN GEDRIS, Creator of Yu+Me, and TSUKIYONO, Creator of Patches. WARNING – even the preview splash page up now is NSFW so click carefully. (Also of interest – it looks like the site is owned by Strawberry Comics, LLC, which is Gina Biggs corporate alter ego.)
Sex, RPG & Superheroes: Ryan Sohmer is launching a third webcomic, this one poking fun at superheroes. Longtime Sohmer collaborator, Lars DeSouza is serving as art director with the actual art to be done by a rotating crew of artists.
So I am trying to find time to work on two longer stories — one on the transition of comics to the Internet. Something with a larger perspective than a claustrophobic comics industry approach. Second on the kerfuffle last week about a webcomics iPad app. Lauren Davis wrote a legal analysis of RSS feeds and other aspects of the webcomics IPad that while not wrong, presented the issues as if they were settled. (Lauren's piece is worth reading – just read it as one possible answer to the issues.) They're not and it's actually something I know a lot about (and know enough experts to round it out) but it'll take time to do the research (legal analysis requires CITES, folks!). In the meantime…
I got back from Taiwan last week and managed to switch back to Eastern Time Zone okey-dokey for a couple of days but then WHAMMO… I got a case of delayed jet lag I guess? Anyhow, that's why I'm up at 4:30 in the AM.
REVIEWS: El Santo has reviewed all of the webcomic category nominees for this year's Eisners and offered up his predictions. And hey, El Santo also reviewed Marilith (the Hudson Hawk of webcomics?).
EVENT: Delos reports that Dialogue-Free Comics Day went off well – here's the entries.
INTERVIEW: Pink Raygun has a story about the webcomic Contropussy, including how it got its name.
ADVICE: Jeph Jacques, creator of Questionable Content, offers some straight-forward advice to those thinking of starting a webcomic.
MAILBAG
Hey still here! Back from adventures in the far east and looking at a mound of email and links about comics. I'm beginning to think this place would be better if it was more of a group project again. Hmmm…
INTERVIEWS: Brigid Alverson interviews Chris Watkins about his east-meets-west romance comic, Odori Park.
AROUND THE BLOGS
HYPIN' THE HYPE!
The nominees for the 2010 Joe Shuster Award in the categoy of "Webcomics/Bandes Dessinées Web" are:
The 6th Annual Awards Ceremony is on Saturday, June 5th, 2010 at the Innis Town Hall (University of Toronto) with returning Master of Ceremonies Jonathan Llyr. The awards ceremony is held on the same weekend as the Toronto ComiCON FAN APPRECIATION Event (June 5-6).
Still reporting live from the Far East on the other side of the International Date Line. It does havoc to your schedule to be 12 hours away from your home time zone. Anyhow I'm going to catch up on comics stuff you've probably already read about but if you've been preoccupied this week too or if you just can't bear not to miss my 60 cents (that's only 2 US cents though) than here we go!
Brigid Alverson has links to more people talking about the end of contests at Zuda. The contests were always a gimmick, the real question should be what's DC's plan for online publication of comics? Does it remain committed to it's indie experiment (i.e., Zuda) and when, if ever, does it leverage its existing titles? You know what was cool for me earlier this year? Watching the teevee show LOST online because there was a huge backlog of archives and I knew it was going to get finished. In that sense it was like finding a great multiyear webcomic that had an ending in sight. You know what doesn't have a satisfying beginning, online backlog and ending in sight? DC and Marvel "mainstream" comics titles…
BUSINESS: Lauren Tiffany has an article on webcomic artists making a living at AOL Business News. With some coverage of Chris Onstad and Brad Guigar, good sources for working la vida webcomica.
CRAFT: Webcomic Builder has a post on how to script a comic.
DEAD TREES: Shaenon Garrity has some advice for you with five things to know before you publish your first comic.
AWARDS: I got a press release from Comic-Con announcing that submissions are now being accepted for the 27th annual Russ Manning Promising Newcomer Award. Started in 1982 as a joint presentation of Comic-Con International and the West Coast Comics Club, this award honors a comics artist who, early in his or her career, shows a superior knowledge and ability in the art of creating comics. More details after the jump…
Wow the big story this week so far is the discussion kicked off by Jon Rosenberg's pondering shutting down Goats. Stories from CWR, Robot6, FLEEN, and Storming the Tower cover Jon's recent blog post. I wish I could offer some insight or commentary but I don't have enough time this week to add something of value. I will say that Jon's always been a nice guy in my interactions with him and that he's improved so much as an artist and creator over time that I hope he can find a way forward that leads to more financial success for him.
HYPE: The creators of the Piracy is Liberation comic book are going to run the entire series as a webcomic, starting May 15th at elftorp.com/piracy. The webcomic will be updated once a day with additional commentary.
MARKETING: Do people go to Top 100 lists anymore? Just in case, here's another one for webcomics.
FROM THE MAILBAG: Giannis Milonogiannis wrote to let me know about his cyberpunk police thriller comic Old City Blues — "pretty much my love letter to 80's cyberpunk films, books and comics." The story takes place in New Athens- a city built from the ruins of Greece after a cataclysmic flood in 2016.
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