Author: Xaviar Xerexes
Comix Talk for Monday, February 8, 2010
Welcome to the new site design at ComixTalk. We're on a new server so let me know if it feels a bit zippier (it seems to be faster all around to me). Happy to hear about broken stuff — I'm not done with tweaking things (never done!) and I can add it to the list. One thing I can warn you about is that a lot of the older URLs are still broken, but I hope to clear most of that up this week.
REVIEWS: I had the pleasure of sitting down with Copper in print this weekend and reading and re-reading it. Here's my glowing, gushing review. I also forgot to mention that we liked Kazu even before he was a star; here's the cover art he did for ComixpediaTALK back in 2004. Also, I'll have a review of Smile, the new graphic novel from Raina Telgemeier up this week. I did get a chance to read it this past weekend and it is an entertaining, moving story. Sure, the tale of the teeth and all of the work Raina had to go through are interesting, but she's done so much more with filling out the emotions and just the in-between-ness of those middle school years that it would have made a good story even without that hook.
MILESTONES: Last week marked the end of Anders Loves Maria, the breakout webcomic from Rene Engström. I'll second Gary's thoughts on the tale. Perhaps the ending felt a bit abrupt, even forced, but you can't deny it's impact. It's also worth noting that Engström's art continually improved throughout the comic and that in re-reading the archives of this comic, I'm even more impressed with where she is now as a creator. I hope the next comic comes soon.
CONTESTS: Ryan Estrada is competing in this month's Zudalympics and he needs your vote. His comic is called Sci-Fi Drive-By and you can vote by visiting his website. In non-Zuda voting, Comic Riffs, the Washington Post's blog about comic strips is having a Best Webcomic of the Decade Popularity Contest — voting closes this Wednesday. The seven contenders are: Girl Genius, Hark! A Vagrant, Least I Could Do, Penny Arcade, The Perry Bible Fellowship, Schlock Mercenary, and xkcd.
Copper by Kazu Kibuishi
Copper is a beautiful comic. Kazu Kibuishi takes such care in rendering landscapes both natural and fantastic, that one can't help but be drawn into the page to fully appreciate the environment of Copper. In particular, I think Kibuishi must love drawing moving water because it is almost a constant presence in the book (The comic "Waterfall" is both a great bit of illustration but also an insightful commentary on it).
Comix Talk for February 2, 2010
Quick update this morning – The Escapist website is having a contest — more like an audition — to pick a regular webcomic for the The Escapist. I haven't read the fine print so you should before you enter, but go check it out. Btw, SLG Publishing is going to have a workshop for "aspiring comic creators" this March in San Jose, CA.
DEAD TREES: Robot6 previews a lot of comics on book publishers' schedule for this year, includes several webcomics such as Goats, Octopus Pie and Penny Arcade.
INTERVIEWS: Lots of folks linking to this interview with Bill Watterson of Calvin & Hobbes worship fame… Be sure to check out Graphic Novel Reporter's interview with Kazu Kibuishi on his print collection of Copper.
Transfuzion Publishing Signs The Continentals
Here's some good news for fans of the webcomic, The Continentals — Transfuzion Publishing will be putting it out as a series of graphic novels.
Crisscrossing the literary genres of murder/mystery, action/adventure, historical drama, horror, science fiction, and steampunk, The Continentals by writer/creator Darryl Hughes and artist Monique MacNaughton, — both nominated for the “Rising Star” category for the Glyph Comic Awards — is a modern re-imagining of the classic 19th century Sherlock Holmes "who done it" murder mystery created for the 21st century comic fan.
Comix Talk for February 1, 2010
Good morning world. The Cranky Old Gnome blog offers an essay on webcomics called "Critiquing Free Content". (h/t Paperless Comics):
It got me wondering–to what extent can free content like a webcomic be criticized? How much does the audience have a right to expect from the artist, and when do they cross that line?
iWebcomics: Paperless Comics has more reactions to the iPad announcement last week.
INTERVIEWS: Growly Beast has an interview with Gitte Tang Jensen of B.I.B.L.E. and Forbidden Planet has an interview with Daniel "Merlin" Goodbrey and his collaborator Sean Azzopardi on their comic Necessary Monsters.
VIDEO GAMES, VIDEO GAMES, VIDEO GAMES: Congrats – the 2010 Game Developers Choice Awards are honoring Jerry, Mike and Robert of Penny Arcade, Inc. with an Ambassador Award for their Child's Play Charity work.
AWARDS: SPACE handed out some awards and Ryan Dow won in the webcomics category for Introspective Comics.
REVIEWS: Delos reviews Urban Jungle by David Willborn, "a gag comic which mostly covers cubicle humor but also has geek humor, tech humor, animal humor, pokes fun at comics and talks about issues and culture without being preachy."
JUSTIFY MY HYPE: Sailor Twain or the Mermaid in the Hudson by Mark Siegel. (h/t Scott McCloud); and David Lasky draws the ULTIMATE GRAPHIC NOVEL (in six panels).
Comix Talk for January 29, 2010
Whew, made it to Friday. Sometime next week a new version of ComixTalk at the new server will emerge — it won't be perfect but mostly what I need this year. And it should mean the end of me starting posts writing about Drupal and CSS…
I got a fever, and the only prescription… is more AXE COP! You've all read Axe Cop, haven't you? If I didn't know it was for real I might have thought Kris Straub was behind it… Coupling really funny and well-done art with scripts from his 5 year old brother Malachai, artist Ethan Nicolle has created something that is a gimmick but I swear I laughed the whole time I was reading it.
iWEBCOMICS: Paperless Comics has a nice round up of webcomic commenting on the iPad announcement. I'm not going to think too hard about it until the damn thing is actually in the store, but even though it's not perfect I'm kind of leaning towards getting an iPad right now. (I wonder if I can write it off as a business expense for this site?)
INTERVIEW: A really nice interview with Kean Soo, creator of the all ages comic Jellaby (and before that his journal comic at keaner.net)
REVIEWS: Tom Spurgeon has a glowing review of Kazu Kibuishi's book, Copper. Copper has long been one of my favorite comics and I really do want to get a copy of the paper version at some point. Missed it but earlier this month, Sean Kleefeld reviewed another all ages title — the prose/comics hybrid book Malice.
AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 BLOGS
Seth Godin read Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics and thought it was… about marketing?
Over at Panel & Pixel forums, there's some information and discussion of how intellectual property rights in the U.S. work when a writer and artist collaborate. And another Panel & Pixel post covers creating model sheets for characters for your comic.
Comix Talk for Thursday, January 28, 2010
I'm on the twitters sometimes if you're interested in smaller, faster updates (also to be honest, I don't always remember to post here what I've tweeted).
iWebcomics: iPad? While it doesn't roll off the tongue quite as well as the Jesus Tablet, it'll do. My quick reaction? I think this should be an excellent consumer device for consuming media; I don't love the content-type control Apple has asserted over it's app store and I think any potential reasons for such control are much less defensible for a device such as this. I also don't like Apple's failure to support Flash – this device should be open to complementary programs to the traditional browser environment. I'll grant you that version 2 in another year will probably be a better deal but I think this product meets my imaginary expectations for a webcomics tablet. Not sure still about the pricing but at least it's better than the pre-announcement rumors. As far as comic apps for the iPad, it looks like Comixology got the first press release out the door.
Code: Brad Hawkins posts some details on what will be in version 2.5 of stripShow, which is a add-on to WordPress to run webcomics. I can't remember exactly now, but the birth of the first version of stripShow either predates or is pretty close in time to ComicPress and has also continued to evolve – can't wait to see the new version.
Act-I-Vation Nation: Paul DeBenedetto interviewed comics/webcomic auteur Dean Haspiel last year at the Baltimore Comicon; he just posted the video though:
Around the World in 80 Blogs
A lot of Zuda news at Robot6: an interview with Josh Alves, creator of the webcomic Araknid Kid (started at Zuda, finished at Sugary Serials) and the new webcomic, Heropotamus; and interviews with all of the creators in the January edition of Zuda (aka Webcomic Powerball).
Check out Growly Beast – a blog with a growing collection of interviews with comics creators including Diana Stoneman of Sweet and Sour Grapes; and Kory Bing of Skin Deep.
Comix Talk for Wednesday, January 27, 2010
So today is the Second Coming? The rumored debut of Apple's oversized iPod has sent the newspaper business into a tizzy but it is potentially VERY interesting to the world of comics. I doubt the first generation of it (if it exists!) will be affordable enough but eventually this could become a serious platform for comics. IF IF IF IF….
In non-rapturous news of the day, congrats to Ben Costa for winning a Xeric Grant for Shi Long Pang. I look forward to buying that book! (h/t Paperless Comics) And in a true spirit of public service, Gary reads Platinum Comics Licensing's press release to decipher the latest business plan: "an in-house version of CafePress."
INTERVIEW: Danielle Corsetto of Girls With Slingshots.
REVIEW: Delos reviews Insert Comic by Zack Holmes.
And how about some links to fill-out your morning read — here's the list of webcomics the readers of the Washington Post nominated for its Comics Riffs poll on "Best Webcomic of the Decade": "Devil's Panties" ; "Devin Crane" ; "Eric Monster Millikin" ; "Girl Genius" ; "Girls With Slingshots" ; "Hark! A Vagrant" ; "Jesus and Mo" ; "Kevin and Kell" ; "Least I Could Do" ; "Navy Bean" ; "The New Adventures of Queen Victoria" ; "Order of the Stick" ; "Penny Arcade" ; "Perry Bible Fellowship" ; "Pibgorn" ; "PvP" ; "Questionable Content" ; "Red String" ; "Schlock Mercenary" ; "Sinfest" ; "UserFriendly.Org" ; and "xkcd."
Comix Talk for Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Short post today — I recommend the following three things:
CRAFT: Wow, John K has an excellent and extensive tutorial on facial expressions, well worth reading.
REVIEW: El Santo praises Evan Dahm's epic fantasy webcomic Order of Tales.
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