I am excited to announce that ComicPress, the popular WordPress theme for publishing comics, has just gotten a much needed upgrade to ComicPress 2.5. It was entirely rewritten from the ground up. The CSS code is 100% cleaner, easier to customize and harder to break. Also all the queries and functions have been both updated and enhanced.

ComicPress 2.1, the latest version of ComicPress, accomodates the new Widgets and Tag features introduced in the last two major releases of WordPress as well as various other improvements.

ComicPress continues to help webcomic creators create their websites and publish their comics with WordPress. Modified versions of the theme are now seen at such Webcomic sites as Scott Kurtz's PVPonline, Chris Harding's new We The Robots, Warren Ellis' upcoming Freak Angels and even the creative use of it for a comic podcast as seen at Around Comics.

The theme is attractive enough to be used as is, but simple enough to be customized the way you want it with a little CSS know-how. By creating your website with WordPress, you are taking advantage of one of the most popular and well-produced content systems as well as tapping into its vast amount of support and its wealth of addons.

Zip and Li'l Bit are back in an all-new story called The Sky Kayak! The new Website just launched yesterday with the very first page. Updates will continue at Zip and Bit's usual schedule of Sundays and Thursdays. Come along and see what sort of craziness they'll get themselves into this time.

Also you can still read Zip and Li'l Bit's previous story, The Upside-Down Me, now at it's own site. Both sites, built on the ComicPress theme, now feature commenting, a visual page archive and an updated zoom feature that allows you to enlarge any comic panel and then read through the panels at double the size.

So be sure to check out The Upside-Down Me as well as The Sky Kayak at their new sites! Zip and Li'l Bit are part of Lunchbox Funnies, all-ages comics for everyone.

The recently released ComicPress 2.0 BE has proven to be a pretty solid theme for publishing a comic with WordPress. It's been embraced by the lovely Meredith Gran for her delightful new comic Octopus Pie, it's now syndicating Comic Book Challenge winning Hero By Night at DJ Coffman's Creator's Blog, Cat Garza will be back in Webcomics with it later this month at his Magic Inkwell, and a handful of other well-known comics will be sporting customized versions of it later this summer.

Publishing comics is much like blogging, being that it is regular content published to the web, so it makes sense to use a blogging system (especially with the way the Web is being fueled by and simultaneously catering to the almighty blog and feeds). WordPress has become a very popular blogging system, it has enormous backing and support (including plugins, communities and helpful sites), and it will continue to be updated with the latest in Web technologies far into the future... so it is a good system to go with.

That brings us back to ComicPress, which is merely a front-end to optimize WordPress for publishing comics and provides an easily editable theme to get it looking just how you want it. Still, it requires a lot of work in the development of the theme to get specific navigation and archiving features running smoothly.

The 2.0 BE version really set the stage for the theme and has a good solid structure to it. But there are many little things that could be improved and/or added to make it magical. ;) There is currently a list being created on the proposed changes for version 2.1. If you have ideas for what should be included on any great Webcomic site, please feel free to give your input, now is your time to see it happen. It may literally change the face of your Webcomic reading experience, or of your own Webcomic site - Version 2.1 Development: To-Do List.

In edition to new features, another goal is to make it simpler to use and customize in order to help comic creators without as much Website development know-how to get a site launched. One new feature will be Widgets which will allow the creator to drag and drop features in the sidebar from the WP Admin panel.

The ComicPressing blog is active again now that it is at the official ComicPress site. It's not just for users of the ComicPress theme but helpful for anyone developing their own comic Websites.

Just a little update on stuff from the Lunchbox Funnies world:

• Ryan Estrada stars in his own reality adventure show.
• While Ryan Sias goes street performer.
  
• Dave Roman and Dean Trippe on Fanboy Radio.
• Mike Maihack on the Gigcast
• Trade Loeffler wraps up the Upside-Down Me.

We're announcing the launch of "Lunchbox Funnies," a new comics collective featuring some of the finest all-ages comics on the

Apparently there are hundreds of people now using a modified version of the ComicPress Theme forWordPress.

That seems a large enough community that we need a blog to support it: Comic Pressing! It will feature updates to ComicPress as well as the much needed documentation for customizing the theme to your needs. In addition it will have other information useful to those publishing comics on the web or using WordPress. If you are using ComicPress then I suggest you subscribe to the feed. Even if you are not you might find some useful info there if you create Webcomics.

Doing a comic title and domain change on my comic's one year anniversary today(seems crazy after promoting the old name for a year). Going with the traditional way of using the character's names, seems the best for building character recognition

On the Rocks will now be known as Wally & Osborne and found at it's new domain...

wallyandosborne.com

ComicPress 1.5 Now Available

Publish a Webcomic with WordPress.

NEW FEATURES:

Searchable Archives
Search feature added to the already sortable archives.

Comic Tagger
The popular bookmarking system by Ash Young has been integrated into the theme. Tag any comic page and when you return to the site in the future you can pick up right where you left off.