As 2004 packs its bags and prepares to turn over the keys to the new year, we thought we would take this opportunity to look back at certain significant or just really amusing webcomics-related news stories throughout the year.
If we missed your favorite event, feel free to add your own thoughts. Continue Reading
Since I could really only get away with writing an entire column out of quotes from previous columns in a year-end review, I thought I’d go ahead and jump at the opportunity. This is my last column for a while, but I’ll keep in touch. I already have an idea for my new webcomic. I won’t give away much, but let’s just say it involves a fire-breathing monkey who is addicted to Ebay, and a cow bent on changing the world so it is black and white “just like the old days.”
But I digress. Continue Reading
One more little conversation with a webcomics creator, this time Justine Shaw of Nowhere Girl. When Nowhere Girl first appeared, as a fully-formed, smartly written, and beautifully drawn 40-page comic, it obviously created a sensation.
Justine was the first—and so far only—comics creator to be nominated for an Eisner award without ever having any work in print. And she’s great to talk to, as you’ll see here:
Hi Justine. When and why did you start putting comics on the web?
My first webcomic was Nowhere Girl issue 1, which was October of 2001. The Web, for good or ill, lets anyone, including yours truly, put their stuff out there, no editor (more than likely), no compromises in the way you want to do what you do. Continue Reading
A Farewell to Arse
Well, I’m packing it in. It’s been a year of columnizin’ here at Comixpedia, and while in some ways there are more things to be said, basically it was a long year of saying the same thing over and over again.
And my name’s not Dalton Wemble. Like that wasn’t obvious.
Continue Reading
Do you know something? "Year in Review" columns are a bitch and a half to write.
It’s not that things didn’t happen this year. Tons of things happened this year. Strips started and strips ended. Grand plans were launched and grand plans failed and — every now and again — succeeded. Arguments were launched and flamewars fought and webcomics were turned onto their head nine or ten times.
And sitting here in front of the Smith Corona, I have trouble recalling any of these things. Continue Reading
The Collective Convective
Keenspot and Modern Tales were Big Panda’s most influential descendants, at least as of late 2004. But they were far from the only ones. As the number of webcomics continued to grow, the formation of collectives became as easy as the joining of bubbles in a bathtub. And like bubbles, they defied attempts to keep track of them all.
But categories began to emerge: (1) dropdowns, (2) kaffeeklatches, (3) showcase hosts (closed and open), (4) subscription sites, and (5) one pay-per-view store.
These collectives are worth studying, both in success and in failure, for every success shows where webcomics may be heading and where they may not be heading. Continue Reading
The Beginnings of a "Modern" Age?
Conventional wisdom held, as late as 2001, that the only sustainable economic models for online comics were ad-based. Either the comic carried advertising in some fashion, or it was itself an advertisement for its own merchandise. Pay-to-read models were mostly based upon speculation and mostly spectacularly unsuccessful. Even Scott McCloud found his position as comics pundit threatened over his endorsement of micropayments. Continue Reading
Thinking about starting up a webcomic? Has the thought ‘ Hey, if they can do it, so can I!’ ever crossed your mind?
You’ve been reading my comic, haven’t you?
Before you start looking around for a place to host a comic (or wondering what hosting is and if it requires deviled eggs) or thinking about what kind of comic you would like to do, there are some simple things you should be aware of. Proceed with caution, my friend, for the trip down into webcomic creation is a perilous path!! But avoid these pitfalls and you’ll be fine. Continue Reading
Since this month’s theme is autobiography, I was hoping I could get personal for a bit with you. Continue Reading
Putting the ‘crap’ in narcicrapssism
Pull your shirt up.
I don’t care if you’re at work. Go for it. If you’re wearing a button-up shirt, just undo the bottom couple of buttons and pull ‘er open a bit. C’mon. I can wait.
(singing tira lira lura, tira lira ly, tira lira lura, it’s an Irish lullaby…)
Continue Reading
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