Through The Looking Back Glass

It is that time of year again. On May 8, the nomination round for the Web Cartoonist's Choice Awards, or WCCA, began and on June 5 the nominees for awards were announced. The WCCA is probably the closest you can come to a webcomic industry award; only people who create a webcomic may participate in the nominations and voting. But another thing that returns with the WCCA is criticism from some members of the webcomics community. Just like with pretty much all other awards, the procedures and rules of the WCCA are under scrutiny by participants and pundits alike. Continue Reading →

To solo or not to solo is not a question that many webcomics creators even bother to ask themselves. Most webcomics seem to be solo efforts by a single creator handling both the art and the writing. If this is in fact true it is no surprise, as both webcomics and small press print comics are generally thought of as a means for a creator to develop his or her own ideas without interference or outside pressure to craft a certain type of comic. It is in fact one of the wonderful things about comics, that the medium has such respect for the the lone creator speaking his or her voice through a comic.

Having said that, however, there's no question collaboration has played an important part in webcomics. Continue Reading →

Recently, we’ve seen more recognition for webcomics. In fact, March featured what potentially could be the single most important news item for webcomics in 2005. The Eisner Awards accepted nominations for a new Digital Comics category.

We’ve also seen a spread of sites that cover webcomics. Last year Comixpedia wrote about the larger “comics blogosphere” but at this point a full-blown “webcomics blogosphere” has arrived with a number of commentators focused solely on webcomics.

But it’s not necessarily all good. Continue Reading →

In February, there were some interesting developments in the business of webcomics. 360ep (Bill Jemas' new "content licensing" company) signed the creators of two webcomics (Danielle Corsetto, Takeshi Miyazawa and Arthur Dela Cruz) to contracts, although no one, including Corsetto, seems to know just what exactly 360ep is supposed to do. Another webcomic creator, Rich Burlew of The Order Of The Stick, quit his day job to make comics his career. Also Scott Kurtz's PvP returned to the pages of PC Gamer.

In March, Comixpedia is looking at action-oriented webcomics. Graphic Smash, a subscription site featuring action-oriented webcomics, recently announced the addition of three more webcomics to its lineup. Are creators better off publishing their work at a subscription site? What's the action like working for Graphic Smash? Continue Reading →

Last month this column focused on two events where well known, mainstream, creators commented on webcomics and webcomic artists. For this column, the aim is to try to do the opposite and gauge the reaction of webcomic creators to two big events from the mainstream print comic world. Continue Reading →

Through the Looking Back Glass: 2004 Is No More

Everyday of every month, news from the world of webcomics sweeps past us and we don't always have time to make sense of it all. In this new monthly column, our very own Erik Melander tracks down the headlines of the most recent month gone by and connects the dots for you in snappy prose. Continue Reading →