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TOONBOTS: Blank Verse Applied to Webcomics

February 7, 2005 - 03:32 | Andrew Leal

Looking back on 2004, it's worth noting the changes, or lack thereof, that the year brought to the ever-fluctuating world of webcomics. Keenspot and ModernTales continued to expand and branch into other areas. The fully independent webcomic remains with us. New webcomics appeared, and many of the same have already vanished. A few of the old standbys have come close to retirement, as some cartoonists have had to rely increasingly on reader support to keep their strips alive.

Anyone Remember Altbrand?

Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on February 3, 2005 - 01:59

Eh, probably not. Anyhow I just stated patching up the Altbrand site which is now a forum for a group of webcomic creator-friends: Chopping Block, BoxJam's Doodle, SOAR, GSI, Grimbles and Gluemeat. Things been broken for awhile though so there's a lot of cobwebs on the place.

http://www.altbrand.com

Getting to Keenspot and Other Bits O' News

Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on January 28, 2005 - 12:54

Here's an interesting thread about how to get on Keenspot that veers off into discussion of why some Keenspot webcomics do better then others. THE O'XEREXES FACTOR: Here's my NO SPIN OPINION for the day - Carson Fire should move Elf Life to Graphic Smash or Modern Tales. Elf Life is more like an independent movie than a blockbuster and needs an environment that will help to nurture it and maybe put a few nickels in his pocket in the meantime.

And now on with the news...

Late Afternoon Update from Xaviar - News, Views and The Rambling

Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on January 17, 2005 - 16:48

Week 2 of Comixpedia's January issue has a review of Diesel Sweeties, John Barber's interview with Justine Shaw, Eric Burns' latest Feeding Snarky column plus a guide to pimping uh, promoting your webcomic.

And now on to the news and views for Monday...

Comixpedia's List of 25 People Of Webcomics for 2004

December 13, 2004 - 01:28

When we discussed the Year in Review issue it seemed like it would be a natural to write a list of people in webcomics for the year. But what to call it? Most of the time when media magazines talk about people in film, television, music or what-have-you, they can call their articles "The Power List..." or the "The It List..." because, well, those media have power and star power. Webcomics have those things, but alas, still in smaller quantities.

Mission Accomplished: Dave Wright Interviews Boxjam B. Boxjam

October 17, 2004 - 23:00 | David Wright

The scene: Dave Wright is typing up an email to ask BoxJam B. Boxjam to do an interview for Comixpedia. There is a light clicking in the air until Wright slides his finger to the mouse button and pushes. The email is sent.

I told you there would be political questions in this interview, right?

Just make sure they aren't softballs.

No softballs, eh?

Ok, first question. Being a supporter of a pro-baby killer, how do you feel about Kerry's stance on not only making sure abortion stays legal, but offering incentive programs to welfare "frequent aborters" - sort of a frequent flier thing for unwanted children?

I wasn't aware of that program. I find abortion morally repugnant, but I believe it needs to remain legal. Here's my question back to *you* - if George W. Bush successfully criminalized abortion, would he realize that abortions were still going to happen, or would he land on another flight deck under a banner that said "Mission Accomplished" and think he'd solved everything?

Probably the latter. I think he should hold all press conferences on the flight deck of battleships! There is something comical about our leader dressed up playing soldier. It adds to that cowboy mentality that undermines all attempts to look respectful to the rest of the world.

Ok that was just an attempt to start off with a crazy question to grab everyone's attention. Let's get to the first real question.

Transitions: Comixpedia Begins Second Act

September 27, 2004 - 00:11 | Xaviar Xerexes

As we roll out the final week of this issue it's a good time to say thanks to the many folks who have worked hard to create this magazine and website called Comixpedia. Why now? Well besides the fact that the September 2004 issue is the 20th installment of Comixpedia, Frank "Damonk" Cormier is turning over the editorial reins of Comixpedia magazine to Xaviar Xerexes (See, I'm already writing in the third person - this EiC thing is going to go to my head!) and in many ways this marks the end of the first chapter for Comixpedia. It is also the beginning of a second act for Comixpedia, o­ne where I fully intend to bring new voices and new features to this project to continue to make it a worthwhile resource for the webcomics community as well as a great read every month.

KeenCribs - Past Editions Are Premium?

Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on September 19, 2004 - 00:23

KeenCribs - Past Editions require Keenspot Premium membership!!! Augh, is it worth the fees to see what BoxJam's "crib" is like?

Yet Another Webcomic Reading Piece of Software

Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on September 16, 2004 - 12:22

Another program to read comics that fetches images directly from servers. The creator's FAQ acknowledges some of the tensions such programs create for the artists who create webcomics:

Q: Don't you rip off the artists when you view the strips, but not the ads?

A: Ad revenue on the web is so low these days, comic artists have already added (or completely switched to) many other support models. And I encourage everybody to make those models work for them. Please buy books or T-shirts, join their clubs, tip them money, do visit their homepages and click on some ads... I do regularly!

These programs appear to be here to stay - how will they impact the "free" model so many webcomics, even highly successful ones, continue to employ? Is bandwidth cheap enough that a program such as this that can "rip" an entire archive of image files will not cause financial problems for creators? What other issues surrounding distribution of webcomics are on your mind this week?

Recommended Romances: A Quickie Poll

September 6, 2004 - 23:00 | T Campbell

"What's your favorite webcomics romance?"

T Campbell asked this question of many webcartoonists. The answers were revealing.