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Dorothy Gambrell

Comix Talk for Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on December 14, 2010 - 12:08

I started messing with Drupal 7 over at another URL I have - anyone else a Drupal nerd and want to talk release candidates?  

BUSINESS: Dorothy Gambrell, the creator of Cat and Girl, is probably the most transparent person in comics -- here's another edition of "how much money I've made this year" in pretty chart form.

iWEBCOMICS: Over at Robot6 they report that according to Apple three of the top five selling book apps for the iPad are from comiXology: Marvel Comics, Comics (their multi-publisher reader), and DC Comics.

INTERVIEW: Newsarama interviews Gordon McAlpin of the webcomic Multiplex.

HYPITY HYPE HYPE: This Bad Machinery today is really good. John Allison really gets something true about that middle school age and yet it still feels John Allison-y.  When Allison shifted between Scary Go Round and Bad Machinery I thought it was a bit jarring mainly because Allison's sensibility to me is pretty rooted in being a young adult (and even the teenagers in SGR fit in there). I've never not enjoyed Bad Machinery -- it's just not always felt fully Allison-y too me.

WE CAN REMEMBER IT FOR YOU WHOLESALE: This Penny Arcade comic reminds me of my brief time playing role-playing games in the middle school years -- I remember the first game I played -- the DM was a bit of a sadistic little prick and he vindictively killed off players during the game.  I DM'd a game myself that year which I recalled annoyed the other DM quite a bit as I guess he thought you weren't allowed to just start DM'ing without more time playing.  I also played The Shadow in a game based on superheroes (can't remember what that game was called though) - which was interesting because the other people in the game had no clue about the character so I could argue for almost god-like abilities as the game went along.

Cartoon Art Museum Call for Webcomics

Submitted by Shaenon Garrity on July 12, 2009 - 00:29

The Cartoon Art Museum of San Francisco (www.cartoonart.org) is organizing "Monsters of Webcomics," a showcase of cutting-edge webcomics work. The show's ten spotlight artists have already been selected. However, the museum also wants to include a virtual gallery of as many other webcomics as possible. If you're interested in having your art included in the virtual gallery, email curator Andrew Farago at gallery@cartoonart.org.

Feel free to spread this information around the webcomics community. The museum wants a wide range of comics included in the show.

NEWW

Submitted by Alexander Danner on March 22, 2009 - 18:41

I'm back from Webcomics Weekend.  The trip was a great time, nice and relaxed, with plenty of time for just chatting with friends.  Shared a couple of meals with old friends, like Bryant Johnson, Christ Shadoian, Dirk Tiede, T Campbell, and Cat Garza.  Got to chat briefly with Steven Withrow, Spike, David Malki !, Ryan North, Romantic, Chris Yates, Gary Tyrell, and Dorothy Gambrell, among a bunch of others that I'm probably forgetting (sorry!).

DRAFT List of 100 Greatest Webcomics: Comedy and Drama

Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on January 22, 2009 - 14:50

Last year I posted a couple times (Previous posts on this "research" project were here and here) about a possible article on "ComixTALK's 100 Greatest Webcomics" which would be something like the American Film Institute's list of the greatest movies of the last 100 years.

A recurring comment to the previous two posts was what is the criteria for this.  I'm always a little hesitant to give too much guidance when part of the point of asking this kind of thing out loud is to listen to the resulting discussion of what everyone else thinks the criteria should be.  For the AFI list judges picked films based on criteria such as Critical Recognition, Major Award Winner, Popularity Over Time, Historical Significance, and Cultural Impact.

That sounds about right to me.  We've got a round decade plus a year or two of webcomics to look at it.  Critical reception (both from peers and critics), and popularity are both relevant to thinking about the impact of a webcomic.  WCCA awards are somewhat indicative of what peers were impressed with in a given year and more recently awards like the Eisners and Ignatzs have recoginized webcomics.  Historical significance and cultural impact are a little harder to pin down but various "firsts" in webcomics are important and comics like Penny Arcade have had a much wider impact on popular culture than most comics do these days (put aside the legacy superheros of comics -- what other "new" comic, let alone webcomic, in the last decade has had a wide cultural impact?)

Another thing AFI did that might be useful here to help sort through the vast numbers of webcomics one could talk about is to also think about categories or genres of work.  Just as a simple matter of numbers if a webcomic isn't one of the best of a larger type of story -- or frankly, so startlingly unique it's hard to categorize -- then it's hard to imagine it's one of the 100 Greatest...

So to move things along I'm listing another "draft" of titles submitted by the crowds but this time I've tried to break them up into drama and comedy so as to help avoid complete apples to oranges comparisons.  In doing that I've realized (1) it's hard in many cases to decide; and (2) there are probably more comedic than drama on the list so far.  I think it would make sense to whittle down the two lists to 75 each so as the final list is no more than 3/4 of one type or the other.  Of course we could further do genre type lists but for now this was enough work on my part.

So -- your assignment (if you choose to play):

  1. Name the comic you're talking about (you're also welcome to nominate ones not on the list -- I KNOW there are many I haven't even thought about yet -- it takes time to review all of the corners of the web)
  2. Tell me where on one the two lists (comedy and drama) it should be (you could give a range of slots if you're not sure). (If you think I've got a drama on the comedy list or vice-versa let me know!  I'm not "done" - this is fairly dashed off still at this point)
  3. Tell me why!  Referencing awards, critics, historical achievements, strengths and weaknesses of the works are all really helpful!

November 14th DRAFT version of 100 Greatest Webcomics List

Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on November 13, 2008 - 21:02

This is an update to a previous post here, thanks for the cumulative suggestions on that thread.  JUST so we're clear - this is open-sourced to everyone research for a possible article to appear next month at ComixTalk.  I don't endorse the list or the order at all; at this point I've tried to include all of the suggestions I've gotten and I also went through all of the comics ComixTalk has ever reviewed and pulled quite a few titles.

We're at the point where it'll be most helpful if you tell me comics you think should go on the list, where (what number approximately) and which comic should get bumped.  If you just want to change the order you can do that to but there'll be another post before the month's through asking for help with that.  

100 Greatest Webcomics Thread

Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on November 9, 2008 - 12:41

NOTE:  An updated version of this list is here - please go there to offer your suggestions and comments.  Thanks!

Your Webcomics To Do List

Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on June 9, 2008 - 09:41

Your Webcomics To-Do List:

  1. Read your favorite webcomics.
  2. Read El Santo's review of Warren Ellis and Paul Duffield's Freak Angels.
  3. Read ComixTalk's interviews with Aaron Diaz (Dresden Codak), Dorothy Gambrell (Cat and Girl), and John Allison (Scary Go Round).
  4. Read this profile of Nick Gurewitch (Perry Bible Fellowship) and learn of plans for a TV pilot (h/t Journalista).
  5. Read Charley Parker's appreciation of Bill Watterson and his classic comic strip Calvin & Hobbes.
  6. Check out the cover of Scott Kurtz's soon-to-be-released DVD of series 1 of the animated PvP webshow.
  7. Marvel at the superhero cross-over stuff (Iron Man, Captain America) in the new Hulk movie.
  8. Wish Scott "Dilburrito" Adams a happy birthday.

Catching Up With Dorothy Gambrell

June 3, 2008 - 10:23 | Xaviar Xerexes

Dorothy Gambrell is a prolific creator, probably best known for her webcomic Cat and Girl.  We've interviewed her twice before, once for our March 2003 issue, and again for our October 2004 issue.  We've also reviewed her webcomic Cat and Girl and her webcomic The New Adventures of Death.  I got a chance to catch up via email with what she's working on now.

Webcomic Jones and the Cintiq Skull

Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on May 30, 2008 - 09:10

LEGAL
If you haven't read enough about how bad the new Tokyo Pop contest contract is read Tom Spurgeon's straightforward breakdown of the various flavors of crap contained within it.  (Lea Hernandez also has links to most of the posts on the subject here.)

JUSTIFY MY HYPE
Will Wheaton and Greg Williams have a webcomic up about nostalgia -- Star Wars action figures to be specific.

Joe Infurnari who does the Eisner-nominated webcomic, The Process, announced he will also be posting a new webcomic titled The Transmigration of Ultra-Lad on the ACT-I-VATE site.

DEAD TREES
Comics Worth Reading has a short review of the print collection of the webcomic America Jr.

Word Balloons has a review of Kean Soo's Jellaby book.

The Chemistry Set webcomics collective is set to publish an anthology of their comics called No Formula.

SWAGALICIOUS
I really like this t-shirt from Dorothy Gambrell (Cat and Girl).

NOT WEBCOMICS
NerdWorld has a post up about the freshly released Penny Arcade game and the almost here Homestar Runner game.

Dorothy Gambrell