Gene Yang
Appreciation and Analysis of Webcomic Artists
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on March 27, 2007 - 11:17
One of the types of features I'd like to run more of are the sort of appreciation and analysis of an artist/writer that Shaenon Garrity gave to Jason Shiga back in our February 2003 issue. Besides giving me an excuse to link to an article that is still a good read, I'd like to ask folks to suggest the names of creators who you'd like to see Comixpedia write up in this kind of a profile.
Monday Morning News
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on March 26, 2007 - 12:09
**ahem** cheap advertising available...
HEADLINES
Continuing rumbles over how to turn the CBR/CBZ file format into the mp3 of comics, this time from Modern Tales publisher and WebcomicsNation owner Joey Manley:
All I need is RSS-with-enclosure subscribability — a CBR reader that acts just like a podcast catcher, in short, only snagging .CBR or .CBZ files, instead of .MP3’s.
I can’t take credit for this idea. take a look at this thread started by the well-known comics writer Warren Ellis almost two years ago. “TIVO for comics,†he calls the idea. That pretty much sums it up.
INTERVIEWS
- The Indie Spinner Rack podcast has interviews with Viper Comics and a few of its creators (link from Journalista!).
- If you haven't stopped by the Webcomics In Print blog recently -- they've got a whole bunch of interviews up from the recent U.K. Webcomic Thing convention.
DIGITAL FORMATS
- Publisher Active Images has announced that it will distribute the Image comic book Elephantmen on mobile phones. These comics on mobile phones press releases have been steadily coming out for a couple years now. What I haven't seen is stories on how well that's working out for anyone. Do readers like this format? Do creators see a dime from distribution this way (or gain new readers or otherwise increase their audience?)
- Flickr gets more comics-friendly. I guess Flickr has given up on insisting its site is solely for photos since it now allows users to define images loaded to the site as "photo, illustration/art/cgi, or screenshot". (link from Drawn! blog) Speaking of Flickr, Drawn! also spotlighted Applegeeks artist Mohammad "Hawk" Haque's flickr stream where he posts photos altered to include miniature versions of himself.
SPRITE: The UnComic
- Sprite comic creator alert!! Philipp Lenssen has posted over 700 sprites that he created for a never-released fantasy-style game. Even better is that they're available under a Creative Commons license. (link from Drawn! blog)
JUSTIFY MY HYPE
- Tyler Martin is the artist on two new webcomics: The Check Family, which is about lacrosse and also appears at LaxPower; and Double-A Zone which appears on the official NCAA blog.
AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 BLOGS
- Raina Telgemeier and Gene Yang were selected by Booklist for their 2007 Top 10 Graphic Novels for Youth. (link from Flight blog)
- Ring, ring, ring, BANANARCHY!!
- In not-comics, Broken Frontiers has a column on the hip-hop subgenre of nerdcore.
- The magazine Animation has an interview with Todd Rosenberg about turning his webcomic Odd Todd into cartoon project. (link via Journalista!)
Teeny-Weeny News Roundup
Submitted by Erik Melander on March 15, 2007 - 06:39
- Sequential Tart interviews Rich Burlew of Order of the Stick.
- Tod Allen, author of The Economy of Webcomics, has a short essay on why last weeks Captain America media event would have benefited from digital distribution.
- Derek Kirk Kim is working on two new books, one with Jesse Hamm and one with Gene Yang. The information is rather limited at this time, but one is slated for release this August and the other at the end of 2008 (if I read the entry correctly).
- Preparations for the Penny Arcade Expo 2007 is well under way. If you want to save some money, there is an early-bird registration rate for those who register before March 31st.
- Finally, from the "not-webcomics at all" department. Shaennon Garrity makes a note of a "Get Your Girl Into Comics" thread on the Johm Byrne forum.
The thread currently running on the Byrne board is notable only because it's such a perfect, Platonic example of the genre. It's like a template for all Get Your Girl Into Comics threads on all comic-book forums for all eternity. It's got every one of the essential elements
Awards Awards Awards! or Why More Awards May Mean Less Drama.
Submitted by Erg on February 7, 2007 - 01:53
Given that it is that special time of year when half the webcomics community's heart is aflutter with the prospect of winning the respect and accolades of their peers and the other half is telling the aforementioned to commit an act that the porn industry is working furiously to make possible, I thought I might toss in one reader's opinion.
News for Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on January 23, 2007 - 11:24
MAGAZINE
- We've got an interview with the creators of the fantasy webcomic, What Birds Know. Check out the interview - then check out the comic!
- Next month's issue focuses on collectives! If you are part of a collective of webcomics creators and are interested in being part of next month's issue drop me an email at xerexes AT comixpedia DOT com.
INTERVIEWS
- Fleen has an interview with Paul Southworth, creator of Ugly Hill.
- Fleen also recently ran an interview with Wiz Rollins - Rollins pens the D.J. Coffman comic, Yirmumah.
AWARDS
- Journalista! catches the news at website ICv2 that Gene Yang won the Michael L. Printz Award for excellence in literature for young adults for his graphic novel, American Born Chinese. The Printz Award is given out by the American Library Association.
AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 BLOGS
- A new blog at Time.com, Nerd World, sings the praises of Chris Onstad's Achewood.
- Newsarama takes a look at the webcomics making up the new collective Lunchbox Funnies.
- A write-up in the NYTimes of a movie based on Marjane Satrapi's best-selling and critically praised comic-book memoir, Persepolis. The animated movie, filmed in France (and in French) will be released in America this year. Interestingly, it was animated entirely in France and Satrapi herself directed the film.
Short Wednesday News Break
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on January 17, 2007 - 14:52
INTERVIEWS
- An interview with Rudy Park artist Darrin Bell and writer Matt Richtel on their latest storyline which includes the death of a major character.
- An interview with American Born Chinese creator Gene Yang.
- An interview with Pearls Before Swine creator Stephan Pastis.
- An interview with Lisa Fary and John Dallaire of Intergalactic Law.
- A profile at Vanity Fair with Michael Silberkleit and Richard Goldwater, co-publishers of Archie Comics.
AWARDS
- The Comics Reporter has information on judges and nominations for this year's Isotopes Awards (awarded for excellence in mini-comics).
Comixpedia's People Of Webcomics List For 2006
It's the third annual Comixpedia People Of Webcomics List. This was the hardest one yet to compile. There's a lot of webcomics and a lot of people doing interesting things in and around webcomics. This list, as in past years, is an odd effort to compare apples and oranges: artistic achievement, audience popularity, technical achievement, business savvy, news-making impact all go into the mix.
- Act-I-Vate
- Boxcar Comics
- Drunk Duck
- Girlamatic
- Keenspot
- Brian Fies
- Brian Moore
- Chris Crosby
- Chris Onstad
- D.C. Simpson
- D.J. Coffman
- Dale Beran
- Dave Roman
- David Hellman
- Dorothy Gambrell
- Eric Burns
- Eric Millikin
- Fred Gallagher
- Fred Grisolm
- Gene Yang
- Gordon McAlpin
- Jason Little
- Jeph Jacques
- Jerry Holkins
- Joe Dunn
- Joey Manley
- Jon Rosenberg
- Kazu Kibuishi
- Kris Straub
- Lark Pien
- Mike Krahulik
- Mitch Clem
- Neil Babra
- Nicholas Gurewitch
- Owen Dunne
- R.K. Milholland
- Randall Munroe
- Rich Stevens
- Rob Balder
- Ryan North
- Scott Kurtz
- Shaenon K. Garrity
- Spike
- T Campbell
- Ted Rall
- Thomas K. Dye
- Tim Demeter
- Tom Brazelton
- Tom Siddell
- Tyler Martin
- Warren Ellis
- Wes Molebash
- Zach Miller
- A Lesson Is Learned But The Damage Is Irreversible
- Achewood
- Cat and Girl
- Penny Arcade
- PvP
- Sinfest
- xkcd
- Yirmumah
- You Damn
- People of Webcomics
Damn, I Wish I Was Your Webcomic
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on December 14, 2006 - 10:28
DEAD TREES
- E& P lists some of the initial newspapers Rich Stevens' Diesel Sweeties will launch in next year.
- The Daily Cartoonist links to speculation on what the newspaper business will look by the end of the decade.
INTERVIEWS
- The Comics Reporter links to an interview with Gene Yang, creator of American Born Chinese.
- Newsarama catches up with Frank Cho. He seems to be doing a lot of superhero work these days.
CONSERVATIVE COMICS
- Ted Rall defends the recently arrested creator of Mallard Fillmore, Bruce Tinsley.
- Dirk Deppey wonders aloud (look under "digital comics" section) if the recent nearly nude shot of a character in Chris Muir’s webcomic Day by Day would offend readers of conservative blogs where the strip is syndicated.
- I missed that Line Item Veto went on hiatus.
AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 BLOGS
- Joey Manley charts the long tail of WCN webcomics.
- Omigawd! Kris Straub snaps and kicks the crap out of Scott Kurtz! And uh, more behind the scenes on the forthcoming PvP animated series.
- Stephen "xmung" Crowley has some thoughts on webcomic audience sizes.
- Every comics creator should have a comic bio. Check out Jon Morris' bio here.
- Where is
WaldoRyan? Help decide where world explorer/cartoonist Ryan Estrada heads to next.
NOT WEBCOMICS
- Not sure how old this is, but the cast of the NBC television show, Scrubs, dubbed the dialogue to the classic Peanuts Christmas special. Pretty funny, actually.
And The One Horse Open Sleigh I Rode In On...
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on December 5, 2006 - 16:15
AWARDS
The Eisner judges have been announced and the Comics Reporter has the press release on how to submit (nudge, nudge) your comics for consideration. The panel of judges for the 2007 awards consists of:
- Robin Brenner, teen librarian;
- Whitney Matheson, blogger;
- Christopher P. Reilly, comics writer;
- James Sime, comics book retailer; and
- Jeff VanderMeer, writer
PENNIES FROM HEAVEN
- Cartoonist Chris Ware won a grant from a new foundation called United States Artists.
DEAD TREES
- Jim Zubkavich recounts the very recent party and book signing he held for the release of the Makeshift Miracle in print.
- ICv2 has an interview with First Second - the publishers of Gene Yang's American Born Chinese book. The book is apparently selling quite well as the book heads towards a third printing.
- Bill Amend is going to Sundays-only for his popular comic strip Foxtrot. Tom Spurgeon puts Foxtrot's newspaper count at 1000+. Foxtrot debuted in 1988 and has filled a geek/family/school niche in the newspapers ever since. Amend's stated reasons for the move are about freeing up time to tackle other creative projects.
INTERVIEWS
- Fleen has two interviews: one with Chris VonGompel, the creator of Hockey Zombie, (que es mas offensive?!) and the other with Dave Kellett, creator of Sheldon.
- Don't forget Comixpedia has two interviews this month: one with Tyson Smith of Pirate and Alien and the other with Tom Siddell of Gunnerkrigg Court.
DON'T MOVE! I SEEMED TO HAVE LOST MY MONACLE...
- The New York Times loves Roz Chast. Does a cartoonist like Chast exist without the New Yorker? Not intended as 100% snark but a reflection on how a certain species of cartoon has flourished (relatively) because of that magazine's patronage.
Webcomics: A United Front Against Wikipedia
Submitted by Sean C on December 1, 2006 - 15:52
Given all the recent fuss over Wikipedia’s history of blatant dismissal of the webcomics medium, I feel the need to express the following, and I think all webcomic creators, both superstar and little guys, should take this to heart.
"Why do we even care about this?"
We do not need Wikipedia.
