Joey Manley
Announcing WCN Free
Submitted by Joey Manley on November 12, 2006 - 10:47
I'll bet you're tired of me and my big changes.
Webcomics Nation has done pretty well. Its revenues are in the low five figures. It has reached the top 40,000 of all websites consistently (per Alexa), outperforming most other webcomics hosting sites, even those owned by big corporate concerns and hyped in, say, the New York Times. We've yet to even get close to The Service Formerly Known as Keenspace's numbers, but they've got nearly a decade's head start on us.
I am pleased with WCN.
I want to be more pleased.
I've decided that the way to be more pleased is to really go after the "Flickr and/or LiveJournal and/or Blogger of webcomics" position.
I am aware that, in terms of graphical elegance and user-friendliness, there's a long way to go to match those services (especially, say, Flickr, which is the best of those 3 for what it does).
I am aware of that.
But the first step is opening up free accounts to the world. That's the way those services built themselves up. I was going to wait until I had all the fancy-dancy new features set up. I've been working on lots of fancy-dancy new features. But then I thought to myself, every second wasted is a second wasted. Go ahead and do it.
So that's what I'm doing.
Friday
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on November 3, 2006 - 12:48
November's cover is from Shaenon Garrity, the creator of Narbonic (and several other comics). We will have the first stories for the November issue up this Sunday so check for those on Monday morning.
We have a new sponsor this week - a design competition from the website My Favorite Mirror. We'd also like to thank continuing sponsors, the books, The Physics of Superheroes and An Anthology of Graphic Fiction, the 8 Films to Die For film festival, TBS' Very Funny Ads, and the webcomics Alma Mater, Things Change, A Pirate's Life For Me, O''Deer, I See You, Gunnerkrigg Court, Devil Water, Family Bones, and The Flowfield Unity.
INTERVIEWS
- Webcomics In Print has an interview with Beaver & Steve's James Turner.
- Over at Sequential Tart, Shaenon Garrity interviews Gene Yang about his graphic novel American Born Chinese, the first comic nominated for the prestigious National Book Award. Comics Foundry also has an interview with Gene Yang.
- Sequential Tart also has an interview with Batton Lash, creator of Supernatural Law.
- Talkaboutcomics has an interview with members of the new Cornstalker collective of creators.
AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 BLOGS
- Joey Manley muses about how his webcomics service, WebcomicsNation, might
cash incatch the GooTube wave. - Zoinks! reports on Tastefully Done, a calendar of nude webcomic characters, which is donating all of its profits to cancer research.
- Flight notes a new blog called Comic Tools, where comic artists such as Hope Larson and Jim Rugg share their weapons of choice when they’re working on their own comics.
Social Bookmarking on WCN
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on October 30, 2006 - 12:54
Joey Manley writes that his webcomics service Webcomics Nation now supports social bookmarking like Digg and Delicious:
You can see it in action on my own supercraptacular comic, which only exists to serve as a platform for usability testing of WCN user interface improvements...
To spell this out - you can automatically add links to your comics on WCN that submit the comic to community sites like Digg and Delicious - which if enough of your readers click on these links, might get you a mention there and some traffic. I've added similar buttons to Comixpedia (Drupal has a module for this). Digg (and its copycat - the new Netscape) is an interesting site, but as Reinder points out neither has a good category for comics.
Weekend Update
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on October 29, 2006 - 09:46
Don't forget to check out Fright Night 8 this Tuesday when we'll post all of the remixed-for-Halloween webcomics.
I want to make sure everyone knows we're allowing folks to comment without registering and/or logging in to see if it increases participation in comment threads. We're also looking for input on what feature stories we should be working on.
AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 BLOGS
Zoinks! reports that on-demand printer Ka-Blam has eliminated its set-up fees.
- Fleen emails back and forth with Mark Mekkes, chairman of the WCCAs on possible changes to the awards.
- Joey Manley reports that Dylan Meconis is taking a break from her webcomic Family Man to work on a non-fiction comic called Wire Mothers & Inanimate Arms: Harry Harlow And The Science Of Love.
- Table of Malcontents notes that Alien Loves Predator has created its first animation, entitled "Beer Goggles".
- Obdormio praises Get Medieval as in the same league as Narbonic. That's a pretty strong recommendation!
Webcomics to film--Name your picks!!!
Submitted by TheDeeMan on October 26, 2006 - 06:09
Spiderman, Batman, X-Men, and other big name PRINT comics to film not withstanding, I don't think there's EVER been a movie made that was based on a webcomic before. Ok, imagine there's a big name hollywood producer with $100 million budget who's just dying to make the very first webcomic movie. What is the webcomic(s) that you think would make a cool movie? Dee -
Monday News Mash-up
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on October 16, 2006 - 13:30
Besides my own write-up of SPX this weekend you can check out a list of SPX reports at The Comics Reporter. You can also check out the list of Ignatz winners at The Beat. Last, be sure to check out Johanna Draper Carlson's good post on webcomics at SPX.
Also alas, I missed the stage version of Get Your War On because it sold out mid-week. GWYO got really good reviews from the local DC media - I wish I had bought tickets well ahead of time.
DEAD TREES
Webcomics-In-Print has a nice wrap-up of recent and forthcoming book projects.
Tomorrow morning (Tuesday) the second Schlock MercenaryThe Blackness Between, will go on pre-sale.
AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 BLOGS
Kristofer Straub started a sketch-blog.
Joey Manley recommends Name Removed by Nick Wolfe. "It’s got a silly, twisted innocence that reminds me of James Kochalka or Achewood..."
Back of the Envelope's Weekly Webcomic Update summarizes what Donald read last week.
TWCL "unkind" to WCN comics
Submitted by TheDeeMan on September 28, 2006 - 16:55
I don't know what the problem is between The Webcomic List's updating system and Webcomics Nation comics, but for some reason WCN comics are always listed as "could not connect to site". Even those that are listed as "normal" don't show current updates. And it happens again, and again, and again. AND it only seems to happen to WCN comics. Other Modern Tales family of sites (Graphic Smash, GirlaMatic, Serializer) seem immune to the "glitch".
Thursday Webcomics Briefing
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on September 28, 2006 - 09:55
News
Joey Manley has a post up - teeing off of the recent Platinum purchase of Drunk Duck - speculating on "boom times for webcomics" and referencing a Gary Groth essay on the ill-fated black & white comic book boom of the Eighties.
I see people are excited about the new Sony ebook, a device that uses electronic ink technology. Gizmodo describes it as "like a gameboy...for the game of Reading." It will display greyscale images so you can use it to read comics.
Reviews
Writer Response Theory has a post up on Bound By Law - a comic about copyright using a "remediated paper interface" (essentially using the web to remind you of holding a comic book).
The subject matter [of Bound By Law] is fascinating - I don’t think you can really follow contemporary art without being drawn into the intricacies of copyright law. Still, it is a testamony to the creators that I finished Bound By Law wishing for a sequel, or series of sequels. In particular, it would be interesting to see a more self-referential work that took on the unique intellectual property challenges of, for example, web comics and blogging - image sampling and remixing, screen captures, quotation, linking, the act of publication, the nested rights restrictions of host, domain, and content management system, etc. etc. etc…
Around the World in 80 Blogs
Fleen catches the ongoing White Ninja guest week - I kind of liked Jeff Rowland's contribution the most so far...
Zoinks notes that Derrick Fish, creator of Dandy & Company recently put out a call for donation. For donations totaling $15 or more Fish is giving away the first, full color issue of his new comic book Tails TO Amaze!
The Drawn blog points out James Harvey's project to illustrate 100 pirates in a 100 days.
Ignatz Nominees For Online Comic Announced
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on September 15, 2006 - 12:50
The nominees for the Ignatz awards are out and up for the Outstanding Online Comic category are:
- A Lesson Is Learned But The Damage Is Irreversible by David Hellman and Dale Beran
- Claviger by Ronnie Casson
- Micrographica by Renee French
- Perry Bible Fellowship by Nicholas Gurewitch
- Thingpart by Joe Sayers
Renee French's entry was published on Serializer.net (and nowhere else as far as I can tell). Since serializer.net is still down hopefully publisher Joey Manley can give Ms. French a link to a temporary locaton for the comic.
The DivaLea Show is BACK!
Submitted by Lea_Hernandez on August 16, 2006 - 22:18
You missed it, and now it's BACK!
Clicky for the MP3:
http://www.webcomicsnation.com/users/fiatluna/The_DivaLea_Show_2006_00.mp3
