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Justine Shaw

Nowhere Girl by Justine Shaw

Nowhere Girl by Justine Shaw

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!

This Day in ComixTALK: Inauguration Special

Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on January 20, 2009 - 20:11

2009: OBAMANOS!!

2008: ComixTALK interview with the creators of Blank Label Comics.

2006: Kris Straub contributes a theme song for R K Milholland's Something Positive comic.

2005: Announcement of never-finished Patrick Farley/Justine Shaw comic Mother of all Bombs.

2004: ComixTALK wanged!

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!

Updates On Entries in the Ill-Fated Webcomic Directory Project?

Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on July 24, 2007 - 14:31

I built a "library" of webcomics and creators back in the fall of 2005 which I put into beta before realizing it was too much editorial work to deal with and the same information could be better provided through the community edited webcomic wiki - COMIXPEDIA.

Nevertheless looking back on the assortment of names collected (some from me, some sent in from you) I wonder if anyone has any significant updates on these creators 18 months later. Maybe we should interview some of them?

Eisner Digital Comics Controversy?

Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on April 9, 2006 - 09:19

T Campbell hits on something we talked about in the comments to our earlier Eisner post this week: what exactly is Matt Forsythe's ojingogo nominated for?  As in what did Forsythe do in 2005 to receive the nomination.

ojingogo was nominated in 2005, presumably for work up to the end of 2004 (which T seems to confirm in his post which includes a discussion of the rules).  I calculated 9 new pages since then, T calculates only 7 new pages.  Either way ojingogo is a fairly short piece which is still unfinished.  It seems unfair, and a mite bit ridiculous with the now vast amount of material on the web to twice nominate a short unfinished work for the Eisner award.

All of which seems like I am condemning Forsythe's work I suppose, but I am not and when it's finished I would have no problems with its nomination.  Nominating an unfinished work on the web for an award is problematic and should not be allowed.  This rule would not discriminate against long-form or ongoing serialized webcomics if we allowed for the judges to nominate technically unfinished webcomics on the basis of finished chapters or storylines.  And in any event, the judges should be clear about the work that is the basis for their nomination.

Patrick Farley: I Will Finish Mother Of All Bombs!

Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on March 23, 2006 - 02:41

Patrick Farley drops in his blog that he is working on the graphic novel Mother Of All Bombs that he started work on in January 2005.  The political comic features artworks from Justine Shaw (creator of Nowhere Girl). 

Farley has posted a few panels from the work-in-progress. 

How to Cut Corners to Meet Deadlines

Submitted by Fabricari on March 16, 2006 - 16:02

xmung wrote:
it really depends on the amount of detail in a page (notably, the number of different characters i gotta draw) - but usually it can take 4-5 hours for a drawn/ fully coloured/ web ready page. and that's if i'm lucky. these days i try to include at least one panel per page that has a close-up of a character's face cos that helps cut down on the drawing time overall.
This was mentioned in a different thread and I thought it'd make a good topic on it's own.