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Kris Straub

Thursday, December 28th News & Views

Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on December 28, 2006 - 11:07

HEADLINES

DEAD TREES

AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 BLOGS

News For Tuesday December 19, 2006 (UPDATED)

Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on December 19, 2006 - 12:54

MAGAZINE

  • A smaller December issue then years past but still full of great webcomic recommendations and plenty of opinions to discuss. There's a slight chance we'll have a few more pieces, but I may hold those until January.
  • I just wanted to say thanks and congrats to Kris Straub who has contributed to Comixpedia for a couple years - first with Modern Humor Authority and this year with Checkerboard Nightmare. Kris' plate has gotten considerably more full lately so he won't have time to contribute next year.

    We'll see you in Xanadu, Mr. Straub... They call it Xanadu.

  • If you have a minute please vote for the Roundtable and People of Webcomics articles over at ComicNe.ws - it's a different crowd at CBR and having Comixpedia articles on the front page over there has helped bring some of their readers over here to check out Comixpedia. At this point it only takes about 6 votes to get something on the front page over there so click that little "c" below your posts if you think it might be of interest.

BUSINESS

A warning to those using google ads and placing images near the ads themselves - that appears to be against Google Adsense's new policy:

Can I place small images next to my Google ads?

We ask that publishers not line up images and ads in a way that suggests arelationship between the images and the ads. If your visitors believe that the images and the ads are directly associated, or that the advertiser is offering the exact item found in the neighboring image, they may click the ad expecting to find something that isn't actually being offered. That's nota good experience for users or advertisers.

Let's All Go To The Movies

Journalista has a significant section today on Scott Rosenberg and Platinum Studios called "Meet the new Scott Rosenberg, the same as the old Scott Rosenberg." (A side note: Rosenberg was included in our People Of Webcomics list this year.) Obviously anyone who has followed Rosenberg in the news this year knows at this point he's been around comics in various ventures for quite some time. A chief, recurring, criticism seems to be that Rosenberg is interesting in comics properties solely for their potential to be licensed to filmmakers and that he does not actual perform the basic publishing function of a comics publisher.

I can't comment too much because I haven't done my homework on this subject, but it does strike me as odd that when numerous creators are abandoning the monthly comic book format for webcomics (albeit with a goal to collection in a graphic novel) that there is an expectation that Platinum would want to vigorously compete in the direct market. It also seems odd to criticize Platinum for using a creator-for-hire approach on its first comic book, Cowboy & Aliens -- isn't that the standard model for the majority of the industry (you know, DC and Marvel)? Deppey reports that a deal from 2004 may require Platinum to put out comic books in order to comply with the deal - to the extent that Platinum is treating such publication as an expense rather than a profit center, I'd think the most obvious question is what does that say about the health of the direct market?

If this is of interest, there's lot more on the topic at Journalista! today.

NEWS ABOUT COMICS NEWS SITES

I didn't realize that it was a common practice for comics publishers to own comics journalists, but today's Journalista! also alerted me to the fact that Platinum Studios bought the comics news site Broken Frontiers earlier this month. (Similarly, Journalista! and TCJ are owned by publisher Fantagraphics.) I'm sincere in asking how do such journalists deal with the obvious conflict of interest this presents? Is there a corporate separation that protects the ability of the journalists to cover the news without interference or does the journalist just not cover their owners?

JUSTIFY MY HYPE

If you haven't been reading ICE by Faith Erin Hicks get over there and check it out (the archives aren't that long). I'm not sure I like the black & white as much as the earlier coloring but that's only as a comparative matter - both periods of the comic are amazing. If you have been reading, the current scene is getting particularly tense as major plots points are revealed.

NOT COMICS

Joe Barbera passed away. I thought this guy's name meant animation when I was a kid.

Around The World in 80 BLOGS

Comixpedia's People Of Webcomics List For 2006

December 18, 2006 - 12:07

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.

The Comixpedia End of 2006 Roundtable

December 16, 2006 - 23:33 | Xaviar Xerexes

Our second annual virtual round table on the year in webcomics features comments from Eric Millikin, Daku, Gilead Pellaeon, Mike Russell, Lewis Powell, Alexander Danner, Eric Burns, Michael Rouse-Deane, Johanna Draper Carlson and Gary Tyrrell.

Damn, I Wish I Was Your Webcomic

Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on December 14, 2006 - 10:28

DEAD TREES

INTERVIEWS

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

NOT WEBCOMICS

Behind The Scenes of PvP Animated

Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on December 12, 2006 - 12:39

PvP The Series

This video about the making of the new animated PvP series was surprisingly interesting to me. After about 30 second of seventies sitcom-style snark from Kris Straub, this settles down into an extended discussion between Scott Kurtz and one of the animators while working on a scene from the new PvP animation project.

Kurtz and Straub on PvP Animated

Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on December 8, 2006 - 17:20

FLEEN has an interview with the dynamic duo behind PvP Animated.

The Year In Print: Deadtree Webcomics

December 5, 2006 - 17:30 | Michael Rouse-Deane

Michael Rouse-Deane writes at the blog Webcomics In Print. We asked him to write about the top ten webcomics in print for 2006. After searching throughout his entire blog for books released this year, Michael decided that instead of a straightforward top 10 he'd compile a list of 10 webcomics books from 2006 that he thought did something well, something different or just plain warranted a mention.

I Really Can't Stay/Baby It's Cold

Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on December 4, 2006 - 10:42

Our December issue begins! A great cover from Tom Siddell, creator of Gunnerkrigg Court kicked it off and now we have Al Schroeder's interview with Tom as well as a second interview with Tyson Smith, creator of Pirate and Alien.

SITE NOTES

Thanks to the uber-talented Tyler Martin (Wally & Osborne) for updating some of the graphics on the Comixpedia website. If you want to find out more about Tyler's graphic design-jujitsu check out Mind Faucet, his design website. (I also made our forums look more "forum-y". Don't forget every user can add an avatar to their account by going to their "my account" page and clicking on "edit" - scroll down for the section to add a "picture" to your account.)

MILESTONES

EVENTS

AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 BLOGS

  • David Malki (Wondermark) is holding three auctions to benefit Penny Arcade’s Child’s Play charity. (link from Kris Straub)
  • A round-up of recent webcomics in print at Webcomics In Print including books from Jesus and Mo, Silent Kimbly, and Little Gamers among others.
  • Tom Brazelton (Theater Hopper) will be webcasting a podcast talkcast tonight. Listeners can call in and talk to Tom live. The show is at 10:00 CST tonight (you need the TalkShoe application and a copy of Skype). My free marketing advice of the day: Tom, Joe and Gordon should get together and do a regular movie/comics webshow - that could be huge. (They should also have me on as a regular guest - since I get around to seeing everything about 5 years after it comes out I can provide up-to-the-minute reviews for parents with young children and other culturally-handicapped individuals.)

THE DECLINE AND FALL OF NEWSPAPERS, PART XXXII

Another newspaper axes some long-running, but creatively exhausted comics from its page, and gets some reader complaints (just a tip to newspapers - if you want to gauge your target market try conducting scientifically valid surveys instead of of relying on letters from old man Withers). Omigawd - 375 reader complaints! In reaction, the North Carolina paper wrote "The News & Observer has done some pretty controversial things in the past year -- its coverage of the Jim Black scandal and the Duke lacrosse case, eliminating most stock tables -- but perhaps none more traumatizing than this: Last week, The N&O replaced four comic strips." And how about this "You think readers care about war in Iraq or midterm elections? Try taking away "Cathy." Lovely. To me, this little snippet all at once summarizes the morbid stupidity of the newspaper business, the state of journalism and the decline of newspaper comics.

Gianna vs. Wikipedia

Submitted by WizToast on November 30, 2006 - 16:02

Although it isn't news anymore that self-righteous pricks enjoy removing useful information from Wikipedia, I thought [the discussion on Wikipedia on whether to delete the article for The Noob] was interesting for a few reasons.

First of all, one of the guys targeting her for deletion actually wrote articles on other webcomics, including such strips as Fetus-X, which (despite being universally recognized among cartoonists as Fine Art) definitely doesn't have anything like the readership of The Noob. [XEREXES: Although there is no question The Noob has a substantial readership it really isn't appropriate to compare it to Fetus-X since I have seen no evidence to confirm or deny the readership numbers for either comic.]

Second, if you scroll to the bottom, you'll see that Gianna is trying to debate him by offering a well-reasoned argument. Go check it out, read the stances and maybe offer some support.

[UPDATE from XEREXES: Within the span of a couple weeks about 3 or 4 people (hard to tell from the now closed discussion page but it appears to me that wikipedians Seraphimblade, Sandstein, Satori Son, and Dragonfiend actually voted for "deletion") deleted the entry for Comixpedia from the Wikipedia. This seems like a perfect example of how the current process makes it almost impossible for rational, well-informed debate to occur. Now I get to personally feel what everyone else subject to this ludicrous process has gone through. I'll be the first to admit the entry for Comixpedia sucked, but by their own standards, a more comprehensive entry for Comixpedia should qualify. It's just that the former entry didn't reflect any of that. It's incredibly easy for a wikipedian trying to delete things to say something's not notable. The wikipedia doesn't have to show that the entry doesn't reflect any of the given notability standards - that onus is on keeping it I guess. Worthless until proven notable, even if the Comixpedia entry has existed for 3+ years and countless other entries in the Wikipedia cite to the Wikipedia entry for Comixpedia or directly to a link on Comixpedia itself.

I plan to petition for undeletion, but I suppose I need to do the research to demonstrate notability. Any advice on petitioning for undeletion or helping me with evidence supporting Comixpedia's notability would be most welcome. If there are any experienced wikipedians willing to actively help me with this - That means you Kiba! :) please email me at xerexes AT comixpedia DOT com.]

On the positive side it appears that Girly's deletion was overturned and the entry for it is back in the Wikipedia. Some comments from the "Talk Page" for Girly at Wikipedia:

Dragonfiend...

There was a Deletion Review on this. The deletion was overturned. Let it go. --SuperHappy 19:41, 4 November 2006 (UTC)

Expert undeletion

The AFD was clueless, an academic expert on comics has undeleted it as notable. It lives. - David Gerard 20:14, 4 November 2006 (UTC)

Thank God. If this webcomic was not seen as notable enough for Wikipedia, I would have lost all faith in the project. There are way to many delete happy editors with their finger on the trigger.--Pyritefoolsgold 06:36, 6 November 2006 (UTC)

I'm glad to see it back too. -- Ryuko 09:24, 8 November 2006 (UTC)

A pity I missed the fun. Glad to see this restored, since it's definitely notable. It's one of those "If you don't think this is notable, you aren't qualified to edit webcomic articles anymore" ones. :) Xuanwu 07:55, 12 November 2006 (UTC)