Mark Mekkes
Tuesday Mid-Morning NewsBlast (UPDATED)
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on February 6, 2007 - 13:13
COMIXPEDIA
- First off thanks to our current sponsor, the webcomic Zortic by Mark Mekkes. There are three (slightly cheaper) ad spots below that are still available.
- Don't forget! This Friday is the last day to post your questions for our upcoming community interview with the creators of the Blank Label Comics collective. Post your questions in comments to this thread.
HEADLINES
- Nerve.com presents its Comics Issue with "an essay on just what Sandman means to goth girls of all ages." (probably NSFW) (hat tip to The Beat).
- DIGITAL STRIPS is taking your calls. The formerly non-live podcast is jumping on the live livecast bandwagon this Wednesday (feb. 7th) at 9 PM (presumably ET).
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The first extensive review of PvP: Animated that I've read is at Digital Strips as well (and includes some comments from PvP creator Scott Kurtz)
INTERVIEWS
- Shaenon Garrity interviews Box Brown, whose daily strip bellen! follows the relationship of significant others Ben and Ellen and was recently added to the Modern Tales lineup.
- The Beat catches a video interview with James Kochalka (creatror of American Elf) at the opening of Fine Toon: The Art of Vermont Cartoonists opening at the Helen Day Art Center in Stowe Vermont.
VALENTINES DAY
- Blind Date II is coming soon - we'll start posting comics on Valentine's Day (and then throughout February).
- Chris Daily has Valentine's Day cards featuring your favorite Striptease characters in some sizzlin' smokey positions, bringing you the romance as only they could for purchase. For only $5.00, you get five high-rez images of the cards ready to print.
- FLEEN points out other V-Day cards from The Devil's Panties, Scene Language and Dinosaur Comics.
WIKIPEDIA WATCH
- Howard Tayler of Schlock Mercenary provides the most recent wiki-rant. In a comment there I tried to lay out my current thinking of what's "broken" about Wikipedia. It is simply that the deletion process as it currently exists is not really the same as the creation and editing process. UPDATE: Tayler writes further in response to feedback.
- Brad Guigar also wrote about the recent deletion of the Wikipedia entry for his comic Evil Inc. which appears not only on the web but in several newspapers.
JUSTIFY MY HYPE
- Terrence Marks has a great post up explaining how useful Piperka is for reading webcomics. Piperka is hard to sell (like Tivo was/is) but once you start using it, you get how useful it is.
- I forgot to post about Benjamin Birdie's new project but The Beat reminded me. Birdie has teamed up with blogger Beaucoup Kevin on The Rack about a comic book shop.
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So long as we're browsing The Beat's webcomic entry archives check out some other plugs from Heidi MacDonald:
- @ the 8 Spot by Wilson Ramos and Eric Rivera is a weekly webcomic that chronicles the life of comics freelancers.
- La Muse by Adi Tantimadh and Hugo Petrus is a weekly science-fiction comedy webcomic.
- FLEEN also has multiple webcomic plugs today.
- And Journalista! gets in on the plug action too linking to the blog Same Hat! Same Hat!! which looks at Sascha Hommer's comics -- many of which are available online, including his full-length Insekt.
- Heck even the Comics Reporter is doing it! Here's a review of Daniel Spottswood's Disquietville Volume One - much of this comic also appears online.
Interviews, Manga and the Monday Morning News (UPDATED)
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on February 5, 2007 - 11:31
Dig that new cover from Frank "Damonk" Cormier and Meaghan Quinn! Our February issue is focused on webcomic collectives and we've got a lot of great articles on tap for it. This morning I've posted the first two articles for this month's issue:
An interview with Mark Mekkes in his role as chairman of the WCCAs, now in its seventh year. There were a lot of changes leading into this year's program and hopefully, this interview helps to shed some light on things.
The first installment of a new column on web manga by Brigid Alverson. Brigid already blogs about manga at her own site MangaBlog and our good friends at Digital Strips. At Comixpedia, she'll be rounding up the good stuff -- and telling you what to avoid as well.
HEADLINES
- It looks like the promised comics-hosting functions of ComicSpace are now available. Haven't tried them myself yet so if anyone has any opinions to offer add them in the comments.
- I don't know if this is still open or not, but Ryan Estrada was looking for creators to help with this year's online presentation for the WCCAs.
INTERVIEWS
- Shaenon Garrity interviews Whitney June Robinson, creator of Alma Mater (which you may have seen advertised here on Comixpedia). AM is now on the Modern Tales lineup.
- Gamer News interviews Steve Napierski, creator of Dueling Analogs.
REVIEWS
- Independent Propaganda reviews two webcomics: Wireheads and Martian.
- The Ferrett talks up Yet Another Fantasy Gaming Comic:
...YAFGC is alive in ways that other strips aren’t; that’s partially because it’s drawn in pencil and has the raw energy of a sketch, but also because Rich Morris has the talent of a classic Disney animator; he manages, with a few quick strokes of his pencil, to bring people to life so that the way they stand, hips cocked, tells you more about them than the dialogue ever would.
DEAD TREES
- 2007 is going well for Jim Zubkavich, the creator the 2002 webcomic Makeshift Miracle which debuted in print last year (after substantial rework on portions of it) and is now starting to appear in book store chains.
CONGRATULATIONS
- Todd and Penguin creator David Wright is going to be a dad! Not surprisingly that means Todd and Penguin will be on hiatus for awhile (until May). While Todd and Penguin is on hiatus, Wright is posting the first months of the comic which were lost when Keenspot's server crashed in 2002. Wright explained that he was unable to find the first few months of comics until recently - so now, after five years, they are going back on the web.
- Terror Island and The Crown Prince both hit the 100 strips milestone.
JUSTIFY MY HYPE
- Engtech asks "What's your favorite webcomic?".
- Dave Roman posts some of the cartoons Todd Webb drew at their wedding (cute idea to have a "wedding cartoonist").
And the WCCA Goes To... An Interview with WCCA Chairman Mark Mekkes
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Webcomic creator Mark Mekkes is the co-founder of the WCCAs and the current Chairman of the award. The WCCAs recently shifted from a mid-year presentation to a January-Februray schedule more closely aligned with the calendar year. The 2007 WCCAs will be presented online and in person at Megacon on February 19, 2007. I recently interviewed Mark by email to catch up with all of the changes and what's in store for this year's edition of webcomics' own awards.
First off, tell us a little about your role with the WCCAs. How did you come to help start them and what's been your role since then?
Biggie Panda: Old Skool Webcomics
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One way to think of the history of webcomics is as the big bang of comics. At the beginning there were far fewer webcomic creators and they were (virtually) clustered together much more tightly (hence all the wistful talk of "webcomic community") and then, if the inflationary webcomicology theory is correct, those early webcomic exploded into the universe of comics online we have today.
- Altbrand
- Keenspot
- Bob Roberds
- Boxjam
- Chris Crosby
- Dave Kelly
- David Willis
- Fred Gallagher
- Greg Dean
- Ian McDonald
- Illiad
- Jeff Darlington
- Jeffrey Rowland
- John Allison
- John The Gneech Robey
- Jon Rosenberg
- Josh Lesnick
- Maritza Campos
- Mark Mekkes
- Mike Leffel
- Pete Abrams
- Peter Zale
- Scott Kuehner
- Scott Kurtz
- T Campbell
- Tatsuya Ishida
- Terrence Marks
- Thomas K. Dye
- Tim Broderick
- Chopping Block
- Girly
- Penny Arcade
- PvP
- Sinfest
- Sluggy Freelance
- User Friendly
- Zortic
- Features
PC Weenies on this weeks Gigcast
Submitted by madscott on January 26, 2007 - 07:26
I'm late blogging about it but what better way to avoide work on a friday then to listen to PC Weenies’ Krishna Interviewed!
Listen to it on www.thegigcast.com
or download it from HERE
Gigcast #70, Webcartoonist's Choice Awards Details w/ Mark Mekkes!
Submitted by NightgigTim on December 29, 2006 - 09:12
The Gigcast Talks about the Webcartoonist's Choice Awards with Mark Mekkes of Zortic. We discuss the Nomination and Voting Procedures, and go over the timeline.
Along with the usual mix of community news and info and the music of Johnathan Coulton, Friction Bailey, and Mario Ajero.
Web Cartoonist Awards will be at Floridas Megacon
Submitted by madscott on November 4, 2006 - 17:40
As I was booking my tickets and starting to organize some Gigcast things (by the way we will be getting a booth again this year) for February's Mega Con I noticed some great news.
From http://www.megaconvention.com
September 20, 2006:
MegaCon is proud to announce that it will be hosting the 6th annual Web Cartoonist Awards. After six years of growing, world-wide popularity, the WCCAs will, for the first time ever, be presenting the 2007 winners at a live ceremony. If you would like more information please contact Mark Mekkes at zortic@yahoo.com or visit the website at www.ccawards.com
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!
Contributors to Comixpedia
We've had many contributors to Comixpedia over the years - here's a full list through the end of 2005:
