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Michael Jantze

This just in: "The Norm" deadline extended!

Submitted by Th'_Mole on October 29, 2004 - 02:51

Back on Tuesday, September 14, 2004 Comixpedia posted an article: "Jantze Dumps Syndicate; Starts Website Subscription Drive"

In this article, it was announced that he was quitting deadtree newspapers and wanted to make The Norm for the web exclusively (with reprint collections like what Frank Cho does for Liberty Meadows).

The catch was that he was going to be using a subscription model; if he did not get 4,000 subcriptions by November 1, it would not happen.

Here's the latest, from his website (written by his wife, who had a hand in talking him into keeping the strip going after syndication):

"Hello Everyone:

"Well, we are a few days away from our deadline. We've met 50 percent of our goal. Not bad. But here is the interesting thing, memberships are coming in each day now at a steady pace. In fact, if we were to extend the membership drive until the end of the year, we would make our goal. I talked this over with Michael and he agreed.

"And so ... I'm extending the membership drive until December 31, 2004."

You can read the rest of the announcement here. (...at least until it gets updated again....)

Any thoughts?

Hindsight is an exact science.

Submitted by Erik Melander on September 30, 2004 - 19:47

As the end of September approaches it might be interesting to look back at what webcomic events made the headlines.

Professional webcomicers
September saw two webcomic creators take the leap and try to turn their hobby into professional careers. In truth I suppose it would be more correct to say that Howard Tayler, creator of Schlock Mercenary, took the leap and Jeff Rowland, creator of Wigu, was pushed. While Taylor assures his readers that he and his family is in no critical financial situation as a result of his career change, Rowland notes that he needs the support of his readers.

I will need your support, however, in the coming weeks. As bad as I despise the entire "donations" aspect of Inter-Net art, I am going to ask for your help in a fund-raiser of sorts, if only to secure my habitation.

Will draw for food
Rowland is not the only webcomic creator that found himself forced to make a career change. Jamie Robertson also found himself out of a job and announced that Clan of the Cats would end at christmas without finishing the current Dracula story line. Robertson also has a fund-raiser of sorts as a possibility for continuing COTC, Sebo's kitty klub. I'm not sure how well that has worked, the only figure I heard was that he needed 250 subscribers and at the time of the announcement he had 16.

This was, however, not the last creator to turn to his readers in attempts to build a bussiness model in September. Michael Jantze, creator of The Norm, did the opposite of what many webcomicers aspire to and left syndication after finally becomming fed up with it. His wife apparently conviced him to try the webcomic route and he agreed IF she could get enough subscribers by November 1st.

How many subscribers do they need?
As previously noted Jamie Robertson needed at least 250 each paying 2,50 USD to keep doing his comic. Jantze needs 4000 subscribers to keep going, each paying at least 25 USD. Some swift calculations bring the sum of money to a minimum of 100 000 USD unless I'm mistaken... They currently have 661 subscribers. As an extra incentive they give away one ipod mini to a subscriber as they reach each 1000 subscriber plateau.

This made some ripples in the blog-pond as several people gave their opinion on these events. Most seemed to agree that 25 dollars was somewhat expensive. I'm reminded of the sister of a friend of mine who made a living as an artist. She an exhibit where she showed her latest works that were sheets of photopaper that had been run through an x-ray machine at the airport (or something like that). The pricetags on these artworks were, in my uneducated opinion, rather high and when I asked her about it she explained to me, much in the same way one explains something to a child, that if they were cheap no one would buy them.
Anyways, it is interesting that The Guardian online also had a story about online charity, or cyber-begging, including a couple of paragraphs on Randy Milholland. But perhaps the most interesting entry was by Eric Burns of websnark entitled "On supporting webcomics and the survival of the fittest fandoms".

The question is, how many fandoms is the average webcomic reader a part of, and how many of them can they afford to support

Who snarks the snark
Websnark is no doubt one of Septembers success stories. The quality and quantity of its entries propelled Websnark onto most "Must read"-lists. This quote from Joey Manley's blog pretty much sums it up.

Websnark.com is the talk of webcomicsland right now. Everybody who's anybody (yes, I'm an elitist -- and so are you, actually) is reading it.

Modern tales
Speaking of Joey Manley ofcourse brings us to the topic of Modern tales. That Modern tales and its sister sites have relied on subscription sales as a bussiness model has probably noone missed, but now they also sell adspace.

Subscription support will continue to bear the most weight in our business model, but we have decided to try to mix it up a bit, especially now that banner advertising seems to be coming out of the post-dotcom-crash doldrums.

September also say the debut of Graphic novel review, edited by Alexander Danner. A strong first issue shows promise of greatness and even got plugged by USA today.

The Webcomic examiner
The webcomic examiner will be allowed to wrap up this little trip down memory lane. Septembers issue had a great cover by Chris Watkins as well as a focus on the work of Derek Kirk Kim. Some really good stuff and I do believe that they are starting to find "their voice". There was also a "guest editorial" of sorts by Barb Lien-Cooper entitled "Webcomics have rights".

While I'm the last person in the world who wants to cause trouble, something about comic book review sites on the web is starting to bother me. It's the fact that many web sites dedicated to comic book journalism simply refuse -- often without explanation -- to review web comics.

Replies to this at Cognitive dissonance blog and Trickle of consciousness did not agree with her sentiments though.

Well that ends Septembers round up of things. Got an opinion on this, I'm itching to hear it. Perhaps I'll try to add some actuall analysis of events for next months roundup (if I do one that is).

More on The Norm Subscription Drive

Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on September 16, 2004 - 10:51

A couple of thoughts this morning on Michael Jantze's break from the syndication model. I had an exchange of emails with his wife Nicole yesterday. Apart I think from a naive enthusiasm that the Jantzes were trying something new in the world of comics (although everything in the world of webcomics is still "newish" Jantze is trying out several revenue strategies already pioneered by others) she seemed to be passionate about working with Michael to support his ability to continue creating The Norm. Without naming a specific figure she did say that Michael desired to match his salary (from syndication revenues I guess. Any takers to try and calculate something like that?) and that as of yesterday they were 10% to that goal.

Scott McCloud weighed in on Tuesday with a supportive comment. T Campbell was also supportive in concept but made the fair point that we can "subscribe" to every comic (he indicated he would be giving his money to Jamie Robertson instead. Robertson, while never syndicated, is in a similar situation to Jantze).

I also noticed that the pitch for money on The Norm subscriber page is pricey by webcomics standards. I will be interested to see how that goes? Is Jantze asking too much? Are other popular webtoonists asking too little? How much cache comes from being a previously syndicated cartoonist?

UPDATE: Saw that Eric had also posted some similar thoughts on these recent developments earlier this week.

Jantze Dumps Syndicate; Starts Website Subscription Drive

Submitted by Th'_Mole on September 14, 2004 - 23:08

Michael Jantze has announced that he has ended his relationship with his syndicate, King Features. The last installment of The Norm appeared in newspapers this past Sunday. Jantze had already begun to follow in the footsteps of Frank Cho by reprinting The Norm strips in comic book format and Jantze announced that The Norm Magazine would continue its bi-monthly publishing schedule (Issue #5 is due next month).

Save The Norm

Submitted by Erik Melander on September 14, 2004 - 15:45

Apparently Michael Jantze recently decided to retire his comic strip "The Norm". But on his site there is now an open letter from his wife, Nicole.

As you know, Michael decided to retire THE NORM. After eight years of battling the syndicate-newspaper corporations, he felt it was time to move on. It wasn't an easy decision, trust me.

She continues:

If enough people became members of TheNorm.com, I think we can convince Michael to keep drawing the strip -- NEW STRIPS -- beginning on November 1. So, in the short-term, you would get to keep reading a comic strip you love and in the long-term, we just might change the world of comics. Most of us don't read our comics in newspapers anyway, so let's break the chain and let's make THE NORM the hammer that does it.

Appealing to readers/customers has certainly had a number of success stories in the recent years, such as R K Milholland and Fantagraphics.

Call for Questions for Bill Holbrook

Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on September 7, 2004 - 23:34

For this month's community interview, syndicated cartoonist Bill Holbrook has agreed to sit in the Comixpedia interview chair. For years now, Holbrook has used funny animals to explore the dynamics of a mixed marriage and an extended family, in his delightful Kevin and Kell, about the marriage between a carnivorous wife and a herbiverous rabbit-husband.

Please post your questions to Bill in replies to this thread (one question per post please). We'll take questions through September 17th and send the top ten questions to Bill.

What I Did Last Summer, umm, at Comic-Con 2004

August 8, 2004 - 23:00 | Kelly J. Cooper

Kelly J Cooper's Most Excellent Comic-Con Adventures
Part 2: Saturday and Sunday

Saturday, 24 July 2004

Penny Arcade vs The Norm!

Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on July 26, 2004 - 23:16

Tycho from Penny Arcade comments on the San Diego Comicon and in particular singles out Michael Jantze of The Norm, a syndicated comic strip for some PA hazing:

I wanted to apologize to everyone who attended the Syndication panel on Sunday, at least, apologize to those who survived that guy from The Norm's fucking interminable sermons. He was so boring that I literally thought I would die if he didn't shut up. Maybe his strip is the bee's knees, I honestly don't care, but I have serious doubts regarding that man's ability to evoke joy.

Like all old people, he is convinced that his suffering is somehow more genuine, his wisdom more relevant, or his victories more enduring than those of younger people. Things got underway with Gabe saying that syndication was "worthless," and things degenerated from there. The Social Entropy forum tried to interject some lighthearted amusement into those dire proceedings, but the deck was stacked against them. The man absorbs and annihilates humor.

I briefly met Jantze at SPXPo last year. He seemed, well not what Tycho said anyhow. I like The Norm myself but I guess I wouldn't be shocked if someone like Jantze was a bit bitter about traditonal newspaper syndication when said someone was trying to make a living off of that fuckedanddying business model.

Sunday Night Geekery!

Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on June 6, 2004 - 22:47

The June issue puts Geekery under the microscope.

Week 1 comes out of the lab freezer with a fresh sample of Geek Women and webcomics, while a Poppycock review whizzes up in the cyclotron. The bunsen burners blast full force, causing interviews with Michael Jantze and Josh Lesnick to bubble and froth in livid neon colors.

In the middle of it all, Dalton Wemble and Boxjam cackle out their columns maniacally, like the mad mad scientists they are.

Week 1 is alive!!! ALIIIIIIVE!!!!!

The Readers Interview The Norm's Michael Jantze

June 6, 2004 - 21:00

Michael Jantze's The Norm may be one of the best comic strips in newspapers today. Although syndicated by King Features Syndicate, Jantze has also stepped up to show keen entrepreneurial initiative, by hopping on the electronic world with a larger business plan, which includes the webcomic world. You can read The Norm online, in collections, and in The Norm Magazine. Jantze also has some web-oriented freebies available on his site.