Nicholas Gurewitch
The 8th Annual WCCAs: An Interview with WCCA Chairman Frank "Damonk" Cormier
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With the Eighth Annual edition of the Web Cartoonists' Choice Awards (WCCAs) coming up I wanted to get an interview on the state of the awards with current WCCA Chairman Frank "Damonk" Cormier. Frank worked with me on ComixTalk in the first two years of its existence and I know from experience that he is quite passionate about comics and isn't one to shy from stating his opinion. So I put a range of questions to him regarding this year's awards, changes from last year and how to improve things in years to come.
year end list
Submitted by dave_roman on December 31, 2007 - 18:25
Even though I often enjoy year-end Best Of lists…I wish more people would replace the word “BEST†with†FAVORITE†since it really is about specific tastes of the critic.
Seems impossible to compare completely different creative works on the same scale.
Even amongst close friends, it seems the word "best" is all a matter of perspective.
At any rate, here are some things I really enjoyed from this past year.
(Completely biased since some are from my favorite artists and/or friends!)
Favorite comics I read in 2007
ComixTalk's People Of Webcomics List For 2007
And now... the fourth annual People Of Webcomics list! I'll be the first to admit that this list gets harder and harder to compile as the lines between "webcomics" and just plain "comics" blurs harder than a greasy windshield in the middle of a West Texas downpour. Plus as publishing comics on the web and other digital formats becomes more commonplace it gets harder and harder to find those "firsts" that take comics in new directions whether artistic, technical or businesss-oriented.
- Blank Label Comics
- Drunk Duck
- Dumbrella
- Zuda
- B. Shur
- Brad Guigar
- Chris Onstad
- Dave Roman
- Fred Gallagher
- Greg Carter
- Jeph Jacques
- Jerry Holkins
- Joey Manley
- Jon Rosenberg
- Josh Neufeld
- Kaja Foglio
- Kazu Kibuishi
- Kris Straub
- Mike Krahulik
- Nicholas Gurewitch
- Randall Munroe
- Rich Stevens
- Rob Balder
- Ryan Estrada
- Ryan North
- Ryan Sohmer
- Scott Kurtz
- Tyler Martin
- Achewood
- Goats
- Penny Arcade
- PvP
- xkcd
- People of Webcomics
Rolling Into Tuesday Morning Update
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on December 18, 2007 - 01:00
I'm back from India! Happy holidays to all of you (including all of you Pastafarians too!)
COMIXTALK
- Our End-of-the-Year roundtable featuring some of the best comics journalists and bloggers on the Internet is up on the site. It's a great wide-ranging discussion of good webcomics, interesting business developments and predictions for 2008.
- We've got an interiew with Matt Melvin of the uber-popular webcomic Cyanide and Happiness.
- We're still looking for questions for our upcoming community interview with the members of the Blank Label Comics collective. Post your questions in comments to this thread.
- Don't forget to check out our advertisers - current sponsors include the Learn to Draw the Human Figure anatomy course, Mary Janice Davidson's latest book Swimming Without a Net and The Webcomic Beacon podcast.
DEAD TREES AHOY!
- The New York Times has an article on how some webcomics are creating solid sales in print and includes mention of Diary of A Wimpy Kid and Shooting War. Brian Fries, the creator of Mom's Cancer offers his response to the article. Fies argues that Mom's Cancer (which is not named in the Times article) was one of the first webcomics to cross-over to print. He could be right (although once he got a print deal he took Mom's Cancer off the web so his approach was different than these other examples), anyone want to offer a counter-example?
AWARDS
- Instructions on submissions for nominations for the Eisners are here - the deadline is March 14, 2008. For webcomics there is a separate set of instructions:
Entries are also being accepted for the category of best webcomic. This category is open to any new, professionally produced long-form original comics work posted online in 2007. Webcomics must have a unique domain name or be part of a larger comics community to be considered. The work must be online-exclusive for a significant period prior to being collected in print form. The URL and any necessary access information should be emailed to jackiee@mindspring.com.
JUSTIFY MY HYPE
INTERVIEWS
- Pretty interesting interview with Colonel Sweeto himself, Nick Gurewitch.
- CBR has a zaftig interview with Tycho himself, Jerry Holkins.
AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 BLOGS
- Gary notes that Brian Warmoth is leaving Wizard magazine. Warmoth did the Cursory Conversations series of interviews with webcomic creators and with his departure I wonder if anyone is still around at Wizard that is interested in webcomics.
- Lots of webcomics show up in Time's Graphic Novels of 2007 article. One shows up in USA Today's list.
- Broken Frontier takes a look at Phoenix Requiem, the new webcomic from Sarah Ellerton (creator of Inverloch).
- T Campbell argues for including PostSecret and I Can Haz Cheezburger? within "comics".
- Neil Cohn has an essay on the structure of manga.
Looking Back Through 2007
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In years past (2004, 2005) we undertook the monumental chore of picking out the biggest headlines of the year. This year, I took another swing at it. So without further adu, here's the biggest webcomic headlines of 2007.
If I missed a story you think was key to this year, please post it in the comments to this article.
- Act-I-Vate
- Blank Label Comics
- Bomb Shelter
- Chemistry Set
- Dumbrella
- Half Pixel
- Platinum Studios
- Sugary Serials
- Zuda
- Alexander Danner
- Bill Barnes
- Brad Guigar
- Brad Hawkins
- Brian Fies
- Chris Crosby
- Corey Marie Parkhill
- Dave Kellett
- Dave Kelly
- David Malki!
- David Willis
- Gene Yang
- Gordon McAlpin
- James Duncan
- James Kochalka
- Jennifer Babcock
- Jerry Holkins
- Joe Dunn
- Joey Manley
- John Allison
- John The Gneech Robey
- Jon Morris
- Josh Lesnick
- Kris Straub
- Krishna Sadasivam
- Mark Mekkes
- Matt Shepherd
- Mike Krahulik
- Mike Russell
- Mitch Clem
- Nicholas Gurewitch
- Pete Abrams
- Rich Stevens
- Ryan Estrada
- Ryan Sohmer
- Scott Kurtz
- Scott McCloud
- Spike
- T Campbell
- Terrence Marks
- Thomas K. Dye
- Tom Brazelton
- Tyler Martin
- Zach Miller
- Achewood
- American Elf
- Penny Arcade
- PvP
- Sluggy Freelance
- xkcd
- Through The Looking Back Glass
Perry Bible Fellowship creator Nicholas Gurewitch Book Signing
WHAT: Perry Bible Fellowship creator Nicholas Gurewitch will be signing his new book at Atomic Pop.
WHERE: Falls Road, Baltimore, MD.
Webcomic Wire - Drawn from sources under my bed…
Submitted by NightgigTim on November 12, 2007 - 14:01
Drawn from sources under my bed…
Wizard interviews Little Gamers creator Pontus Madsen.
Diary of a Ninja-bot has an interesting critique of Café Press.
Xerxes posts that he’s looking to get together a roundtable discussion going to recap the year.
Steven Notley, creator of Bob the Angry Flower, is interviewed on ComixTalk.
Perry Bible Fellowship creator Nicholas Gurewitch is [...]
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Webcomic Wire - Drawn from sources under my bed…
Submitted by NightgigTim on November 12, 2007 - 14:01
Drawn from sources under my bed…
Wizard interviews Little Gamers creator Pontus Madsen.
Diary of a Ninja-bot has an interesting critique of Café Press.
Xerxes posts that he’s looking to get together a roundtable discussion going to recap the year.
Steven Notley, creator of Bob the Angry Flower, is interviewed on ComixTalk.
Perry Bible Fellowship creator Nicholas Gurewitch is [...]
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The Webcomic of Our Discontent...
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on November 12, 2007 - 12:30
COMIXTALK
- New feature articles up including interviews with Stephen Notley and Brad Hawkins as well as a new column on self-imposed "constraints" in the creative process from Derik Badman.
- I still need names and addresses from two of the Karas winners - if you're not Wes, JT; Joe; Lou; Charles; Elizabeth; Dave; or Frank email me your contact information! Thanks.
INTERVIEWS
- New York Magazine has a good interview with Nick Gurewitch of Perry Bible Fellowship.
- Wizard talks to Cameron Stewart, the creator of the new webcomic Sin Titulo.
- Jennifer Contino talks to the creators of The Mighty Motor Sapiens, a webcomic that runs on the NASCAR website.
- The FLOG! has some video excerpts from Gary Groth's interview with Charles Schulz biographer David Michaelis. (h/t Journalista!)
- Blog@Newsarama has an interview with Wesley Green, who runs Ambrosia Publishing which hosts serialized webcomics.
BUSINESS
- Richard Pachter has an article about the history of work-for-hire in the comic book industry. (h/t Journalista!)
- Paul Gravett has an article about graphic novels in bookstores. (h/t Journalista!)
AROUND TEH WORLD IN 80 BLOGS
- I predict all webcomics will be required to feature a Cory Doctorow costumed blogger reference next year in comics during Halloween. This year, Jack of All Blades picked up on the joke that started with xkcd.
- Anyone else reading the comic adaptation of 1984? Besides not being able to figure out who the creator is from the site (anyone know?) I also noticed that it was licensed under the Free Art license from artlibre.org. It seems to be a bit like Creative Commons although I didn't read the license carefully enough to be completely sure.
- Peter Bagge has a comic on partying with Dick Cheney. No shotguns were involved.
- Dirk Deppey picks up on the Wikipedia thread on deleting the new ComixTalk entry over there (and no I've had nothing to do with any of it). In honor of all-things-wiki here's a link to "the 8 most needlessly detailed Wikipedia entries".
Friday
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on November 2, 2007 - 10:17
NOVEMBER ISSUE OF COMIXTALK
- We'll have more stories up this weekend but for now more on the Blank Label Comics/Halfpixel roster shifts announced this week. In addition to our earlier interview with the new members of Halfpixel, we posted today an interview with Howard Tayler of Blank Label Comics. (Speaking of Blank Label Comics, Steve Troop has brought back his webcomic Melonpool with new updates)
CONTEST
- I've got another Karas the Revelation DVD to give away...
REVIEWS
- Playback reviews The Trial of Colonel Sweeto and Other Stories, Nick Gurewitch's book collection of his webcomic The Perry Bible Fellowship. (h/t Journalista!)
JOURNALISM
- Journalista! writes "Wizard Online Editor Rick Marshall emailed them to announce that he had been relieved of his job. No reason was specified." The Comics Reporter hears that Mike Searle is rumored to be taking over for Marshall. Journalista! also caught that Wizard managed to trash the website for its magazine and as of this morning I see that it's still broken.
ADVERTS
- Joey Manley writes that as an experiment for the month of November, you can now buy via Project Wonderful the top banner spot for all of the major user-generated content sites on the new ComicSpace Network (TalkAboutComics.com, OnlineComics.net, the WebcomicsNation.com, and ComicSpace.com). It looks like Eric Milikin (Fetus X) had the spot this morning for about $45 per day (Project Wonderful works on a real time auction basis).
AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 BLOGS
- Comics Worth Reading raves over Sinfest.
- Journalista! found something I wrote interesting enough to lead off today's post with a quote from it.
