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Pete Abrams

2007 Weblog Award Nominees Announced

Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on November 1, 2007 - 16:30

I don't know much about the Weblog awards for blogs, but this [edit:] is the second year they've included a "comic strip" category. The nominees are:

And here's a link to the full list of award nominees if you're interested.

UPDATE: I've gone ahead and fixed the list of nominees here to add the creators' names and webcomic URLs. I have no idea about "Attack" though - please post a comment here if you know which comic the nomination is for. As noted in the comments below it appears that the "final nominees" are selected subjectively by someone(s) at the Weblog Awards (from a list of nominations by the public). Last year's winner - Least I Could Do plus Day by Day and Sluggy Freelance are all repeat nominees (they were on the 2006 list of final nominees).  [I guess it's also somewhat interesting that both years two conservatively-slanted opinion comics have been included in the nomination list, but no progressively-slanted comics have been picked for inclusion.]

10 Years of Sluggy Freelance

Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on September 5, 2007 - 08:57

Just listened to NPR's interview with Pete Abrams on the 10th anniversary of Sluggy Freelance. The NPR host actually does a really good job at the start of describing the main characters. The links come from a recent post at FLEEN. The key "reveal" in the interview: his great grandmother on his mother's side was named Sluggy Freelance (yes he's kidding).

Two things to add: my understanding is that Pete makes the bulk of money now from his Defenders subscription (essentially a "patron" sort of model); and Pete has always remained a bit secluded from the rest of webcomics. He didn't link out much and other than participating in the very first Fright Night event I don't think he's really done "community" stuff. In part I'm sure it's because he never needed to (Sluggy was the Penny Arcade of its day back in the last century in terms of being much more popular than its nearest competitor.)

RELATED COMIXTALK ITEMS: Review of Sluggy Freelance, a recent interview (June 2007) with Abrams and a 2003 community interview with Abrams.

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?

A Decade of Niftiness: Comixpedia Talks to Pete Abrams

June 3, 2007 - 12:17 | Erg

Pete Abrams, the creator of Sluggy Freelance, one of the more celebrated and long-running (longest-running?) serialized webcomics ever not only is coming up on 10 years of Sluggy, but recently welcomed a new addition to the Abrams family: Sarah Emily Abrams, born May 12th, 2007. (Ed: Congratulations!) We managed to catch up with Pete before Sarah Emily's birth and talked to him about his favorite Sluggy moments, balancing running a webcomic with family life and how he makes his living from Sluggy.com.

Awards, Awards, Awards

Submitted by Erik Melander on March 13, 2007 - 07:26

The awards' season certainly has kicked off it seems.

Pimpin' Ain't Easy, But It's Necessary

Submitted by Erg on February 14, 2007 - 15:56

One of the phenomenal cosmic powers bestowed upon bloggers by the gods of the internet (including but not limited to the former vice president Al Gore and that poor fat kid with the invisible light saber) is the ability to foist their opinions on unsuspecting victims. This is a power this reader relishes. So today I am going to pimp some comics I think you should be reading: Cosmobear, Havesomehats and Sluggy Freelance.

Biggie Panda: Old Skool Webcomics

January 28, 2007 - 23:03 | Xaviar Xerexes

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.

Want to Blog For Comixpedia?

Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on January 16, 2007 - 23:11

As we head into 2007 I'm fairly positive about the course Comixpedia is on. We're heading for another software upgrade within Drupal that will let me do some cool things (probably end of January) and I'm working on getting new life and a little more content into the magazine. Lots of stuff I'm excited about.

But I'd like to get some other people involved in the daily blogging here on the front page. It's already helped that so many people post "user blogs" every day, but in terms of front page posts (and spotting user blogs for promotion to the front page) I think things would be better with at least a few more people participating.

Why blog for Comixpedia? Actually I'd like to know the answer to that myself :)

In all seriousness Comixpedia has several good things going for it: it's the oldest ongoing webcomic news and commentary site around, it has a pretty decent share of the "reading about webcomics" audience (and our news is syndicated at the webcomics hub The Webcomic List), and it has an audience filled not only with webcomics-savvy fans, but creators, publishers, and others contributing in significant ways to webcomics.

I'm not looking for clones of myself, but other interesting voices to add to the daily mix. I'm looking for all kinds of people from any kind of background. Ideally we're also looking for someone(s) who can submit 2-3 posts a week and would stick with it for at least 6 months (say til July).

If you're interested here's how to apply - I'd like anyone who wants front page status here at Comixpedia to post a comment here with anything they want to write about why they'd make a good addition to the front page here at Comixpedia. Then over the rest of the month (up to and including Jan. 31) write at least three "try-out" posts using your user blog (write more if you want). A "try-out" post should be the kinds of things you'd want to write on the front page. BE SURE TO TAG these posts with this tag - "new blogger" (in topics) so I know they are posts for consideration for front page status. I'll post a round-up of links to all of the try-out posts on Feb. 1st so I can get feedback from the rest of Comixpedia on who should get front page status.

News For Thursday, January 11, 2007

Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on January 11, 2007 - 11:49

INTERVIEWS

JUSTIFY MY HYPE

  • Random Assembly: Samatha Allen has really improved her art chops since this webcomics started. She also knows how to frame a joke or a bit well. I'm not sure the fairly random, slice-of-life nature of this webcomic is the best vehicle for her but (especially from 2006 on) it's a good read.

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