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Scott Kurtz

Through the Looking Back Glass by Erik Melander

March 7, 2005 - 00:00 | Erik Melander

In February, there were some interesting developments in the business of webcomics. 360ep (Bill Jemas' new "content licensing" company) signed the creators of two webcomics (Danielle Corsetto, Takeshi Miyazawa and Arthur Dela Cruz) to contracts, although no one, including Corsetto, seems to know just what exactly 360ep is supposed to do. Another webcomic creator, Rich Burlew of The Order Of The Stick, quit his day job to make comics his career. Also Scott Kurtz's PvP returned to the pages of PC Gamer.

In March, Comixpedia is looking at action-oriented webcomics. Graphic Smash, a subscription site featuring action-oriented webcomics, recently announced the addition of three more webcomics to its lineup. Are creators better off publishing their work at a subscription site? What's the action like working for Graphic Smash?

Daily Grind Pool

Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on March 3, 2005 - 12:22

Call me cynical but I think the Daily Grind contest will go on and on and on and one of the veterans will win. From the list of the entrants (thanks to Websnark for the list!) I've picked the 8 veterans I think have the longest and most consistent updating record. Do you think one of these guys will win or one of the other entrants and if so which young upstart are you putting your money on?

* Normal Life, by Natasha Allegri
* Dada Graphics, by Lonnie Allen
* Sporecloud, by Jeff Bent
* Uncle Comics, by Joseph Bergin III
* The Bougie Daily Comic, by Robin Bougie
* The Devil's Panties, by Jennie Breeden
* TedScrawl, by Stephen Burrell
* Goodbye, Foom, by John Campbell
* The Look is More Seductive Than The Content, by Wendy Chin
* Yirmumah, by D.J. Coffman
* Superosity, by Chris Crosby
* Real Life Comics, by Greg Dean
* Toasted Pixel Comics, by Tod Emko
* Bottomless Pop, by Brian Fukushima
* The Big Three-Oh, by Philippe Gaboury
* Arthur, King of Time and Space, by Paul Gadzikowski
* I am Jamie, by Jamie Dee Galey
* Duzty Graphics, by Erik Goldsby
* A Day in the Life, by Bruce Gorr
* Housd, by Ali Graham
* Edward J. Grug III's Journal, by Edward J. Grug III
* Tacticia, by Richard Guidry
* Greystone Inn, by Brad Guigar
* Fatty, by John Hill
* Abandoned Kids, by Yu-Jay Huoh
* Chemical Comics Daily, by Tim Hulsizer
* Cortland, by Matt Johnson
* Karltoons, by Karl Kauffman
* Knights of the Old Coding, by Owen Kuhn
* PvP Online, by Scott Kurtz
* Mousewax, by Brandon Lewis
* Tasty Human Meat by Tyler Longmire
* Phil In The Blanks, by Phil McAndrew
* Chicken Head Joe, by corey McDaniel
* The Widening Gyre, by Tom McHenry
* demon_dorm_days, by Donald Noffsinger
* Daily Grind, by Michael Payne
* Sexually Transmitted Sodium, by Miles Pekala
* Dark Wanderings, by Eric Poole
* Tart Pop, by Phil Redmon
* TRU-Life Adventures, by Andrew Rotherby
* Dalton Sharp, by Dalton Sharp
* Daily Grind, by Jeff Skinner
* Funny Farm, by R. Smith
* The New Non-Stop Sketchbook, by Ive Sorocuk
* Modern Heiroglyphics, by Mike Stevens
* Frogherder, by Bryan Stone
* CaffComics, by Todd A. Sullivan
* The Filgym Cycle, by Jam Torkberg
* Secretland, by Remi Treuer
* The Secrets, by Dean Trippe
* Melonpool, by Steve Troop
* Strongman Press, by Jason Turner
* Young Adventure Friends, by Bela Whigimill
* Murder Bunny, by Scott Williams
* Todd and Penguin, by David Wright

C.A.P.E. Convention Coming to Dallas in May

Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on February 26, 2005 - 12:10

This week, Scott Kurtz announced his involvement in a new comics convention called CAPE: Comics and Pop Culture Expo. Taking place in Dallas, TX on May 7th, the event will already have as guests (among others) Kurtz, Lea Hernandez and Randy Milholland.

The History of Online Comics by T Campbell (Chapter 9)

February 14, 2005 - 00:00 | T Campbell

Money Matters and the Modern Webcomic

Much as some webcartoonists would like to pretend otherwise, webcomics are not really an industry apart. They are part of the larger online content industry, and any analysis of their business has to take the business of all online content into account.

PvP Returns To PC Gamer

Submitted by Erik Melander on February 3, 2005 - 14:32

Scott Kurtz has announced on his website that, starting April, well known gaming magazine PC Gamer will once again include exclusive PvP strips.

PvP ran in PC Gamer some years ago and I've always felt that I let that opportunity slip through my fingers. I'm thrilled to have PC Gamer welcome PvP back! It's going to feel great to pick the mag off the shelf and find PvP inside.

Emerald City Con This Weekend

Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on February 3, 2005 - 12:28

The third annual Emerald City Con takes place this weekend in Seattle, Washington. The Comic Reporter points to a good writeup of it and you can always get more information from the official site.

Penny Arcade, Scott Kurtz, and a host of other artists will be there too.

Getting to Keenspot and Other Bits O' News

Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on January 28, 2005 - 12:54

Here's an interesting thread about how to get on Keenspot that veers off into discussion of why some Keenspot webcomics do better then others. THE O'XEREXES FACTOR: Here's my NO SPIN OPINION for the day - Carson Fire should move Elf Life to Graphic Smash or Modern Tales. Elf Life is more like an independent movie than a blockbuster and needs an environment that will help to nurture it and maybe put a few nickels in his pocket in the meantime.

And now on with the news...

PvP NOT Dropped by Kansas City Star

Submitted by Erik Melander on January 26, 2005 - 13:00

According to a news post made by Scott Kurtz, the Kansas City Star has not dropped PvP. Apparently, the Star sometimes does not have the space to run the comic in the tech section, which means it gets left out of that issue.

Kurtz also talks about "phase two" of his free syndication scheme, providing a "family friendly" version of PvP and the problems that that entails.

You would not believe what has to be edited out. I can't even say "God." If Brent says "God, that's awful." it must be changed to "Man, that's awful."

Kansas City Star drops PvP?

Submitted by Erik Melander on January 22, 2005 - 14:52

It appears that the Kansas City Star may have dropped Scott Kurtz' PvP according to a thread at the PvP message board. Kurtz has, according to posts in the thread, not been able to get in contact with the Star and so it is not yet confirmed that this is exactly what has happened.

The MegaTokyo controversy

Submitted by Erik Melander on January 22, 2005 - 08:43

I thought this was perhaps a bit too gossipy to submit as news, but I found it quite interesting and am sure other did/will too.
Apparently Scott Kurtz made a well wish for Rodney Caston, former co-author of MegaTokyo, who became a dad recently (perhaps that is more of a news item?).The original post is gone, but Kurtz describes it as "I announced that Rodney and his wife were having a kid, and then I made a crack that this was one baby, Fred couldn't steal from Rodney."
link
Fred is Fred "Piro" Gallagher of MegaTokyo fame obviously. This promted Fred to respond with a rebuttal including his own version of how his and Caston's cooperation ended. Which in turn also promted Caston to tell his view of events. Add to this a lot of flaming by the fans on different message boards.

Kurtz withdrew his remark, adding that it had been inteded as a joke and Gallagher also posted a clarification of his post.

I find the entire thing quite interesting even though I dont read MegaTokyo since about a year (I started before Caston left though and have become less interested the more "Shoujo" it became). The interest lies partly in that it was a collaboration that ended and the problems that arose from that with the intellectuall property. But also that it appears that many of the fans were wondering (still after almost two years) about the details of the split. And, at least as I remember it, the story at the time of the split was somewhat different from the one that emerges now.