Half Pixel
Abandoning Micropayments
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Joel Fagin follows up his previous article on the selling of webcomics Reinventing Micropayments with another look at how creators could sell digital comics. This time, he further explores the notion of selling comic downloads and examines the initial results of Starline X Hodge's sales of her comic Candi.
PvP site - hang in there, baby
Submitted by Scott Kurtz on June 4, 2007 - 20:01
[Editor's Note: PVP website is down - click read more for Scott's post]
PvPonline.com - Unexpected site outtage
Submitted by Scott Kurtz on May 11, 2007 - 10:35
I'm trying to get the word out that the PvP server had some hardware issues that my host Speakeasy is working on. We've been down for about a day. We had planned to run maintenance over the slow part of the weekend but apparently the server had other plans and crapped out early yesterday.
It's all a part of running your own website I guess. It's been rare I've had server issues so I guess I was due.
I'll be posting strips over at halfpixel.com until my site is back up again. But it might be a long weekend. Thanks!
News for Thursday, April 19, 2007 (UPDATED)
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on April 19, 2007 - 09:20
NEWS
- The St. Louis Post-Dispatch profiles webcomics, shining the spotlight on PvP, Penny Arcade and Sope on a Rope.
- Webcomics writer Bobby Crosby (+EV, Marry Me, Last Blood) is looking for artists for new projects. Pay and profit-sharing seems to be involved.
REVIEWS
- PopMatters has a review of Scott Kurtz's other comic book project, Truth, Justin & The American Way. I can't find it, but I remember Kurtz writing that more episodes of this series would be coming at some point later this year.
- Last month, PopMatters reviewed Brendan Douglas Jones' brilliant post-Watchmen superhero parody Breakfast of the Gods. Oddly enough, their reviewer completely missed the comic's riff on the ultra-serious tone of the most recent work in superhero comic books, but did seem to like the nostalgia of revisiting breakfast cereal mascots.
- A short and sweet review of Marry Me, written by Bobby Crosby and art'd by Remy Mokhtar. I didn't think I would like this one, but I was wrong. It's a pretty funny spin on pop star life so far.
JUSTIFY MY HYPE
- Ali Graham's new webcomic Afterstrife (love that name) has finished its first chapter and is in the midst of a week of guest comics before the next chapter begins. The comic features the adventures of two young recently-dead characters in their afterlife, but for such a potentially ominous setting, it's been surprisingly funny so far. Afterstrife is a nice evolution of Graham's writing and art chops from his previous work and well worth checking out.
- Turtle Vs. Bunny by Joe Dunn (with the help of the votes of millions!). Have y'all already seen this? A very cool, interactive spin on the classic fable of the tortoise and the hare, Dunn's TVB lets readers decide whether Turtle or Bunny will come out on top that week.
AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 BLOGS
- Kris Straub is now in Texas; Scott Kurtz posts photos of Halfpixel's new office space (Halfpixel is the new label Straub and Kurtz created for their joint projects). And Kurtz and Straub have relaunched their weekly Internet-radio show as the Kris & Scott Power Hour (Every Thursday from 6pm to 7pm Central).
- Goats' creator Jon Rosenberg posts about a benefit at Cornell University for a scholarship fund established in the name of one of his classmates who died in an auto accident. If you're in the area it sounds like a good show for a good cause.
- Diesel Sweeties tops Sally Forth in the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
News & Views for Thursday, Somewhere in April
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on April 12, 2007 - 16:42
So um... taxes? They suck. Let's throw rocks at 'em.
HEADLINES
- CORRECTION: LA-based creators Dave Kellett and Kris Straub plan to march over to the gallery where art by alleged copycat Todd Goldman is on exhibit with a copy of Dave Kelly's original comic.
So long as someone will mail them a copy of the Keenspot FCBD book that it appeared in. Kellett's address and more details over at COPYCAT 2007 headquarters, FLEEN.UPDATE: They have received the comic book.
- Journalista! has a whole mess of links on the passing of Johnny Hart (scroll down to "comic strips").
INTERVIEWS
- The Daily Crosshatch has an interview with creator Raina Telgemeier.
- For his podcast, T Campbell interviews Eric Burns and Wednesday White (mp3 link) and they talk about Websnark, blogging & podcasting. As always, Eric is simultaneously humble and well not-humble (it's charming though), Wednesday drops geek-cred terms (did I hear CMS in there? That's content-management-system) and for some odd reason sounds like she's sitting five feet behind Eric in the interview. Surprisingly, T Campbell asks no questions about actual webcomic content though...
REVIEWS
- Sequential Tart reviews three webcomics this month: El Goonish Shive; Questionable Content; and Tittivillus.
DEAD TREES
- Webcomics-In-Print reports that a convention-only book of After Strife is out featuring strips not yet available on the web.
- MangaBlog reviews Divalicious (written by T Cambpell and art'd by Amy Mebberson).
- Newsarama has a HUGE preview of Flight 4.
News & Views for Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on April 11, 2007 - 10:33
First a quick thanks to current advertisers: The Learn to Draw the Human Figure video course; The Lethal Lady website and blog; the webcomic Life on the Fringe and the DrunkDuck Civil War Webcomic Event. Thanks also to all of our PW sponsors including the very current ones: Freaks N Squeeks; Alma Mater; and Cartridge Comics, Lummox. PW ads appear depending on who is the top bidder right now. You should still check out Cartridge Comics though! :)
Also be sure to check out contributor Joel Fagin's webcomic tutorials site and this month's cover artist Michael Lalonde's very funny webcomic Orneryboy.
HEADLINES
- The Todd Goldman/Dave Kelly copying story was well covered this week appearing on several webcomics, blogs, CBR, the art journal Juxtapoz, and even Wikipedia. The extreme similarities of the two works makes it hard to imagine a set of circumstances such that Goldman did not copy from Kelly. The blog FLEEN has been all over this story and really deserves praise for pulling so much of it together. Yesterday FLEEN posted an absolutely spiteful email it received purportedly from Todd Goldman (although FLEEN caveats that it can't confirm this) and also wrote about another similarity between a Goldman work and Stuff Sucks webcomic creator Liz Greenfield. Copying can be a difficult issue - ideas are not protected, only expression - but again, in the specific Goldman/Kelly case it's very hard to see how this was anything other than copying. (Comixpedia interviewed Dave Kelly back in his Living in Greytown days.)
- Johnny Hart dead. Now the question is what happens to B.C. (and possibly The Wizard of Id)? Will it lumber on as a comic strip zombie or will newspapers retire it in favor of fresh material? ANSWER: Kris Straub catches a note at the Creators Syndicate website that say Undead B.C. and Wizard of Id will definitely lumber on. ALSO: Mark Evanier has an interesting post on Hart's career (link from SPPW).
- Mitch Clem taking a break from webcomics? The creator of webcomics such as Nothing Nice to Say; Coffee Achievers and San Antonio Rock City writes about his five years making webcomics.
- Good luck and good thoughts to creator Carla Speed McNeil, who is undergoing surgery later this month to alleviate a moderate-to-severe case of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. (Swiped from Journalista! which caught it from Elayne Riggs.)
JUSTIFY MY THEIR HYPE
- Time's Nerd World Blog praises Rob Balder's and Jamie Noguchi's webcomic Erfworld.
- Maakies creator Tony Millionaire wrote us to tell us that the pilot for the animated Drinky Crow Show is coming to Adult Swim in May. There's a preview video here and you can read others' comments on it here.
- Comics Reporter links to Doom: the webcomic.
AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 BLOGS
- FLEEN notes that Lauren O’Neal turned in a webcomic as a final project for a class at Stanford. Hip and environmentally-friendly!
- Websnark praises Goats. Eric's main point seems to be that even though most of Goats' episodes don't involve actual "action" the comic is nevertheless working well. Goats has never really been about action though, like a good Kevin Smith movie it's about the dialogue.
- CBR notes the 10th anniversary of comics publisher Top Shelf.
- JOURNALISTA! points to the I Read Comics podcast that features a recording of the “Women in Comics†panel from the recent New York Comic-Con, with moderator Heidi MacDonald with Colleen Doran, Amanda Conner, Svetlana Chmakova and Rivkah.
Thursday News Links
Submitted by Erik Melander on April 5, 2007 - 07:57
CORRECTION
- It has been brought to my attention that the Comics Reporter's list of the Top 50 Comics of 2006 contained more webcomics than I'd noted. French superstar Lewis Trondheim's Les Petits Riens and Mazen Kerbaj's Kerblog, as well as potentially two entries published by The Guardian by Joe Sacco and Posy Simmonds.
LETTERING
- For Comixpedia readers who have been following Jon Morris' Plea For Hand-Lettering there is an interesting thread on The Engine by Comicraft founder Rich Starkling which delves into a discussion on both classic lettering and the pitfalls of creative teams. Eddie Campbell also takes on the subject on his blog.
CON
- Kristoffer Straub, and a host of other notable creators, have attended the Emerald City Comicon. Straub was part of a webcomic business panel together with Brad Guigar (Evil Inc.), Robert Khoo (Penny Arcade), Scott Kurtz (PvP) and Bill Barnes (Unshelved. Unfortunately Straub found the panel somewhat disappointing.
Emerald City was a great con, but the panel was a great… lame thing. The trouble was that we didn’t talk about much business, and the con-installed moderator was kinda like “so what’s a webcomic? What’s your favorite color?â€
An Interview with Scott Kurtz And Kristofer Straub About New Company And New Projects
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Last week Scott Kurtz and Kris Straub were gracious enough to grant this brand spankin' new Comixpedia front page writer/blogger an email interview about their new partnership. The questions are a bit clumsy, but their answers are interesting and informative. Enjoy!
The Community Interview with Blank Label Comics
We canvased Comixpedia's readers for the most probing questions to send to Blank Label Comics. Questions so tough it took them almost a month to answer! Read on for how Blank Label Comics plans to conquer independent comics...
Wikipedia-Free News & Views For Wednesday, March 7, 2007
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on March 7, 2007 - 11:13
Before I get to today's news & views -- don't forget we had three new articles published in the magazine this week:
- Terrence Marks interviews married creators, Dave Roman and Raina Telgemeier. This is actually the first in a series of five such interviews we'll be publishing this month.
- New columnist Brigid Alverson covers five short story web manga this month in Small Packages.
- Bryant Paul Johnson returns with another installment of his historically accurate series at Comixpedia: The Antecedent.
- And of course a big thanks to Meghan Murphy of Kawaii Not for doing this month's cover art.
HEADLINES
- Here's a great opportunity (and a clever idea for a book): Howard Tayler is planning to publish the 2000-01 run of Schlock Mercenary in a book and he's put out a public call for guest art to include in the book. I hope he gets a wide range of interest on this - I'd love to see some of the Schlock characters done well in different styles.
- Scott Kurtz and Kris Straub announce a more formal creative relationship (including Straub relocating to Dallas, TX). Help them pick a name for their new partnership here. (Also I missed that PvP character Skull has a blog now...)
- Good question from R. Stevens and a good discussion in the comments there: "In a webcomic, each page of comics read is a 'pageview'. In a comic book, each page of comics read is a 'pageview'.... Has the webcomics readership outgrown the American comic book market?"
INTERVIEWS
- Daily Cross Hatch blog interviews Perry Bible Fellowship creator Nicholas Gurewitch.
- Bookslut interviews Fun Home creator Alison Bechdel. (both interviews caught by Journalista!)
JUSTIFY MY HYPE
- Mike Russell is rerunning his CulturePulp comics at his WebcomicsNation site. Most of these have appeared before in the newspaper, but not on the web in one convenient location like this - worth checking out - funny, insightful journalism in comic form.
- The Comics Reporter likes Lukewarm Tales.
- The Webcomicker likes the second episode of the animated PvP series. In contrast to pre-premeire complaints from PvP fans, Gilead says the voice actor behind the character Skull is the star of the production.
AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 BLOGS
- FLEEN reports that You Damn Kid! creator Owen Dunne has redone his website(s) and created a video based on his Beevnicks comic.
- The For Better or For Worse "Hybrid" idea apparently came from Universal Press Synidicate which convinced creator Lynn Johnston to go with it rather than simply hanging it up later this year.
- FLIGHT reports on the lineup for Flight, Vol. 4. Also, Kazu Kibuishi posted cover art for the series at his website.
- The Comics Reporter points to a discussion at Comics Worth Reading on this year's Free Comic Book Day (May 5th).
- Over at TalkAboutComics is a post about a movie coming out with the same name (and apparently very similar content) as an existing Serializer comic. Creator Scott Ewen (the comic is Flight of the Living Dead) seems pretty stoic about it.
