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2003: Year in Review From the Mouth of Your Fave Webtoonists, by Kelly J Cooper

December 8, 2003 - 00:06 | Kelly J. Cooper

2003 was a pretty scary year. Whether you agree with it or not, war is a pretty terrifying thing. We lost another space shuttle, another crew, and – in a bad case of déjà vu – followed a flurry of finger-pointing in the aftermath.

Damonkey Business by Damonk

December 8, 2003 - 00:06 | Frank "Damonk" Cormier

Damonk's Own Quickie Personal Webcomic Year In Review

2003. The Year of Stuff. One Year after 2002, and 365.23 Days before 2004.

Backwards, it would be 3002...

...which time-wise, would actually be forwards.

After having been exposed no doubt to the bajillions of other media's own versions of Year In Reviewstravaganzas, it's clearly obvious that the one thing you would now crave most would be to hear YET ANOTHER person's own thoughts on the year.

What T Campbell is Reading

Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on November 27, 2003 - 08:02

T Campbell is editor of Graphic Smash, writer of Fans, Rip & Teri and more than a couple of Comixpedia articles, and a slave to trends. What's he reading?

"In webcomics, I'm currently working my way through the Modern Tales lineup in alphabetical order. Most of them I read all the way through, though a few of them just don't interest me at all. Just got through No Stereotypes. I also regularly read a few standbys: Sluggy Freelance, PVP, CRFH, GPF, It's Walky, Clan of the Cats, Gaming Guardians. And of course, everything on Graphic Smash.

"In printed comics, I'm sticking with Strangers in Paradise for a little while longer at least, now that Terry's finally getting around to some of the stories I wanted him to write three years ago. Mark Waid just 0wn0rs Fantastic Four. The fanboy in me craves it, along with JLA/Avengers and a lot of Brian Michael Bendis' work.

"Textwise, I just got through Chris Sherman's The Invisible Web and a book of Harlan Ellison short stories, and I'm reading a whole lotta blogs, 'cause all the cool people are writing them these days. Only half kidding: they have a perspective that I miss from my college years.

"What's next? I want to finish off Preacher (yes, I know the series wrapped years ago) and pick up Cory Doctorow's new collection... I've read a couple of his short stories and he's an author to watch. Webcomics-wise, I'll keep working my way down the alphabet with Modern Tales, then start on one of the other collectives... probably Keenspot or Girlamatic.

"Yeah, I'm serious, I really do read all this stuff. Scary, huh?"

Down to Earth Webcomic Returns

Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on November 12, 2003 - 12:48

Down to Earth is now back on the web. Creators Gavin Chafin and Steve Wood have begun producing new comics for the series as of October 31st.

Down to Earth was formerly part of the Keenspot network but had previously left Keenspot to become indepedent. Creator Gavin Chafin explained the reasons for the return on the Keenspot message boards:

Two New "Greystone Inn" Collections!

Submitted by Brad Guigar on November 3, 2003 - 14:47

At long last, the second and third collections of the webcomic Greystone Inn have been published by Plan 9 Publishing. Here's what you can expect from the books.

They are available for $2 off the cover price for a limited time. Here's where you can buy the books!

"Limited Space" moves to Keenspot!

Submitted by Neil.g on November 3, 2003 - 00:10

During the summer of 2002, Neil g, author of Robot Stories ran a spin off in the form of the crazy Sci-Fi Comedy Limited Space. Now, with the team promotional effort of Dayfree Press and Keenspot, Limited Space is back on its own domain (limitedspace.org), with three new strips each week. Join Earthling Hal Keft as he tries to sort out his feelings about his bizarre experiences in space, only to discover that his world on Earth is just as weird as those he experienced on Planet Xenon, last summer.

Really Simple Syndication for WebComics

November 3, 2003 - 00:01 | Xaviar Xerexes

Publishing a webcomic is simple, right? Set up a website and post webcomics via FTP, and readers come to said website to read said webcomics? Well, yes... and no.

In a world of too many webcomics to count, getting a webcomic in front of as many potential readers as possible is a good strategy for building its audience. As the Internet evolves, so do the various methods to "syndicate" webcomics – creators and publishers are finding new ways for readers to follow a webcomic without having to visit the actual webcomic's website.

KeenSpot Updates: Zebra Girl, Fans and Profits?

Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on September 3, 2003 - 10:16

In this thread over at Keenspot Central, LCARS (longtime forum poster there) notes that Zebra Girl is getting an invitation to the 'Spot.

Further down the thread, Chris Crosby responds to discussion of FANS moving from Keenspot to Graphic Smash with an interesting post on Keenspot profitability. Read on for Chris' post.

It should probably be noted that (as far as I know) FANS! will be profitable on Keenspot as of the 2nd Quarter 2003 income disbursement in October, and WOULD'VE been profitable in Q1 2003 if not for the much weaker ad revenue in 2001-02, which put it in the hole. In 2003, ad revenues have greatly increased while average bandwidth costs have lowered, which means that even very high-bandwidth-per-page should be profitable for the forseeable future.

Having a high-bandwidth-per-page site does NOT immediately equal unprofitability on Keenspot, generally.

The difference between a high-bandwidth site and a high-bandwidth-per-page site should also be noted. Being high-bandwidth is great because it usually means you're popular and you're generating high revenues. Being high-bandwidth-PER-PAGE is not quite as great, because if the bandwidh on a page costs more than the revenue generated by the ad on that page, that's unprofitable. The good news is that ad revenue increasing and bandwidth costs lowering means that even pages with big giant colorful 150K file size comics on them can be profitable.

Like a Pseudo-Interview of Chris Crosby, Keenspot CEO

Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on February 10, 2003 - 18:55

Try to ignore the beginning of this thread (something about keenspot being a clique or, well it's just not very clear what point is being made) and jump here (about half way down the page) to where Chris Crosby spends a lot of time answering some good questions about Keenspot, Keenspace and why he didn't start a site called Pornspot! And than jump here (again part of the way down) where Chris addresses some criticisms about some infrequently updating comics on Keenspot.

Chris also lays out exactly what Keenspot is looking for in its next webcomic:

Oh, we're looking for strips about two straight mutant elephants living on an alternate universe version of Mars colonized by gay mutant elephants in 1952. And it must be drawn in a manga-style. And be about PS2 and XBOX gaming. And a pure-blood Native American cartoonist has to draw it.