Zuda
The Year In Webmanga: Small Changes, Big Plans?
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Things were quiet in the world of web manga this year, but there’s plenty brewing beneath the surface.
There weren’t any Big Events, a la Marvel DCU or Zuda, just the established channels chugging along: Netcomics selling chapters of manga online for a quarter a pop, publishers giving it away to build buzz for their print editions, scanlators posting their favorite titles in closed circles, and artists working out new projects online.
But behind the scenes, several publishers are preparing to launch web manga in one form or another.
The ComixTalk End of 2007 Roundtable
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Our third annual virtual round table on the year in webcomics features comments from Gary Tyrrell, Dirk Deppey, Tom Spurgeon, Heidi MacDonald, Brigid Alverson, Derik A Badman, Reinder Dijkhuis, and JT Shea and Scott Gallatin.
- Act-I-Vate
- Blank Label Comics
- Transmission X
- Zuda
- Cameron Stewart
- Chris Onstad
- Christopher Hastings
- Dave Kelly
- Derik Badman
- Dorothy Gambrell
- Emily Horne
- Fred Gallagher
- Howard Tayler
- Jennie Breeden
- Jerry Holkins
- Joey Comeau
- John Allison
- Josh Neufeld
- Kaja Foglio
- Karl Kerschl
- Mike Krahulik
- Mike Maihack
- Nate Piekos
- Raina Telgemeier
- Randall Munroe
- Reinder Dijkhuis
- Rich Stevens
- Ryan Estrada
- Ryan North
- Scott McCloud
- Shaenon K. Garrity
- Svetlana Chmakova
- Tatsuya Ishida
- Tyler Page
- A Softer World
- Achewood
- Cat and Girl
- Penny Arcade
- Sinfest
- xkcd
- Features
Webcomic Wire - 12/5/07
Submitted by NightgigTim on December 5, 2007 - 16:47
Drawn from sources all around the web…
Pros and Cons of webcomic hosts.
The second wave of Zuda arrives.
Xerexes wants your questions for the good folks over at Blank Label Comics.
Shaenon K. Garrity, creator of Narbonic and writer of Smithson.com and Li’l Mell will be launching a new daily webcomic at the end of the month. Stay [...]
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Webcomic Wire - 12/5/07
Submitted by NightgigTim on December 5, 2007 - 16:47
Drawn from sources all around the web…
Pros and Cons of webcomic hosts.
The second wave of Zuda arrives.
Xerexes wants your questions for the good folks over at Blank Label Comics.
Shaenon K. Garrity, creator of Narbonic and writer of Smithson.com and Li’l Mell will be launching a new daily webcomic at the end of the month. Stay [...]
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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
Only A Webcomic, It Really Couldn't Help It
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on November 19, 2007 - 10:46
BUSINESS
- Todd Allen has a good overview of recent digital online efforts: comparing Marvel's Digital Comics Unlimited to iTunes and Rhapsody, and then wondering why Zuda and Comic Mix are not maximizing their potential ad revenue.
INTERVIEWS
- Tom Spurgeon has an interesting interview with Rick Marshall, the recently fired former online editor of Wizard. Marshall takes a lot of credit for Wizard's recent online attention to independent webcomics which seems to be continuing through the efforts of staff writer Brian Warmoth.
- Comicgate has a good interview with Dirk Wood, the marketing director for Dark Horse. There's a bit in there about Dark Horse's webcomics on MySpace. Like Marvel's DCU, Wood seems to think that online readers want webcomics to "feel" like reading a comic book. This is, to say the least, wrong. At best, interfaces like this evoke a nostalgia or a "that's cool" feeling for a few days, but then quickly become annoying. If comics can learn anything from the foibles of the music industry, it's that consumers in the intertubes era want maximum flexibility with their content. And there's also this (sadly) accurate description of the direct market demographic (emphasis added): "Whether it's a ten-year-old girl going into a book store or a 40-year-old man going into a comic shop or toystore."
Webcomic Wire - 11/6/07
Submitted by NightgigTim on November 6, 2007 - 12:46
Drawn from sources inside the iron curtain…
Heidi MacDonald over at TheBeat from Publishers Weekly gives some reactions to ZUDA.
iFanboy has some more on new corporate money being put into webcomics.Â
Tim Broderick’s comic ODD JOBS has been optioned to Warner Brothers Television. Congratulations!
Todd Allen at Comic Book Resources has a good interview with Joey, Josh and [...]
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Webcomic Wire - 11/6/07
Submitted by NightgigTim on November 6, 2007 - 12:46
Drawn from sources inside the iron curtain…
Heidi MacDonald over at TheBeat from Publishers Weekly gives some reactions to ZUDA.
iFanboy has some more on new corporate money being put into webcomics.ÂÂ
Tim Broderick’s comic ODD JOBS has been optioned to Warner Brothers Television. Congratulations!
Todd Allen at Comic Book Resources has a good interview with Joey, Josh and [...]
foo
I Come From A Monday Down Under...
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on November 5, 2007 - 15:55
COMIXTALK MAGAZINE UPDATES
- Lots of articles up this morning to kick off the November issue of Comixtalk: interviews with Howard Tayler, the new Halfpixel crew, comics creator and writer Debbie Ridpath Ohi and comics artist Ramon Perez; Doctor Haus reviews the webcomic Slackerz, and two feature articles: one from Patric Lewandowski examining the definition of comics, and one from Tim Broderick with advice on writing a query letter to publishers.
BUSINESS
- Todd Allen has an interview with Joey Manley and one of the investors in the new ComicSpace venture.
ZUDA, ZUDA, ZUDA!
- David Gallagher writes about writing for Zuda.
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Brian HibbsAbhay Khosla writes about the Zuda interface (and something about why webcomics should aim to be more disreputable than the print comics he sells.) - Paul O'Brien gives Zuda a grade of a C+. Seems early for report cards?
- Highway 62 focuses on the actual webcomics up on Zuda.
- Newsarama has an interview with many of the Zuda creators.
- The Beat has a round-up of posts on Zuda here.
OPINIONATED WEBCOMICS
- The SpinZone webcomics collective picks up its first conservatively-tilted webcomic, Geeks on Caffeine.
JUSTIFY MY HYPE
- What happens on the pirate ship, STAYS on the pirate ship
- Debbie Ridpath Ohi updates her My Life in a Nutshell comic with a bit on her ComixTalk interview.
AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 BLOGS
- Monkey Law goes silent in support of the Writers Guild strike.
- Panels and Pixels has an extended interview with Monte Schulz on the recent biography on his dad Charles Schulz, the creator of Peanuts.
- Nightwish, heavymetal umlauters from Europe, rock out at Onezumi Studios.
- Seven Camels blog has scans of the "Comic Strip Artist's Kit" created by Carson Van Osten, a famous Disney artist who did many of the Disney comic books.
Rolling, Rolling, Rolling (Update) On a Thursday!
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on November 1, 2007 - 15:00
Welcome to November. We have a cover this month from Debbie Ridpath Ohi who creates a great webcomic on writing called Will Write For Chocolate. No particular theme this month but a lot of good interesting articles are on tap. In December, we will venture into "wrapping up the year that was" territory - stay tuned for more details on that later this month.
HEADLINES
- Halfpixel increases by two and changes name to Quarterpixel.. wait I mean Bipixel -- actually just read the interview with Scott, Kris, Brad and Dave here to find out about their new working partnership under the Halfpixel banner.
- Slashdot picks up on Wikinews' story on Webcomics and Wikipedia. I know this is old news to most readers of ComixTalk but it's in the news again for at least a portion of the intertubes-reading public.
BUSINESS
- Steven Grant tries to apply lessons of the music industry to the comics biz. It's a good think piece and points out the way comics creators can bypass the "labels" like musicisians are doing, but annoyingly Grant knows more about examples of this "new entrepreneurship" in the music industry then he does in his own industry. Grant should at least be aware of the comics equivalents of unsigned new bands - webcomics - and how they use merchandise and other ancilliary activities (sketches, guest shots, downloads) to make money while giving away the comic for free. He could have also pointed to some established professionals ditching their labels to go indy - like Phil and Kaja Foglio or Michael Jantze.
INTERVIEWS
- The U. of Alberta paper has an interview with Faith Erin Hicks on her soon-to-be-released graphic novel Zombies Calling.
MILESTONES
- Congrats to Thomas K Dye who is celebrating the tenth anniversary of his comic tale of canine journalism: Newshounds.
TECHNOLOGY
- An early look from a blog at the comics on Zuda and what's attracting the most votes from the readers. A different blog has a bit more of a focus on the user interface.
- Looks like the Amazon e-reader isn't coming out anytime soon despite earlier announcements to the contrary.
CONTESTS
- I need to start handing these Karas the Revelation DVDs out faster! Gimme (in the comments) the phrase that pays to be the next winner.
