Comix Talk

FLEEN spots that the WOWIO site is now one page titled "WOWIO is Going Global".  This is odd and probably ominous, not only because as FLEEN noted that language such as “retooling content agreements” might be PR-speak for “drop the payment rate through the floor” but because you’ve got a site down for at least two weeks.  I suspect that WOWIO in its previous format made no profits — because if it was making a profit there’d be no reason at all to pull it down.  When you do a new site you don’t have to take the old one down — you have this thing called a development server where you can get the new one shiny and ready to go and for the most part there’s no reason for any downtime at all.

UPDATE: Brigid Alverson rounds up more about the WOWIO situation, including some idea of how much money WOWIO has paid out to creators so far.  Heidi MacDonald notes that, she had heard rumors that the company was slow on its payments to creators and that the company has been sold.  No sources cited on either rumor though.

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Chris Jones’ Grumps is over!  And it was just a foul-mouthed kids tv show?…

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Chris Bobby Crosby's and Remy Mokhtar's Marry Me is almost done, climaxing with a not completely unexpected marriage proposal between the main characters.  This story of a pop star's snap marriage to someone in the audience is completely high concept but Crosby and Mokhtar made a really enjoyable comic out of it, filling out the two main characters pretty well. 

Here's hoping Crosby does get a movie made out this story. Why not?  It's a good concept and would make a pretty damn funny romantic comedy.

UPDATE: Yes this is the same Bobby Crosby who seemingly exhibits tourettes-like symptoms everytime he posts on a message board.

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DJ Coffman blogs more about his attempts to get some of the rights to Hero By Night returned from Platinum.  Earlier this spring Coffman blogged about shutting down production on the comic book Hero By Night because Platinum hadn't been paying him and other creators working on the book.  Coffman, understandably, has tried to be careful to layer his concerns within praise for Platinum — he remains one of the company's biggest boosters online.  One wonders if Platinum will do the right thing by Coffman or just not do anything at all…

In related, but better for Coffman news, his other webcomic Yirmumah returned to Keenspot this month.

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DEAD TREES
Bill Watterson is writing the forward to the first book collection of Richard Thompson’s Cul-De-Sac comic.  Cool!

EVENTS
Chris Hastings will be at the Washington Street Library in Cumberland MD on June 28th at 2 PM to talk Dr. McNinja.  Double-plus cool: Dr. McNinja is from a fictional version of Cumberland, MD (one with a Zombie Defense System).  (I am totally making a comic called Blackbeard Jones, Esq now…)

INTERVIEWS
Rick Marshall interviews Jon Rosenberg about farm animals and beer.

TOOLS
The Gigcast linked to another make comics tool – this one’s call Pikkipi.

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Abstruse Goose is an xkcd-like comic (both in terms of subject matter and "art") that ain’t bad (and it has the good sense to acknowledge and mock the similarities).  I saw it linked to from Wil Wheaton’s blog — linkbaiting WW apparently works pretty well -although I’m not clear on the red hat signifier for Wheaton in the comic.

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AWARDS
The 2008 Harvey Award nominations are out.  The nominees for BEST ON-LINE COMIC are:

• Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Jeff Kinney
• EZ Street, Robert Tinnell and Mark Wheatley
• Penny Arcade, Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik
• Perry Bible Fellowship, Nicholas Gurewitch
• Surreal Adventures of Edgar Allan Poo, Dwight L. Macpherson, Thomas Boatwright and Thomas Mauer

MILESTONES
The Daily Cartoonist has just about everything on the web you’d want to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Jim Davis’ Garfield.

TOOLS
Drawn! links to a video of Mark Criley showing how to draw "manga-style" hands.

AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 BLOGS
Kate Beaton distills the Anthony-Liz romance from For Better Or For Worse. (h/t FLEEPN)

The Bear Trap – a comic about the meltdown of Bear Stearns (h/t Journalista!)

Raw Materials – an ongoing science comic by Larry Gonick who is the award-winning author of “The Cartoon History of the Universe,” “The Cartoon History of the Modern World,” and Cartoon Guides to Physics, Statistics, and other scientific subjects.

Noted musicologist and sometimes webcomicker Johnny A reviews the leaked tracks of the someday-may-come GnR album "Chinese Democracy".

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A few late updates to the magazine this week: interviews with Einser-nominated creator Jason Shiga (FLEEP, Bookhunter) and cartoonist/animator Pendelton Ward (Bueno the Bear).

JUSTIFY MY HYPE
Joe Infurnari’s Ultra Lad starts up at ACT-I-VATE this coming Monday.

AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 BLOGS
Jim Zubkavich reports that the Canadian Children’s Book Centre just released their annual "Best Books for Kids & Teens" guide and one of the seven graphic novels listed includes his Makeshift Miracle (which originally appeared as a webcomic).

Comic Book Galaxy with 6 tips on reading comics for free.

Richard Thompson, creator of the very good Culdesac strip talks nubs.

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