Comix Talk

This Friday-Saturday is Intervention in Bethesda, Maryland, just north of Washington DC.  Lots of fun folks will be there, maybe you too?  Believe it or not I am on a panel on Saturday late afternoon titled "The Outside Perspective: Webcomic review/news sites" — does that sound exciting?  Perhaps we should rename it "WEBCOMIC MONSTER TRUCK DEMOLITION DERBY: SATURDAY! SATURDAY! SATURDAY*" but I don't think I can produce any actual monster trucks on one week's notice.  Nevertheless it will be at the very least me, talking about writing about webcomics and maybe (knock on the nearest wood-simulated product) a few special guests.  

The other panels going on at the same time include (1) a Q & A with the guy who does Dominic Deegan: Oracle for Hire who I have not met and so will not again; (2) a panel on Net Neutrality which perhaps is a panel I should have been on myself but now am wondering who is on it!?!?; (3) the Viral Video room where I am assured no one will catch anything (much); (4) Comic Press ADVANCED! workshop which actually will probably be 50% more useful than anything I say and (5) Club 242 Autopilot which is probably too hip for the likes of me.  Oooh plus right afterwards at 6 PM in a different room is the Webcomics.Com Lightning Round with at least Brad Guigar (and maybe another Half-Pixelite?).  Good thing I'm not going on right after that – you can't top genius like that…

By coming to my panel you're also bound to miss the chance to see anything at SPX at that time which includes a spotlight on legendary comic dude Jamie Hernandez; and Johanna Draper Carlson's panel on comics for younger readers with the likes of Raina Telgemeier and Drew Weing.

Wow I wonder what will happen at this panel from 5 PM to 6 PM to entice you to come despite the many other choices you (yes you!) could make this coming Saturday.  Well… me too!  Is there anything you think would be particularly interesting for me to talk about?  Or do?  I'm not above gimmicks here folks 🙂

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Another interesting launch this past week!  Michael Jasper and artist Niki Smith relaunched their webcomic In Maps & Legends on September 1st.  They won DC's November 2009 Zuda contest, but their run there was cut short by the abrupt shutdown of Zuda by DC. 

So the creators have cooked up a multi-outlet publication plan with the first issue for sale at 99 cents at a variety of online distributors:

• Comixology (iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad, Web Reader)
• Graphic.ly (iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad, Web Reader)
• Robot Comics (Droid Phone – coming 9/6/10!)
• Amazon’s US Kindle Store (Kindle format)
• Amazon’s UK Kindle Store (Kindle format)
• DriveThruComics (PDF download)
• Wowio (PDF download)
• Scribd (PDF download)

The comic is about a young woman caught up in a plot between our world and another:

Kaitlin Grayson considers herself just an artist until she gets recruited by a strange man named Bartamus, who shows up at her place in the middle of the night and demands she use her skills to save his dying world. Soon Kait gets caught between two worlds, and if Bartamus’ world falls, Earth is next — along with untold other worlds.

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Hello, ComixTalkers. My name is Ben Gamboa and I'm responsible for the comic “Tweep,” which I've been producing since early 2003. I'm not the greatest webcartoonist, nor the most well-known, but I like to think that I've learned some things about cartooning over the past few years. And, since this is Back-to-School season, I thought I'd use my guest stint to write posts aimed at folks who are thinking about starting a webcomic of their own. As there are plenty of talented folks who frequent this site, hopefully some of you will chime in with some tips of your own.

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A big thanks again to all of the great guest bloggers this past month.  The site would have been pretty dead without their lively posts and comments. I'm extending the guest blogging one more week because I need a week now to dig out from the avalanche of work that piled up during my travels in August.  This coming week we'll have posts from two comic creators: Brandon Carr and Ben Gamboa.  Both have worked with webcomics for sometime now and I think you'll enjoy their contributions.

While I'm here let me point out a few stories I thought you might find interesting as well as take care of some of the ComixTalk mailbag.

INTERNATIONAL HOUSE OF WEBCOMICS

Dave McElfatrick, one of the four creators of Cyanide & Happiness and the only one not based in the United States (he's from Ireland) — recently got a visa to the U.S after initially getting rejected:

McElfatrick turned his Internet celebrity to his advantage: He asked his fans to sign a petition to show the government that “his work and the comic he’s a part of have a huge global audience.” More than 146,000 signatures later, the US Immigration Office has reversed its initial judgment: Today, McElfatrick announced that he’s been approved for the visa.

Also, I just saw this article in the Times of India on webcomics there.  A few links in it to the webcomics mentioned — a range of quality to be sure but great to see a story on a thriving scene there. 

MILESTONES

I heard from the man himself, but haven't had a chance to post until now: Box Brown wrapped up Bellen! and launched a new comic project with three full stories in the archives for Everything Dies.  Brown got some deserved hype from USA Today here.

BUSINESS

I've never heard of publisher DarkBrain, LLC before but they recently announced that all of their webcomic are now available for free.  Their comics includes original music, and voice-over narration, hmm…. not sure what to make of that.

From the mailbag

• Nina Paley writes that she has a new webcomic — Mimi and Eunice.  Paley is the uber-talented artist and creator behind the animated Sita Sings The Blues and her earlier comics: Nina's Adventures, Fluff, and The Hots.
• Nikole Jones writes about her webcomic Full Armour — a humorous action adventure all ages comic which has two stories finished and is in the midst of its third one.  It's the saga of thirteen kids that make up a team that takes on special missions.  Jones describes the comic as "one part character study, one part globe trotting treasure hunt, and one part explosive action with blue daemons and angels with no mouths."
• Jerome Genevray writes that he's made a trailer for Le Greenboy — a movie project he's working on about a superhero in Paris which will feature two actresses you may have heard of: Alysson Paradis (the sister of the wife of johnny Depp -) and Diane Dassigny plus Aurélien Jégou stars as Greenboy.  It's got to be a comedy — it's about a guy who dresses up in a green costume and picks up litter, inspiring others to do the same.  I think there's an unintentional cross-border laugh though — apparently supporters of Le Greenboy put their index finger and thumb on their forehead in the shape on an "L" — that's slang for "loser" where I grew up.

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Daniel and Amanda Potter were guest bloggers at ComixTalk this past August.  Daniel's webcomic Walking The Lethe is coming as a print graphic novel.  It's written by Dan and the first two chapters are painted by Sam Ireland and the second half of the book is illustrated by Aditia Wardhana.  Walking the Lethe Volume #1 encompasses the first four chapters of main character Richard Harrison's journey to win back his wife from her untimely death:

He will scour the afterlife until he finds her and will break down the heavenly gates if that’s what it takes. This first volume takes him from his home in Boston Mass, through the shadowscape and into America’s mountains of faith, the ghosts of the Twin Towers.   All the while, Angels and Demons battle over the fate of his journey.

Walking the Lethe Volume 1 is available for pre-order for 15 euros (not sure what the exchange rate to US dollars is but I'd guess this is about $20?) — the price goes up on September 19th.

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Over at his "Neuf et demi" blog French comics theorist Thierry Groensteen just posted (what I believe is) an excerpt about webcomics from his forthcoming (in 2011) book on comics (a follow-up to his Systeme de la bande dessinée, translated as The System of Comics (UP Mississippi, 2007)). It's a mixture of clichéed anti-screen-reading objections and some more astute observations about the difference between reading comics online and reading them in print. Here's a quick summary with commentary.

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Hi, Folks! Now it’s time to fill out your trade paperback’s contents.  It may seem a little unfair, because you’ve already spent the time to get all those comics created, but these are some of the considerations you need to take into account: 

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So, you are ready to collect your comic into a trade paperback.

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