Comix Talk

Comic Creators For Freedom announced today that the prep work for their third annual fundraiser against Human Trafficking Awareness has begun. Each year comic creators (web and print) collaborate to create an image that is available in both digital and print formats. This year’s theme is the “Epic Snowball Fight”. Poster prints will be available from all three fundraising campaigns. As always, the image will be available digitally in exchange for donations.  

Artists who wish to participate must submit artwork by the end of the year and can contact organizer Lora Innes at comics4freedom@gmail.com. This years returning artists already include  Danielle Corsetto (Girls with Slingshots), Crystal Yates (Earthsong), Scott Christian Sava (The Dreamland Chronicles), and Thom Zahler (Love and Capes).  

The donation drive starts on January 9th to coincide with National Human Trafficking Awareness Day which is January 11, 2012. The drive ends Friday January 20, 2012. This annual drive has raised over $15,000 to the cause with over 100+ creators helping in the event.

Organizer and award winning creator, Lora Innes states, “ Human Trafficking has reached seriously dangerous proportions and it is one of the top 3 crimes globally falling right under drugs and guns. 80% of victims are women and 50% are kids.  This is movie level evil and it’s happening right now. Comics are often about heroes of all shapes and sizes and the ordinary person doing the extraordinary.  Be the hero in this and participate in the drive.”

A special podcast for the event is available at http://tgtmedia.com/podcast/ep193-comiccreatorsforfreedom/. 100% of donations are being split between Love 146 (www.love146.org) and Grace Haven House (www.gracehavenhouse.org).

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If you're in Austin you ought to go to this panel at the Dragon’s Lair store on December 10 and 11 with Danielle Corsetto of Girls with Slingshots, Randy Milholland of Something Positive, Joel Watson of Hijinks Ensue, Bill Williams of Side Chicks, Jeph Jacques of Questionable Content, Rob DenBleyker of Cyanide and Happiness, Nicholas Gurewitch of Perry Bible Fellowship, Josh Lesnick of Girly and David Willis of Dumbing of Age.

For your holidays, a list of webcomics old and new that I think you should check out:

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So I did an interview with the Webcomic Beacon podcast — it'll come out sometime in December. That's my 2nd interview ever — perhaps you'll listen and understand why… One thing I did learn was that the Beacon has a sister podcast called The Webcomic Beacon Newscast with Rossscott (who also MC's Super Art Fight). Listening to it right now — not a bad combination of topical comics stuff and commentary.

ASK ME ABOUT MY BUTT ANYTHING: Jeph Jacques did a Reddit Ask Me Anything about a week ago – some interesting stuff in there, particularly if you're a fan.

KICKSTART MY ART: Paul Duffield, the artist on Warren Ellis' FreakAngels webcomic is in the process of launching his own webcomic, The Firelight Isle. The story revolves around two young characters who have been friends since birth, a weaver named Anlil and Sen a spearman in training. The world is a fantastical one that forms a backdrop on which to explore human culture in a fictional setting.  Duffield has started an IndieGoGo campaign (similar enough to Kickstarter) to raise some scratch so he can spend more time working on it.

MAILBAG: Bad Breath Comics #4 by Josh Juresilo arrived in the (physical) mail box this past week. It's a jumble of short and shorter stories with a very 'zine-like feel to the comic as a whole.  My favorite part of it was the throw-away covers of fake 1950's comic books, all of which overly-incorporate aliens into their theme.  A bit on Alan Moore's "Selective Celebrity" is also a good one page bit.  Two longer stories are "America Vs History" and "Stretch of Road" both of which are sort of in a not-that-funny, but no real left-turn in the plot grey zone.  The book as a whole is a solid, if somewhat amateur, effort. 

KEENSPOTTED: John Gallagher announced that he's hooked up with Keenspot to serialize on the web the graphic novel Buzzboy: Sidekicks Rule taken from his great all ages comic Buzzboy.  He's also releasing it on iTunes through Comics Jukebox, and in early December in print from Red Giant Entertainment. This should be standard textbook rollout for a comic these days and I hope this helps grow the audience for Buzzboy. And good for Keenspot — it added a blurb to its homepage on adding this comic to its lineup:

As eagle-eyed visitors to our San Diego Comic-Con booth in July might've already figured out, John Gallagher's BUZZBOY has been recruited into the league of Keenspot heroes! Joining our growing line-up of kid-friendly comics like COUNT YOUR SHEEP and BRAWL IN THE FAMILY,BUZZBOY follows the adventures of world's coolest super sidekick, a cheeseburger-chomping, pop culture-quoting dynamo! But what happens when his mentor, Captain Ultra, and all the top adult superheroes disappear, and Buzzboy and friends are left to save a world where sidekicks rule? Find out by STARTING AT THE START!

HYPE: Comics Alliance had a cool round-up of good comics from last week.

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50% off the calories that is!

HYPE: Have I plugged Ethan Nicolle’s new webcomic Bearmageddon yet?  Because it would be unbearable if I hadn't…  

DUDES IN LONG UNDERWEAR: This series of art deco superhero posters is very cool.  So are these 8-bit versions of superheroes.  And even superheroes get the blues.

RADIO GAGA: Next month is the 4th anniversary of the Webcomic Beacon podcast. Before December 4th, listeners can enter the 4th Anniversary Special Giveaway, to win one of several comic book prizes. Multiple entries allowed for multiple random drawings. People can enter by submitted artwork, voicemail feedback, and signing up with and using the new link referral program. Prizes include books from the comics Theater Hopper, Bittersweet Candy Bowl, Zombie Ranch and others.

MILESTONE: The webcomic Blue Yonder soared through its first year anniversary this month.  Created by Richard Pulfer and Luke Perks with illustrations by Diego Diaz, Blue Yonder is the story of Jared Davenport aka Blue Yonder, a hot-headed member of a premiere superhero team whom, unfortunately for Jared, happen to be family. The Illinois-based Pulfer and Texas-based Perks have been friends since high school. Diego Diaz is a veteran cartoonist and children’s book illustrator based in Argentina.

MAILBAG

• James writes in that he's started a new comic called Agthbar the Extemporaneous. 
• Egypt Urnash writes in about his sci-fi webcomic, Decrypting Rita, which is about a robot/cyborg lady and parallel realities.

KICKSTART MY ART

Evan Dahm is going to put out his epic The Order of Tales in a single volume edition.  Do I need to sell this?  It's a fantastic fantasy webcomic that just screams for the book treatment.

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I am thankful for getting my computer repaired just five days before the warranty expired.  Knock on virtual wood it works for a few more years yet!

THANKS: A new slice of Achewood? Don't mind if I do.  And Ray detox-in' just sets the holiday mood.

FOOD: Comics Alliance spotlights several recipe webcomics from Saveur's website appropriate for today's festivities.

MAILBAG: Rick Forgus writes in about TALES FROM THE BLACK HIWAY — the story of Ray Lantry, an author who embarks on a personal cross country journey to write his own Beat inspired novel. But, things don't work out as he planned and he is thrust on a dark journey that takes him into the shadow world of the supernatural. Monsters, creatures, curses, and an ancient carnival that leads to a close relationship with a beautiful angel of death and a battle with an ancient mechanical Chinese warrior.  It's like Jack Kerouac in an Outer Limits episode.

KICKSTART MY ART: Ed Power writes in about his kickstarter project for Santa Versus Dracula. (Power used to write for the comic strip My Cage for King Features).  Check out their video below:

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Two days of posting in a row? Something must be up…

iWEBCOMICS: The Beat points to INK, a digital anthology, which is a pretty good idea.  This one is created by the students and faculty of the School of Visual Arts in New York. The first issue can be read for FREE and downloaded for iPad or read on the web.

GAMING:  Valve has created another great webcomic, this one for the upcoming DotA2 and it turns out that the final entry of the webcomic holds a survey that could get you into the beta.

HYPE: Geeks of Doom reviews Heist: Homeland Insecurity.

UNDEAD HYPE: Karl Kesel's Johnny Zombie is a fun zombie webcomic that's just started.

GROUP HYPE:  WHATNOT is an art/comics blog by Amanda Conner, Andrew Robinson, Becky Cloonan, Bill Sienkiewicz, Cliff Chiang, Dan Panosian, Duncan Fergredo, Eric Canete, Francesco Francavilla, Jock, Mark Chiarello, Mike Oeming, Phil Noto, Reverend Dave Johnson, and Sean Phillips.  It's pretty dang good.

MAILBAG:  Reed Hawker's webcomic Culture Shock hit its 10th year anniversary this month.  (DrunkDuck hosting changed its name to The Duck Webcomics but still has the drunkduck.com domain name and the same green duck logo. Hmmm…)  To celebrate, he's holding a contest — entry in the form of guest art about the comic, deadline December 12th.  Oddly enough, the archive only has about 200 comics in it so it's not quite as intimidating to jump into as the 10 year mark would suggest.  It's a little scattered at time but basically a funny tale of a knight and ninja out of time.

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Well there's been plenty of good comics shtuff this month, but your trusty "plays-a-reporter-on-the-internet" correspondent has been delinquent.  So let's see what the what right now.

HOWDY TO: David Morgan Mars Bar wrote a very interesting how to do webcomics kind of post.  He certainly knows webcomics having made thousands of them and his advice is very good.

iWEBCOMIC: Engadget reviews comics on the Kindle Fire and the Nook.

MILESTONES: Penny Arcade is a teenager. (h/t Fleen).  And Real Life is twelve.  The kids grow up so fast these days.

SPLENDID IDEA: Alan Moore made a video in support of an effort to get a memorial to the late cartoonist Harvey Pekar at the Cleveland Library.  The effort is being spearheaded by Harvey's widow Joyce.

JOHNNY DRAMA: Man this episode of Spacetrawler is just wrenching.  At this point I'm completely hooked on the universe that Christopher Baldwin has built for this story.  This particular reveal gives his webcomic a parallel to the classic short story The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas.

ECOMMERCE: Has anyone checked out Dwolla?  It touts itself as an alternative to the entire credit card system and charges a mere 25 cents per transaction.

ECOMMUNIST: Kris Straub writes about Kachingle which strikes me as another unneeded "micro-gifting" system.  Straub makes a very good point that because Kachingle is using an opt-out method, it's collecting money on his behalf without his permission.  

Kriss Kross Will Make You: Joel Watson is parodying 21 Jump Street and Occupy Wall Street? Kudos to you good sir!  Related: Cartoon Riffs had a round up of Occupy [YOUR CITY HERE] comics.

Girl, Genius, Interrupted: Check out El Santo's poll regarding Agatha's exit from Castle Heterodyne.  Has it really been 3 and 1/2 years of this story arc?  I've been delinquent in reading this webcomic — time to catch up on the Foglio's masterpiece.

PRIMARY COLORS: The Washington Post's comics blog is conducting is soliciting nominations for a poll on your favorite webcomic of 2011.  So there's that.

BULLMOOSE AMUCK:  Rick Marschall will speak on Teddy Roosevelt in political cartoons at the Library of Congress, November 29th at 11:30 AM.

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Okay – who watched The Walking Dead season 2 premiere?  I did, I liked it.  Pretty gripping stuff.  But shouldn't these people be a little bit more worried about getting zombie fluids, like BLOOD, all over them?  Also next episode spoiler: ZOMBIE DEER!!!!

INTERVIEW: The Varsity has an interview with Daniel Clowes on his new comic The Death Ray.

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES, GO!!!:  OH MAH GLOCHESTER – the Teenage Mutant Ninja Noses blog is brillant.  It's like the sunglasses in They Live — once you see the turtles, they're everywhere! And I'm all out of bubblegum.  And turtle soup too. 

LOOOOVED IT: The Tartan writes up the imminent end to the MS Paint Adventures story "Homestuck."  They loooved it.

CONVENTION 'VENTION, WHAT'S MY… WHATEVER: Gary "Mr. Fleen" Tyrrell talks to MANY webcomic folks at the NY Comicon and you can read it right here. Also, entry #1001 in another convention I did not go to… Don't CRY for me I'm at the cantina…  Also saw that The Beat reported the convention had 100,000+ attendees.  Yowza!  And Tom Spurgeon rounds up more stories from the con.  And links to everything written about it EVERYWEAR.

BIZNESS IS GOUDA: Robot6 links to Colleen Doran's post on the success of serializing online her A Distant Soil comic,  “my bottom line is up significantly, and my online audience is ten times higher than when I started the five day a week online serialization of A Distant Soil 2.5 years ago.” (h/t Robots 6, 7 and 8).

LUCKY NUMBERS: Art Patient picks four webcomic winners.

ALSO: J Pop America Fun Time GO!!!

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Time for another check on the state of reading webcomics — that is, how do you find, track and read webcomics these days (here's a link to last year's post).  Here's some options I'm aware of — let us know what you think and whether we need to add anything.

1.  RSS Feeds.  This is probably one of the most popular methods of tracking and reading webcomics.  With a web-based reader like Google Reader you can collect RSS feeds for webcomics and read them right in Google Reader.  Because they are RSS feeds, you get a feed that updates when the webcomic updates.  This is my primary approach this year.  Downsides for me are that it doesn't offer great organization tools (you can organize feeds into folders but that's about as much as I can make Google Reader do) and doesn't really help with discovering new work.

2.  Piperka.net.  A site that has a big list of webcomics.  You can set up an account, pick the webcomics you want to follow and it gives you a list of the comics that have updated.  Nice site but it's owner doesn't seem interested in adding to it or improving it. It has a goofy categorization system. I think there's lots of ways you could use this data to try and help readers find more webcomics to discover.

3.  Ink Outbreak (http://inkoutbreak.com/).  I still don't quite completely get this one but with an account you can create your own list of webcomics to read and it gives you a thin frame at the top of your browser to navigate through your list of webcomics with the site.

4.  Comic Domination (http://www.comicdomination.com/). Okay, I know nothing about this one – it just came up on a google search.

5.  The Webcomic List (http://www.thewebcomiclist.com/) Kind of old school but also lets you set up on your account a list of webcomics to read.  It lets you know when they've updated. Also has a pretty active forum community.

Also I remember something called Serializer or something like that from earlier this year but I can't find it now.

6. Serialist.net.

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