So the big interesting "thing" this week was two ongoing conversations at FLEEN and THE DAILY CARTOONIST among cartoonists about how to make money via the web and/or print. As this decade (the "naughts"?) has gone along it’s obvious that cartoonists need to learn how to use all their options – web and print – to connect with the audience and turn that into a living. These threads still had a bit of what in the past folks have called "print" versus "webcomics" but when you get down to it, this is really a generational divide combined with technological shifts.
It’s basically as if all of the big band musicisians were released on 78s and they were talking to rap musicians released on casette tapes — it’s a whirlpool of baked in business and artistic assumptions on both sides that the average person can’t get past. I suppose this crystalized for me reading Jeff Vella’s comments about xkcd.com. GIven it’s audience and rocket growth, there’ really shouldn’t be any doubt that xkcd is a rock star in comics, web or otherwise. But if you’re a big band musician you may not want to admit that xkcd is even playing music, let alone that it’s a star at it.
But they’re both very interesting threads, especially if you’re a creator trying to make sense of what to do with your comics. And Scott Kurtz has set up a Talk Shoe call tonight at 7 PM to continue the discussion. You can call into (724) 444-7444 ( Call ID: 5786) or sign up at Talkshoe.com and use your mic and headset to talk for free using their built in software.
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