Webcomics in paper formats
D.J. Coffman launches a website for his forthcoming (Spring 2007) Platinum Studios comic book Hero By Night. The website will not run the actual comic but features additional material about the character.
Update: I've added the official press release from Platinum Studios – click read more to check it out.
Good news for Jim Zubkavich fans – the beloved webcomic The Makeshift Miracle is now free to read – no subscription, no micropayments. I encourage those who missed this comic to go check it out – it’s a heartfelt yet quirky tale – check out its encyclopedia entry for more details.
Recently, we noted that Udon was set to put out TMM in book format. It’s happening. And if you want a copy you can pre-order now through comic book retailers or directly from Jim Zubkavich at his website. If you do pre-order, do it through the website – Jim mentioned to me that if he has at least 350 pre-orders of the book through the website then he doesn’t have to worry about the comic book store order numbers.
The Beat reports that Friends of Lulu is accepting submissions for a new anthology comic to be called: The Girls’ Guide to Guys’ Stuff. More details at the FoL site.
This is cool news – an early webcomics hit is finally coming to print. Jim Zubkavich's The Makeshift Miracle was crafted in the dial-up era of webcomics where limited bandwidth made crafting beautiful webcomic art more akin to composing haiku then the no-file-sizes-barred approach of today. Even if you didn't know that you'd still think The Makeshift Miracle is a good looking comic.
Be sure to read the blog post – Jim's recounting of asking his boss at Udon whether they would be interesting in publishing his comic is funny as heck.
It's not only America that's celebrating something today. Beaver and Steve are celebrating their 200th strip. It doesn't seem that long ago that they were celebrating the 100th strip. The new strip coincides with the new change of updates to the new Tuesdays & Friday's updating.
Although it's about a week away (and I won't be guest blogging then), the fantastic Multiplex is turning the grand old age of one on the 10th July. Gordon McAlpin (creator of Multiplex) hopes to actually get the strip upto #75 on that date.
Webcomics in Print Blog (okay a self plug there if ever I saw it) has a triple expresso of Yirmumah for you all with an interview with DJ Coffman, a competition to win all 5 books and an exclusive sketch and a review of his mini-comic!
I'm supposed to be gone for awhile right?
Nevertheless I'm very excited – and wanted to post that Paul Taylor has a book out collecting several years of Wapsi Square. (With a foreward for the book from fellow BLC'er Dave Kellett).
Zoinks reports that Will Turner and Daver Reynold will soon be launching a new webcomic called Reynard City using a pay-per-download business model.
The Webcomics Examiner reviews Hold My Life by Dale Ingram.
The Webcomicker reviews a bunch of webcomic books from Goats, Dinosaur Comics, Silent Kimbly, and Schlock Mercenary.
Blank Label Comics is having a contest — the winner will receive a signed book from every BLC member that currently has a book out. The drawing will be open until 11:59 PM on Thursday, June 8 and the winner will be announced this Friday. To enter, just send an e-mail with your name and mailing address to drawing@blanklabelcomics.com.
A nice post from Debbie Ridpath Oni on writing journals – she includes a lot of links to good resources on writing.
Tom Spurgeron points to an interesting thread at Warren Ellis' Engine forums on starting up a comic book shop.
Two notable bits of book news this week:
John Allison reports that his fourth print collection of Scary Go Round is headed off to the printers. He'll also be crossing the pond for New York's MoCCA this June.
Howard Tayler reports that he's started working on the NEXT Schlock Mercenary collection. This one will collect episodes published online from August 2003 to March 2004. Fleen has a review of the current SM collection – "Under New Management" which I'm still waiting to get in my shiny maibox! 
Some convention appearances to note:
Blank Label dude Brad Guigar is at his hometown convention, Wizard World Cheesesteak Philapdelphia. I don't have the details here on the WizWorldCon but I hear it's in Philly!
Plus several reviews and blurbs for webcomics:
Joe Zabel writes about Derek Kirk Kim's new comic work online entitled Healing Hands. Joe's blog post on his review has already generated a lively discussion.
The Webcomicker has a review of Banished and in it argues that the web has been key to the success of a number of science fiction comedy titles. I don't know if I agree with the assertion, but regardless, Gilead links to many of the best sci-fi ha-ha webcomics I'm aware of.
T Campbell drops that he's bringing back Search Engine Funnies on September 1st. No word on the new artist(s) though.
Here's a business bit of news:
Gary Tyrrell has an interview with Chris Baldwin who recently signed a "web syndication" deal with United Media for his other comic Little Dee.
Some other interesting webcomic-related stories include:
The Penny Arcade duo taught a class on comics to grade schoolers. They've done this before and it's good to see them at it again. Gabe mused aloud about creating some resources for school teachers to download – he should do that. (He might also talk to Brad Guigar who did a similar project with comics in schools a few years ago.)
The blog Filth Hole (which is sometimes NSFW) got linked to by Warren Ellis for a funny sketch (which is probably NSFW).
The Writer Response Theory blog has a post on the history of fiction on the Internet which of course includes webcomics. A project along these lines would probably be able to use T Campbell's book as a jumping off point for a chapter on webcomics – I'm not sure what has been written about other fiction forms on the Internet. More interestingly would be to take a look at any interplay between different forms (and their associated communties of creators and readers) in their development on the internets.
Webcomics In Print blog is having a competition – send in a picture of yourself wearing a webcomic t-shirt before June 10th. Winners will win fabulous prizes no doubt!
We're also happy to report:
Bob Stevenson appears to have updated his blog/comic site Journey Into History. Bob does both webcomics and webcomic reviews well – he's kind of the ultimate anti-FLEEN.
Zoinks reports that it's latest issue is going to press and will be available later this month.
And in Not-Webcomics news:
Lore links to this video of "superhero war re-enactors" which is both a spoof of civil war re-enactors and a total geek-out on Marvel's Secret Wars comic books.
Combining our last two month issues (Superheroes and Movies) in one long post, Phil Kahn geeks out on X-Men 3: The Last Stand. Geeks out in a good way of course! 
Continue Reading
This LA Times article is a good snapshot of the issues associated with comic books getting scanned and shared online. I assume it is tough for traditional comic book publishers – from DC and Marvel down to the smaller indy shops – to sort out how to deal with this. On the one hand if online comic book file sharing is following the same trajectory as music (and now video) file sharing, it's conceivable that the audience will grow tremendously – far outstripping the current market for comic books.
The downside, of course is that all of those readers online aren't paying the $3 + for the paper comic book. Although publishers may fight this or ignore this, some smart publisher is going to figure out a way to leverage this at some point and convert a significant enough number of file sharing fans into paying fans to create a new business model for comic books. It may not wind up being all that different from evolving efforts by webcomic creators but I don't doubt that it's coming. Continue Reading
Recent Comments