Dead Trees

Webcomics in paper formats

Comix Talk for Wednesday, January 27, 2010

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So today is the Second Coming?  The rumored debut of Apple's oversized iPod has sent the newspaper business into a tizzy but it is potentially VERY interesting to the world of comics.  I doubt the first generation of it (if it exists!) will be affordable enough but eventually this could become a serious platform for comics.  IF IF IF IF….

In non-rapturous news of the day, congrats to Ben Costa for winning a Xeric Grant for Shi Long Pang. I look forward to buying that book! (h/t Paperless Comics)  And in a true spirit of public service, Gary reads Platinum Comics Licensing's press release to decipher the latest business plan: "an in-house version of CafePress."

INTERVIEW: Danielle Corsetto of Girls With Slingshots.

REVIEW: Delos reviews Insert Comic by Zack Holmes.

And how about some links to fill-out your morning read — here's the list of webcomics the readers of the Washington Post nominated for its Comics Riffs poll on "Best Webcomic of the Decade": "Devil's Panties" ; "Devin Crane" ; "Eric Monster Millikin" ; "Girl Genius" ; "Girls With Slingshots" ; "Hark! A Vagrant" ; "Jesus and Mo" ; "Kevin and Kell" ; "Least I Could Do" ; "Navy Bean" ; "The New Adventures of Queen Victoria" ; "Order of the Stick" ; "Penny Arcade" ; "Perry Bible Fellowship" ; "Pibgorn" ; "PvP" ; "Questionable Content" ; "Red String" ; "Schlock Mercenary" ; "Sinfest" ; "UserFriendly.Org" ; and "xkcd."

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Comix Talk for Monday, January 25, 2010

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For what it's worth, I've got a fresh install of DRUPAL on the dev server at home, working up a streamlined version of ComixTALK.  Laid out the basic theme (moving to a 2 column layout) and now tackling cleaning up the horror that the tag and category system at ComixTALK has mutated into….  Right now I'm debating whether to port ComixTALK as is to the new server or wait until I get the redo… done.

One story that caught my eye this morning was this rant by blogger-czar Jason Calacanis about comScore.  Worth reading to think about.  Another interesting story from Tom Spurgeon, who has an essay up at the Comics Reporter which I think one could summarize as "wow, there are a lot more good comics than when I was younger…"  I guess I would add, "wow, there are a lot more good webcomics than 10 years ago…"  And if you need a recap of recent webcomic news, Delos has a whole bunch of interesting links covering last week at Art Patient.

NEW BOOK: John Allison posted the cover art from the forthcoming 8th book collection of Scary Go Round: "Recklessly Yours." 

Cory Likes Corndogs: Goats scores a favorable review from Boing Boing Blogger Cory Doctorow for the second book in the new series: The Corndog Imperative.

ZUDA IDOL SCANDAL? Digital Strips reports on the departure of one of the ten finalists from this month's Zuda popularity contest. Apparently The  Thunderchickens had a good shot of winning it too, so the undisclosed reasons for its departure must be something non-trivial.

POLLS: Over at the Washington Post's comics blog, Schlock Mercenary is leading their Best Webcomic of the Decade poll, followed by Girl Genius.

INTERVIEW: Inkstuds has an (audio) interview with Bryan Lee O'Malley.

Non-ZUDA CONTESTS: El Santo reports that John Lustig of Last Kiss is having a contest — write the best dialogue for a comic captioned by Orson Scott Card.

ALL AGES: Comics For Kids has a list of recommended comics for the classroom.

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Comix Talk for Thursday, January 21, 2010

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I think I’ve officially run out of stupid headlines for daily blog posts… thank you to everyone who gave me advice about webhosts and website software this week.

INTERVIEW: The New Yorker has an interview with comics writer Neil Gaiman. Congrats to Neil on his recent engagement.

REVIEWS:  El Santo reviews Lily of the Valley, a webcomic about a serial killer.  A mixed review – I noticed however, that the artwork reminded me a bit of Faith Erin Hick’s work.  There’s also a glowing review by The Trades of Kazu Kibuishi’s Copper book. 

THE PROBLEMS WITH DEAD TREES:  Comics Worth Reading writes about Disney’s decision to let the first volume of Jellaby go out of print.  The downsides to getting involved with multinational corporations…

AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 BLOGS:  Drawn! blog links to Jake Parker, creator of Missile Mouse, writing about fixing inking mistakes old school style (i.e. without Photoshop).  I haven’t read it yet but both of my kids have read the new Missile Mouse graphic novel and loved it.

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I’m Crazy by Adam Bourret

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Adam Bourret has a lot of interesting life to work with in his autobiographical comic I'm Crazy.  Bourret won the Xeric Grant this year and he used the funds to put out a more polished version of the book.  He's also serializing it online.  Unlike many autobiographical comics I've recently read, Bourret has problems way beyond being a mopey, shy cartoonist as he suffers from various mental issues (primarily it seems to be OCD that afflicts him) that profoundly affect his life.  

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Webcomics Headlines for Tuesday November 24, 2009

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AWARDS
The Webcomics List is having an awards program this year.  According to their rules, "Everyone actively involved in webcomics in some way can nominate candidates for the awards. You can nominate up to three comics for each [category]."  Nominations are open until December 13th and the winners — to be selected by panels of judges — will be announced on January 24th.

AV Club includes two webcomics in its best comics of the decade list: Achewood and American Elf. (h/t El Santo)

NOT COMICS
The Penny Arcade "reality show" is surprisingly moving — really well done and looking forward to future episodes.  (Much better than the PA comic would suggest!)

BUSINESS
Sean Kleefeld comments on a recent story (one in a continuing series apparently) about how "the internet ate my comic" — this story in the Peoria Journal focusing on comments of frustration with the Internet from Julie Larsone, the creaor of the Dinette Set comic.

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Z-Blade XX Doesn’t Quite Cut It

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Z-Blade XX is a new comic from Atomic Basement written by Steve Palmer and illustrated by Guy Lemay.  It's a slickly-produced book — nice colors, thick paper, etc.  But for a first issue of a new character, it's not particularly satisfying.  It's also, unfortunately, filled with a few unnecessary swear words and some visuals of explicit violence to be a good read for kids who might otherwise enjoy the straightforward story.  All in all, I know I sound like a broken record sometimes, but this is another project where putting it on the web and working on it with more immediate feedback might have led to a stronger story.

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Premiere of OUTBOUND, A SCIENCE-FICTION COMICS ANTHOLOGY

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The Boston Comics Roundtable, in partnership with River Bird Studios, is pleased to announce the release of the premier issue of Outbound, a Science Fiction anthology. Outbound is a spin-off of sister publication Inbound, the anthology of comics from Boston. Outbound contains comics and short stories from a mix of Boston-based creators and artists all over the world, from Australia to South America, including a cover from talented Uruguayan artist Marcelo Buchelli.

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Solving The Kung Fu Puzzle

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Now that I have two book-devouring kids, I find myself much more engaged with books and comics for the 10 and under age bracket (I guess you'd call that pre-tween?).  My kids read comics along with text books without much distinction at this point which is probably due to the pretty decent selection of comics in the children's section of our local library.  (The Sardine in Outer Space series was a recent favorite.)

So I was pretty interested in getting an opportunity to review the latest installment in the Manga Math Mysteries series.   Number four is titled The Kung Fu Puzzle: A Mystery with Time and Temperature.  I think any book, comic or otherwise, should be engaging on its own merits.  Educational value shouldn't be an excuse for a boring book.  Kung Fu Puzzle passed that test with flying colors with both of my kids (I thought it was pretty good too).  In fact I think my youngest daughter's biggest complaint is actually nice praise for the  book — she was quite annoyed at its somewhat open-ended finish.  I think she was hoping that the story went on longer.

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Bone: Rose by Jeff Smith and Charles Vess

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Bone: Rose by Jeff Smith and Charles Vess

Is there any fantasy series in recent memory as beloved and praised as Bone?  Jeff Smith began writing about the Bone cousins in 1991, but it was probably the publication of the books in color versions by Scholastic that truly launched Bone into the pop culture.  It's a great sprawling story with a powerful conclusion.  Bone: Rose is a prequel that fleshes out the story of Gran'ma Ben as a youth (i.e., Rose), a story that weighs heavily on the Bone saga proper.

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