Webcomics in paper formats
“A-TEAM” ACTION HERO BREAKS OUT INTO WORLD OF BOOKS!
In anticipation of the major worldwide launch of their Mr. T graphic novel in summer 2008, British publisher Mohawk Media has announced that they are celebrating with a special Limited Advance Edition.
I go two books in the mail this month — they’re both aimed at younger-to-all-ages audience so I’m thinking of letting the little X’ers review them for you:
One in a continuing series of books I picked up at this year’s Small Press Expo — a brief plug for Subculture#1 which does a nice job of capturing a variety of socially maladjusted comic book fanboys. It doesn’t venture too far from the stereotypes of geekdom in this first issue — in fact it amps them up tossing a "hot chick who likes comics" into the mix, automatically flummoxing males left and right… That probably sounds more negative than I mean to – regardless of my description it’s a pretty funny book and the art is a good match – a bit cartoony but just a bit. Stan Yan has some chops.
Moreover the creators seemed like decent dudes and I checked out the previews of issues 2-4 at their Comicspace site (there’s a preview of issue #1 here) which looked pretty promising — not sure if I’m going to run out and buy them, but if it was online I’d definitely add it to my reading queue.
The Trial of Colonel Sweeto, the first print collection of The Perry Bible Fellowship is selling well. Publisher Dark Horse has had previous successes with webcomics in print, including Fred Gallagher’s Megatokyo (now on CMX) and Penny Arcade by Tycho and Gabe.
HEADLINES
REVIEWS
DEAD TREES
AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 BLOGS
The Kid’s Book Project is currently giving away to the first 100 pre-orders an A4 signed sheet of paper (printed obviously since all the artists are all over the world) from all the artists. Quickly get yours whilst you can! Continue Reading
COMIXMEDIA UPDATE: I'm still working on the site(s) upgrade. Current plan is to have this site rebranded as COMIXTALK by the beginning of July. I'll have another site called COMIXMEDIA as an umbrella site for comics-related projects I'm working on. The upgrade here went well except the current "theme" for the site is creating some problems so I need to get the site moved to a new theme pronto (current plan is to simply update the current theme to Drupal 5.1 specs)
Guest Bloggers Wanted: Interested in blogging about (web)comics on ComixTalk in July or August? Drop me a note at xerexes AT comixpedia DOT com
BUSINESS
Todd Allen breaks another piece of the story about DC Comics plans for the web. DC Comics' new online editor is Kwanza Johnson (who according to Allen had a similar job with Marvel back in 2000?!) Allen predicts a "big" 4th quarter roll-out of webcomics from DC.
Mike Strang posted about his unhappy experience working for Platinum on a work-for-hire contract and others (T Campbell) chimed in with comments. Joey Manley compared work-for-hire to sticking your hand in a meat grinder. My own personal opinion is that authors should keep their copyrights and that creativity and business are both better off under those circumstances. But in movies, television, music and especially comic books, work-for-hire arrangements have been used forever and are still being used. So long as you know what you're getting into I don't see anything inherently evil about it. Just be clear on the concept – work-for-hire means all of your creative work becomes someone else's property. (REMINDER: if you comment at ComixTalk please try to be civil and respectful of others.)
INTERVIEWS
T Campbell interviews Aaron Williams, creator of Nodwick, PS238, Full Frontal Nerdity, co-writer on Truth, Justin, and the American Way.
Jane Irwin interviewed Templar, AZ creator Spike about webcomics and "effectively whoring your way to higher pageviews." You can read the interview here.
Shaenon Garrity interviewed Rob Vollmar who writes the comic Inanna’s Tears (drawn by mpMann).
Lynn Lau interviewed Katie Shanahan creator of the off-the-wall journal comic Shrub Monkeys.
Finding Wonderland talks to American Born Chinese author Gene Yang. (link from Journalista!)
DEAD TREES: Life Meter Vol. 2 will debut at MOCCA. Life Meter is an anthology of video game- inspired comics, featuring stories and art by Bannister, Joel Carroll, Raina Telgemeier, Steve Hamaker, Jake Parker, Jeffrey Rowland, Queenie Chan, and many, many more.
JUSTIFY MY HYPE: I saw some plugs for Boxcar Astronaut and it is indeed a cute comic (it reminds me a bit of the syndicated Red Rover comic strip).
AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 BLOGS
FLEEN speculates on whether Elfquest creators Wendy and Richard Pini will follow the path of Phil and Kaja Foglio to the web.
At the Webcomicker blog, Gilead writes about Dominic Deegan:
If there’s one thing I like about Dominic Deegan, it’s that the storylines move forward progressively. The comic tends to have storylines which are fairly self-contained, with a specific villian or villians wreaking havoc with a specific set of goals and a specific set of heroes undergoing a specific set of actions in order to thwart said villians. But instead of each storyline coming around the full circle and leaving the heroes in basically the same place as they were when they started in classic comic book “and so the world was saved once again, and John D and Suzy Q were able to return to their normal lives” fashion, the characters in Dominic Deegan mature and grow from their experiences, and with each storyline move progressively closer to the “happily ever after.”
Joystiq readers pick their favorite comic.
Odd factoid of the day – according to this blog post, VG Cats creator Scott Ramsoomair used to babysit this guy.
Webcomics in Print gets their hands dirty with paint this week! Not only do we give you the top 10 Frank Page's paintings from his Year in Paint. Not only do we review Eddie Bowley's (congratulations on the engagement) Edd Egg and the Healthy Shallows. Not only do we have our normal Monday Book News but we still have the Little Terrors fantastic competition prize still to give away! Too much to cram into one little blog! Continue Reading
Webcomics in Print writer Mike Rouse-Deane has begun his most largest charity project yet – The Kid's Book Project. Featuring 58 webcomic artists, the Kid's Book Project is all in aid of the Make-A-Wish Foundation and they need 200 pre-orders to get it into print and help raise money!
It is a print comic but Strangers in Paradise, Terry Moore's magnum action comedy soap opera epic about two women with very confusing personal lives, has come to an end. Moore has self published SiP since 1993, and it is one of the most successful independant comics in print. Honestly, I'm a little broken up about it.
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