Goats
Measuring the Webcomic Audience
|
Let's cut to the chase. Quantity does not necessarily equal quality. Of course, it does not necessarily preclude quality, either. In fact, some might argue that 50,000,000 Elvis fans can’t be wrong. It's certainly a well-worn question in every medium of popular entertainment: "how'd you do last night, kid?"
In almost every other medium there's an established mechanism for counting the audience and providing information on what the audience is watching or buying or reading or clicking on. So why not a bestsellers' list for webcomics, an Arbitron system focused on our particular universe? Regardless of whether we love, like, hate, or are indifferent to the most popular webcomics being produced today, it is information that ought to be available to the interested members of the reading public. It could provide some clues as to where the online audience is today versus six months versus two years from now. It could help to keep score of the growth (or decline) of our overall webcomic reader audience.
Why Do Online Comics: Comics For Comics Sake?
|
Art for Art's Sake rejects the idea that the success of an art object can be measured by its accuracy as a representation or the effectiveness with which it tells a story or suggests a moral. Instead, it implies that an art object is best understood as an autonomous creation to be valued only for the success with which it organizes color and line into a formally satisfying and therefore beautiful whole. Smithsonian - Freer Gallery Of Art
So what, then, is an online comic for online comics' sake?
Today's the last day ...
Submitted by Joey Manley on April 15, 2003 - 10:18
... not just for filing taxes, but also for submitting comics to Modern Tales for the slot left open by Patent Pending's departure for Goats Premium. Once the deadline has passed, I'll start actually looking at the submissions. Within a week or two, I expect to have winnowed out the field to the main contenders, whose work will be shown to the other Modern Tales cartoonists for advice. Modern Tales isn't a democracy, though, and I'll be making the final decision on my own. That will probably take more than a month.
The Readers Clang Heads with R Stevens
This is the first of a series of forum interviews with questions taken from our readers. R Stevens, the creator behind Diesel Sweeties, has combined the extreme look of pixelation with the bizarre concept of a former porn star dating a robot. The cast has expanded since those first strips about Clango and Maura, including people R Stevens has admitted are based on real life people. Since starting, he's had a brief try at a strip on Modern Tales (Kid Clango), started a monthly club for goodies (the Clango Club) and self-published his archives as a paper book with a shiny, shiny cover.
Why Do Online Comics?
|
I’m finally getting around to reading Art Spiegelman's Maus. As I do, I find myself thinking about why this work would be considered worthy of a Pulitzer Prize. I don’t mean to say that it isn’t; I just want to understand what sets it apart in that special way. By analyzing it this way, my hope is to find something to aspire to through my own work, to find another reason to continue to create comics.
Interview with Jon Rosenberg of Goats
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on March 28, 2003 - 12:29
Pulse interviews Jon Rosenberg creator of Goats and Patent Pending.
I just finished reading the Patent Pending archives on Modern Tales and it's developing into a compelling storyline - now I have to subscribe to Goats: Premium to find out what happens.
Another PHP Automation Script: RazorNav
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on March 26, 2003 - 16:44
There are two versions of RazorNav. RazorNav Lite is a simple forward and backwards PHP script - it appears to be lacking a dropdown menu and a full archive calendar page like the ATP script. RazorNav Pro has not yet been released but will apparently be sold on the website soon (no pricing available yet). While there really aren't any solid details about the capabilities of RazorNav Pro, it doesn't look like it will do anything more than ATP, which is available for free.
Now if someone would take the extra step of creating an ATP-like script that automated the management of multiple comics on one site and allowed for the option of creating a unique home page that could show some or all of the various comics (for example, the most recent comic of any of the independently archived multiple comics on the site), that might be worth something extra.
Classic Webcomic Cross-overs
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on March 26, 2003 - 12:22
It doesn't seem to happen like it used to but back in the day all the hep kids were dropping science in each others' backyard:
1999
Sluggy Freelance and User Friendly: AJ drops in on Riff; and Torg gets a job with Columbia Internet.
User Friendly and Superosity: Dust Puppy visits Superosity-land.
Bobbins and Waiting For Bob: The Bobbins crew met up with Waiting for Bob's Bernie and Sean.
Bobbins and Goats: Jon from Goats meets Holly from Bobbins. Small sparks gain a little altitude. Later Jon and Philip actually make it to England.
2000
When I Grow Up and Waiting For Bob: Zoe investigates Sean.
Bobbins and Superosity: Holly and Shelley visit Boardy and Bobby goes to England. Somewhere along the way Professor Ash shows up.
2001
When I Grow Up and Diesel Sweeties: Roger finds true robot love! (not entirely sure where in the DS archives its half is)
I'm sure there's lots more I'm forgetting - feel free to post more classic crossovers below. Thanks!
Webcomic Communities (Part Three) -- Flies in the Forum Ointment? by Kelly J. Cooper
|
This is part three of a series -- be sure to read part one and part two!
There's something about comics that make people want to talk. And sometimes, just talking causes more chaos and consternation than you can imagine. Between technical failures, heated discussions on controversial topics, and the occasional troll, creators who wish to maintain a community presence may be called on to do much more than just write and draw their comics.
Modern Tales seeking submissions for ongoing series slot
Submitted by Joey Manley on March 13, 2003 - 17:08
As Modern Tales subscribers and watchers know, one of our series, Patent Pending, by Jon Rosenberg, has been on hiatus for several months now.
After several long (but friendly) talks with Jon, we've decided to remove the series and open up the slot for somebody new. There are lots of people who would like to have their comics featured on Modern Tales, who maybe haven't reached the level of success that Jon has reached, and it only seems fair to give them a chance. I want to stress that Jon and Modern Tales have made this decision mutually, and that Jon is very much still a part of the Modern Tales "family" -- he will remain on our advisory board, and will still and always be a friend.
So, on to the submission stuff.
