Penny Arcade
Wednesday
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on August 19, 2009 - 10:31
HEADLINES!
This week's big story is probably going to be the announcement of the "Comic Strip Superstar" contest from Andrews McMeel Publishing and Universal Press Syndicate. Entrants have to submit their work by September 12th. Brad Guigar at Webcomics.com writes a lengthy breakdown of the press release well worth reading. Like all of these never-ending corporate comic contests, one really has to read the fine print carefully and fully consider the trade-offs before entering. And my own two cents -- there is no magic wand that will instantly grant you a "comics career" let alone make you a "superstar". Make sure you evaluate clearly whatever you're actually going to get and rationally decide that it is well worth what you're giving up.
CRAFT
Scott Kurtz blogs that the Webcomics.com crew is starting a brand new live stream called Webcomics.com University. Kurtz's first session will be this Friday and cover "line quality and how I try to achieve a clean look in Photoshop using a Wacom tablet."
TECHNOLOGY
Longbox - the planned comics reader for the web, iphones, etc has a video of the forthcoming beta version. (h/t Journalista!)
AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 BLOGS
Mike Krahulik from Penny Arcade did a variant cover for the comic adaptation of Steven King's and Peter Straub's The Talisman.
The Joy of Webcomics lies, cheats, and steals
Submitted by El Santo on July 29, 2009 - 12:53
There was apparently a big To Do down in SoCal this weekend. Various webcomic types are spending this week coming down from the high of San Diego Comic Con. The event has gotten so large that I swear I saw Stan Lee on CNBC last night doing a post-Con wrap-up. Surreal.
Webcomic Beacon #84 - Catgirls & Magic & Tangents (oh my!)
Submitted by fesworks on July 28, 2009 - 09:59
XDM Pre-orders Closed, Books Ship Thursday
Submitted by Howard Tayler on July 20, 2009 - 22:24
XDM Pre-orders are closed. Tracy, Curtis, and I signed two pallets of books on Monday, and I think we’ve got a few left over.
I’m going to be taking some of them to Dragon’s Keep. That’s right, on Wednesday (the day comics arrive) by 2:00pm you can get a Pre-order edition of XDM: X-Treme Dungeon Mastery at Dragon’s Keep in Provo. As an added bonus, I may be able to draw a picture in the back for you.
In other news, watch this space for:
* My WorldCon Schedule! See me in Montreal!
WiiSpace Wants a Webcomic
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on July 20, 2009 - 12:06
I'm not endorsing this so proceed at your own risk but Wiispace posted a call for a webcomic to appear on its site. It's possible it could be good exposure for someone wanting to do a comic somewhere in that genre anyhow. (Giants like PvP and Penny Arcade actually got their start in exactly this way). Just be sure to be careful and clear in any contract you sign -- someday with work, talent and luck your webcomic may outgrow WiiSpace and you need clear understandings of things like copyright to avoid future problems.
Comic Con 2009: Revving Up
Submitted by Brad Guigar on July 16, 2009 - 00:00
The biggest comic convention of the year kicks off next week, and I'm going to be there in the thick of it. Here's a guide to what to expect -- and a few ways that you can join in the fun if you're not going to be in San Diego.
The Webcomic Overlook #84: Let’s Be Friends Again
Submitted by El Santo on June 23, 2009 - 03:41
If you’re reading this site, chances are that you’re a geek. And not just any geek. You are the King Geek of them all: the comic book geek.
This Day in ComixTalk: June 19th
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on June 19, 2009 - 11:01
This Day in ComixTALK:
2008
Chuck Whelon posted the cover art for his new edition of the first collection of Pewfell Perfingles comics. He also posted a great page from that book. Neil Cohn noted the 30th anniversary of Jim Davis' Garfield and covered some of the webcomic experimentalism incorporating that comic. Brad Guigar reported back from exhibiting at Wizard World Philadelphia. Kate Beaton? Before she became famous for historical comicking, she posted this take on the Anthony-Liz storyline from For Better or For Worse.
And the nominees for that year's Online Comics category at the Harveys included Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Jeff Kinney, EZ Street, Robert Tinnell and Mark Wheatley, Penny Arcade, Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik, Perry Bible Fellowship, Nicholas Gurewitch and Surreal Adventures of Edgar Allan Poo, Dwight L. Macpherson, Thomas Boatwright and Thomas Mauer.
2007
I was in the midst of spinning off Comixpedia.org and rebranding this site as ComixTALK. While it all hasn't worked out to "bigger and better" it has worked well enough for me. (Never did activate the so-called umbrella site "Comixmedia")
Todd Allen was covering the DC webcomics plans; another Platinum story was in the news and FLEEN speculated on the webcomic future for Elfquest creators Wendy and Richard Pini.
2006
Back when we did "Summer of Guest Bloggers" -- we had Barry Gregory (01 Comics) and Clay Gardner (Wirepop) on tap for this week. Clay wrote a post on "the hidden style of manga". And Zach Lewis hyped Jack of All Blades -- the "most popular adventure comic featuring a doppleganger, a penguin, and a horrid swordfighter".
2005
June 2005 was our "webcomics in print" issue. Ben Towles wrote about his experiences self-publishing a print collection of his webcomic Townies. Eric Burns wrote about some of the webcomics that had jumped to print and mused about what would be the future role of print in webcomics. Meanwhile in Kelly Cooper's MoCCA report we have early photographic evidence of Gary "Magnum P.I." Tyrrell.
2004
Cartoonist Hard (aka Clay) who used to blog pretty often, wrote about various comics publications and objecting to the Webcomics Examiner approach to webcomics. It just reminds me of how overblown some of the discussions online became back then. And the fact that for a long time Comixpedia/Talk was largely alone in trying to provide coverage of webcomics which often meant we got swept up in whatever the drama of the moment was.
2003
I linked to this article in the NYTimes about building an audience for your blog. It's a bit like driving a mustang while looking back on the Model Ts. How about this quote:
But Susan Mernit, a blogger in San Francisco, is actively trying to increase her readership from its current average of about 50 visitors a day. "I value hits highly," said Ms. Mernit, a consultant for nonprofit organizations and a former vice president for programming at America Online. "I'd like to see my traffic increase by 10 readers a month."
I finally get to pick a fight with an established webcomicker! Because slamming Dresden Codak wasn’t as fun.
Submitted by Morgan Wick on June 12, 2009 - 20:09
(From 8-Bit Theater. Click for full-sized inevitable hopelessness. Which is a good way of describing 8BT itself, actually.)
Wednesday's Webcomics Web Stuff
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on June 10, 2009 - 12:28
AWARDS
Brigid Alverson has an article on whether the Eisner's Digital Comics category is really considering the 'web-iness" of the comics in selecting it's nominees. I agree with the sense that web or digital categories seems to group nominees that have little else to do with each other (and given the increasing scope of web publishing of comics we're almost to the day when every comic in theory will be eligible for a "webcomic" category) and people ought to be thinking more about refining these things. I don't have a specific bit of advice to throw out just yet but it's worth chewing on.
MOCKERY
Dean's Comic Booth is chock-full of abuse of -- sometimes hilariously -- copyright comic content. I don't want to pass judgement on whether it's fair use or not but it is a heck of a funny concept -- for the most part messing with just the last panel but sometimes a whole lot more. Puts comics like Beatle Bailey and Blondie in a whole new light...
EMPLOYMENT
Penny Arcade, Inc. is looking for a Merchandise Manager:
Do you like folding shirts? Excellent.
