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Mark Walters interviews PvP creator Scott Kurtz

Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on January 4, 2005 - 00:43

Mark Walters interviews PvP creator Scott Kurtz. A really funny interview - Mark Walters is a buddy of Kurtz so there's some good natured ribbing throughout the piece.

Vote for PvP on the WIZARD FAN AWARDS BALLOT?

Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on December 30, 2004 - 01:37

Scott Kurtz is once more testing the power of the PvP hordes. He's asked fans of PvP to vote for it as a write-in candidate for best continuing series on the WIZARD FAN AWARDS BALLOT.

Webcomics VS Newspaper Syndication: Round Three

Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on December 15, 2004 - 15:46

The storming of the traditional syndication comicstrip kingdom by the webcomic Visigoths storyline that kicked off with Scott "PvP" Kurtz's announcement at San Diego and continued with Keenspot starting up "KeenSyndicate" enters a new, well snarkier, phase.

Kicking off things is Tuesday's installment of Wiley's Non Sequitur, a strip widely enough available that most Americans have probably heard of even if it's not in their newspaper. Although it is a straightforward gag, anyone who has read Wiley's comments regarding Kurtz's efforts to place PvP in newspapers can't help but assume that Wiley also meant today's strip as a dig at Kurtz and webcomics generally. Kurtz himself comments on it today as does Eric Burns.

This is also a good excuse to link to Tom Spurgeon's essay on these issues, posted just this Sunday. Update: I forgot to include this other Websnark entry on this issue which is also quite a good read.

Non sequitur on PvP syndication scheme?

Submitted by Erik Melander on December 15, 2004 - 12:31

Both Websnark and Kurtz himself has so far commented on the Non sequitur strip that may, or probably is, a comment on Kurtz syndication scheme. I'll have to admit that I did not read it as such at first, but once it was pointed out it's hard not to, like those pictures that show two things.

Comixpedia's List of 25 People Of Webcomics for 2004

December 13, 2004 - 01:28

When we discussed the Year in Review issue it seemed like it would be a natural to write a list of people in webcomics for the year. But what to call it? Most of the time when media magazines talk about people in film, television, music or what-have-you, they can call their articles "The Power List..." or the "The It List..." because, well, those media have power and star power. Webcomics have those things, but alas, still in smaller quantities.

2004: A Year in Review

December 13, 2004 - 00:00 | Wednesday White and Kelly J. Cooper

As 2004 packs its bags and prepares to turn over the keys to the new year, we thought we would take this opportunity to look back at certain significant or just really amusing webcomics-related news stories throughout the year.

If we missed your favorite event, feel free to add your own thoughts.

The History of Online Comics by T Campbell (Part 7)

December 6, 2004 - 00:00 | T Campbell

The Beginnings of a "Modern" Age?

Conventional wisdom held, as late as 2001, that the only sustainable economic models for online comics were ad-based. Either the comic carried advertising in some fashion, or it was itself an advertisement for its own merchandise. Pay-to-read models were mostly based upon speculation and mostly spectacularly unsuccessful. Even Scott McCloud found his position as comics pundit threatened over his endorsement of micropayments.

Checkerboard Nightmare Takes on Webcomicsland... Again

Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on December 3, 2004 - 14:06

Consider this your slow-news-Friday-post: Checkerboard Nightmare today takes aim at Websnark (but also a quick shot at Scott "PVP" Kurtz and Comixpedia).

I love it when Straub does this - it is mean, but it's lovingly mean-spirited. But it's about as insular to webcomics community as humor can get it, isn't it?

Looking back at November

Submitted by Erik Melander on December 1, 2004 - 21:02

When I first did one of these "looking back" thingies I knew that it was likely that there would be months when nothing much happened, or perhaps at least nothing major happened. I am also willing to admit that I've been pandered with the news available for September and October. Enter November. And mind you, I'm not saying nothing happened in November, just that not a lot of similar or connected things happened. Still when reality lets you down, make things up. So sit back and enjoy a ride on the Apophenia railroad, next stop Speculationville.

A lot, most probably, of the creators of webcomics are happy amateurs, they write and draw comics because they enjoy it and because they have stories they want to tell. Some, however, have loftier dreams, they dream of print. I imagine that those are also the creators who dream of making comics their dayjob, but I may be wrong. Two news items from the beginning of the month made me contemplate the goal of webcomicers. The first was that Amber "Glych" Greenlee's No stereotypes got a publishing deal with Sonic publishing, the second was that Dave Johnson's Dog complex got picked up for online syndication on Universal press' Ucomics, not quite newspaper syndication, but a step on the way. I'm probably stating the obvious by saying that print, be it as a collection or as newspaper syndication is the holy grail for most webcomic artists that want to make comics their career.

This was once again brought forth when T Campbell and Gisele Lagace's Penny and Aggie left Modern tales for Comics sherpa as a first step towards traditional newspaper syndication. Now, no-one can accuse T Campbell of being a webcomic luddite, he has two other strips on Modern Tales sister site Graphic smash, but it is clear from a post on the Penny and Aggie board that he is not a believer in the syndication schemes put forth by Keenspot and Scott Kurtz. It seems that no "look back" is complete without linking to Websnark (I actually can't remember if I linked to him in the October look back, if not I'll buy Burns a beer if we ever meet, since I live in Sweden I'll categorise that as doubtful). I imagine that most people reading this has already read Burns' essay on the syndicated cartoonist's view of Kurtz and Keen. If you haven't read it I implore you to do so. Don't bother finishing reading this thing, you can come back to it later.

The point I'm trying to make (or think I'm trying to make) is that if online and print is going to clash it won't be in comic book stores or the graphic novel section of Barnes and Noble, it will be in the funny pages. Perhaps I'm wrong about syndication as a goal, I once again refer you to Burns and his comment on Penny and Aggie:

These days... there's a real feeling on the web that syndication isn't needed, that it isn't even desirable -- that if you syndicate, you lose control over your creation and your licensing and you undergo restrictive editorial oversight. It's almost odd to see a couple of webcartoonists saying "hey, I want to be in the newspapers. I want to get paid for this -- paid by someone else, someone who isn't me doing all the grunt work -- and get the exposure of hundreds of newspapers printing my work."

This opinion is certainly present in the replies to Campbell's post. But I also note that before launching his free syndication scheme Kurtz did negotiate with Universal (I believe it was) about syndicating PvP the traditional way and Tatsuya Ishida is now up to 11 rejections by syndicates. Perhaps the old syndication model is dying, but it's not going to go peacefully.

And to end with something complete (or almost completely) different I note that Michael Jantze's The Norm now has 2431 members, but has extended the deadline to reach the 4000 needed for Jantze to keep it alive to December 31st. Jamie Robertson (Clan of the Cats) has 191 of the 200 needed to keep his comic alive.

Oh and the next time we take a look back it looks like it will be in the form of a real Comixpedia column, I suppose that will mean that I will have to try to actually make some sense instead of these stream of consciousness posts.

Slashdot Interviews Gabe and Tycho

Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on November 30, 2004 - 15:25

Gabe and Tycho get the Slashdot interview although it looks like all of the answers were from Tycho.

Someone asked them what webcomics they read:

Tycho: Sure. Gabe reads Kazu's Copper, Machall, and PvP regularly. I cast a fairly wide net, but the strips I read whenever they are updated include Boy On A Stick And Slither (which I crave beyond reason), PvP, Shaw Island, 8-bit Theatre, Machall, Wigu, Deisel Sweeties, Creatures In My Head, Scary Go Round, Exploding Dog, Goats, Ctrl-Alt-Del, and VGCats.