PvP
How to Promote Your Webcomic by NOT Promoting Your Webcomic
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Here's a familiar problem: You write a webcomic that's not getting nearly as many readers as you think it deserves. You're already sending press releases to the newsmagazines, you're posting announcements in the webcomic forums, you've joined web rings, and you've slapped your logo on every product Café Press offers. Still, your readership is modest, at best. You need a more aggressive marketing plan.
One problem: like most of us, your entire marketing budget comes from between the cushions on your couch.
What I Did Last Summer, umm, at Comic-Con 2004
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Kelly J Cooper's Most Excellent Comic-Con Adventures
Part 2: Saturday and Sunday
Saturday, 24 July 2004
- Girlamatic
- The Nice
- Amber glych Greenlee
- Daniel Merlin Goodbrey
- Dave Kellett
- Dave Roman
- Donna Barr
- Jerry Holkins
- Kris Straub
- Michael Jantze
- Mike Krahulik
- Patrick Farley
- Phil Foglio
- Pontus Madsen
- Raina Telgemeier
- Rich Stevens
- Roger Langridge
- Scott Kurtz
- Scott McCloud
- Shaenon K. Garrity
- Tracy White
- Penny Arcade
- PvP
- Features
What I Was Reading in July 2001
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on August 6, 2004 - 01:16
Sorry to inflict this on the world but I feared this blog wasn't fulfilling the required "Self-Indulgent" Content requirement for blogs. I was Archive.org'ing my old site and pulled my daily webcomic reading list from roughly mid-year 2001. Here's the list with some comments on where some of them are today:
Absurd Notions: Creator Kevin Pease has moved the strip to http://www.absurdnotions.org/ and reduced the update schedule for this once daily strip but Absurd Notions is still one of the wittier comic strips on the web about young guys and gals of a computer/geek bent. The current story concerns a role-playing game the characters are conducting - it has been going on all year. Pease has also released a dead tree collection of AN: An Awful Lot of Absurd Notions.
Acid Reflux: This one appears to be dead (the old URL seems to have been grabbed by one of those lame squatter companies) although there is a Live Journal community about it. I never really got into this one but it was fairly popular.
Algernons Dilemma: Jim Alexander has been posting this daily strip since late 1999. I am under the impression that he has stopped making the comic but still posting this year because he had worked almost a year ahead. I couldn't find any status update on the website though so I'm not sure if that's still the case. I also think Alexander removed a large part of the archives - folks need to buy a CD-Rom from him to get those. I have read bits and pieces of AD in the past but I could never get past Alexander's unique take on the female anatomy to become a fan. A lot of old-school webtoonists are fans of his work though.
Alice!: is still one of the few GOOD PG comic strips on the web. A shame that McKay-Fleming isn't in your local newspaper.
Angst Technology: Barry was hot than stopped and now he's back again. I'm not as much into AT and the other strips on Inktank as I was pre-hiatus but it's probably more to do with the much more crowded field of webcomics than any drop in quality on Barry's part. There's just only so much time in the day!
A.P.E. Force: Nicely drawn - possibly gone from the web now. Couldn't find it this morning anyhow.
Aren't We Real: Case Yorke's webcomic before Gluemeat and I believe the archives are somewhere on gluemeat.com. Still my favorite Yorke project.
Arrogance in Simplicity: A funny comic, not always as funny as the creator thought it was but still a good read in its day. Definitely over according to the creator. Early pioneer in the "crap art but still a decent read" category.
Avalon: One of the original soap-opera-ish high school webcomics, Avalon is no more and Josh is now on to another comic.
BB of CS: Another comic that is done. Had to update the URL because the old was grabbed a URL squatter. Bad Boys of Computer Science was a pretty vulgar but sometimes painfully honest comic about college undergrad computer science students. It ran roughly from 2000-2002.
Bobbins: Bobbins is no more but Scary Go Round whirls on.
Bob N' Ed: Decent art, great parody riffs on Star Wars, Star Trek, X-Files, etc,but a horribly inconsistent update schedule probably has kept this comic from being more popular. Apparently he's actively working on it this summer.
BoxJam's Doodle: Original Blue Dude back after a brief hiatus this year.
Bruno the Bandit: Old School webtoonist still making the adventures of Bruno and filling in for Pete on Saturdays at Sluggy Freelance.
Burnt Dog Radio: Um this one would be mine. No comment....
Chopping Block: Herold updates less frequently now but still one of the rock stars of webcomicdom.
Common Grounds: Corey Marie Kitley's last webcomic before Life's So Rad. She's still on Keenspot pluggin' away at being emo.
Cool Cat Studio: Gone but Giselle is working with T Campbell on a new comic somewhere in the Modern Tales family of sites.
Cyantia Chronicles: Syke makes a lot of comics some of them hosted on Keenspot now.
Deathworld: I've completely lost track of Rudy's comic but he is as old-school webcomic as they come. He probably also holds the record for most active participation in the Fright Night Project.
Diabolica: Burke's first comic before Grimbles. Diabolica was good but Grimbles is better. Sometimes he out-Gorey's Gorey.
Diesel Sweeties: Pixel Power Activate! Form of a robot-elephant! Form of an Ice cube!
Dr. Lobster: I hope they keep the archives for this one up - in its own way it was quite good.
Down to Earth: Keenspot, indendent, quit and now back again I belive. Still kicking.
Dregs: This one was kind of bad. Doesn't look like it's still updating. I'm not sure I actually read this now that I'm looking at the site.
Elf Life: Some day Carson will complete enough of his tale to make this a coherent epic in comic format. Until than it's sort of the Similarron (I probably spelled that wrong) of the webcomics world. I just hope it doesn't take Carson's son to edit and publish it in a final format.
Exploitation Now: Done and onto Errant Story. Poe is growing as an artist.
Frankenstudent: Gone.
Fat Jesus: Horribly Inconsistent. Went from Keenspace to Keenspot because clearly Leffel is talented. Just a shame that not much work has actually been published. Owlie (his other comic) is still one of my sentimental favorites.
Funny Farm: I lost track of this one. Hard to catch up with everything I guess. Reportedly going to "end" but Smith seems to be a bit cagey about what that means.
GPF: Still kicking although more serious now than before.
Ghostz: Read the archives. Funniest copyright violatin' comic from the old school days around.
Goats: Rosenberg can actually draw now. It's always been funny though.
Greystone Inn: Why Guigar is not syndicated more broadly is beyond me. A fine work in the comic strip tradition.
Hang & Catch Fire: Terrance Marks does a gamer comic. Not sure if it exists anywhere online anymore.
Hobnob Inn: Now hosted on the Reuben (Awards for Comic Strips) website - this was a kind of wannabe Bloom County when basically everyone was a wannabe Bloom County. Haven't read it in a long time so I have no idea what it's like now.
Hotendotey: Right now the website says "PLEASE BEAR WITH US AS WE ARE PLANNING FUTURE ATROCITIES. THANKS." That sums up Hotendotey alright...
Hosers: Hosers got to do a cross-over with GPF. Less frequent updating lately although much better art than in the old school days.
Hound's Home: Brillant satire, erratic updating schedule.
Help Desk: Still making fun of Microsoft.
In2it: Scott Kurtz's buddy is no longer making webcomics I guess.
It's Walky!: Premarital Hanky Panky.
JoBeth!: Lost in space, alas...
Joe Average: It all went downhill after he got a girlfriend... :)
Just Another Vice: Back in a hazy cloud of dust..
Just Cheese: Just gone I guess.
Kevin& Kell: Furry goodness. (I can't believe I just said that...)
Ko Fight Club: Eclectic goodness.
Krazy Larry: It's alive I tell you. ALIVE!!!!
Lemont Brown: Used to be on Toonville. Not anymore I guess. Probably somewhere out there on the Internet but too tired to Google.
Limpidity: I don't remember this one.
Living In Greytown: Phil is Dead.
LWIBH: Still gross.
Lost & Found Investigations: Dog Detective as opposed to Basil Flint who is also a dawg detective.
Merlin's Crew: A 2001 comic that survived Keenspace's many meltdowns since. Not sure if it was any good or not.
Mr. Chuck Show: Jon Myers just quit one day in 2003 never to return. Or will he?!??!!
Nerdz: I've met Screwball McGoo sir and you're no Screwball McGoo!
No Outlet: I liked this one - too bad I can't find the archives anymore.
Nowhere Man: An angry comic that seems to have stopped in 2003.
Pentasmal: Now is the time for men to wear hats! Pentasmal is now locked away behind Keenspot's premium wall.
Randym Thoughts: I think this was done by Howard Shclock Tayler's brother but I can no longer find the archives.
Renegades: Not only does the url I had no longer work I can't remember even one thing about this webcomic.
Soup: Surprisingly this comic is still plugging along.
SporkMan: Four prongs of justice!
Together We Fall: Another one that seems to have slipped off the web and I can't recall anything about it.
Tonja Steele: still updating.
Too Fat to be a RockStar: Well the domain still points at Keenspace but it appears the site may have been wiped in one of Keenspace's mighty might meltdowns.
Tsuduku...: Although Ken's comic appears to have URL-hopped a bit I found it out there. Has to be experienced to understand..
Ubigod's Hurricane: It's Ubi's world and you're just living in it.
Unlike Minerva: Unlike active.
Unnatural, but true: Gone like the schwin.
Waiting for Bob: At one point this comic was popular, well thought of and doing cross-overs with all of the future "biggies" of webcomicdom. But it's been inactive since 2002 and I guess never to return. It's too bad - some of the most well written characters...
When I Grow Up: This was Jeff "WIGU" Rowland's first webcomic. I guess he lost the domain name though - I think he has the archives on his site for WIGU, his new webcomic.
PvP Guest Week Back On!
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on August 5, 2004 - 10:55
From Phalanx comes the news regarding PVP guest week:
Following the recent controversy where Scott Kurtz offered free syndication of PvP to the newspapers, Scott announced on his website that he was cutting short the currently-running guest-strip week. This move was to counter the confusion caused by new readers checking out the PvP site and mistaking the guest strips for 'The Real PvP'.
The decision to cut short Guest Week 2004, however, resulted in disappointment from the various artists who had already submitted their work and were patiently waiting to see it on PvP. A few hours and upset letters later, Scott followed up with another announcement, this time stating that Guest Week 2004 would indeed, continue as planned. Normal episodes of PvP will be resuming on Saturday.
Amongst the list of people who joined in PvP Guest Week are several well-known comic creators, including Count Your Sheep's Adrian Ramos and Fantastic Four artist Mike Wieringo.
Call For Questions: R.K. Milholland of Something Positive
Submitted by Anonymous on August 4, 2004 - 18:50
Randy Milholland of SOMETHING POSITIVE may not be strictly New Blood, but he's hardly Old Guard, either. In the incredible span of just two and a half years, the humorously black S*P has become one of the most popular comics on the web, and his fans have gone as far as supporting him to the tune of a year's worth of wages, allowing him to quit his job and devote himself full-time to cartooning.
Now you can ask him all those questions that have been burning in your craw through our latest community interview. Simply ask your questions by posting a comment to this very article; we'll pick the ten best brain-grillers, and fire them off to Randy's dark and disturbed head for immediate prostitu- processing.
But make fast with the questions -- we'll only accept them until August 17th.
Top Rate for MT Creators?
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on August 4, 2004 - 00:07
Over in a massive thread on Scott Kurtz's new "Give It Away Now!" biz strategy for getting PVP into newspapers, Joey Manley made an interesting comment on raising payrates for MT creators:
For example, the highest-paid cartoonist is now paid about double what I wrote eight months ago, from $200 to $400. It's still not enough to make a living on, but, you know, doubling in eight months is, um, kind of interesting. We're hoping it continues.
Joey later corrected this to indicate the raise had occurred over 20 months not 8 months.
Scott Kurtz Offers PvP For Free
Submitted by David Wright on August 2, 2004 - 12:45
As an alternative to joining an established print comic syndicate, Scott Kurtz announced a new plan to offer the archives of PvP free to newspapers.
People are buzzing with this announcement, and the ramifications it will entail to the future of newspaper comics and syndication. Read some of the reactions over at ToonTalk from such established cartoonists such as Wiley Miller (of Non Sequitur).
Guest Week at PVP
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on July 23, 2004 - 14:35
Paul Taylor of Wapsi Square draws today's PvP. Taylor is a fantastic artist and Kurtz notes that he and Taylor will be working on a project together soon.
Dandy & Company leaps from the Web to the Comic Shop!
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on July 21, 2004 - 08:27
Since October of 2001, cartoonist Derrick Fish has been entertaining thousands of readers with the slightly skewed tales of a Dog and his boy. Dandy & Company is a daily online comic strip best described by readers as a blend of the best of "Looney Tunes", Calvin and Hobbes and "Disney's Duck Tales".
Now, on the 3rd anniversary of Dandy's online introduction, Comic lovers will be able to take all the laughs, adventure and fun wherever they go with the release of Dandy & Company: ANTHROLogy! It's an all-new, bi-monthly comic book series from creator Derrick Fish, featuring a fresh blend of hilarious, all-new short stories and classic comic strips from the online adventures.
Modern Humor Authority Debuts
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on July 15, 2004 - 15:26
Update: As is often the case, the blog is fast and furious and sometimes.... still not sure. Although we had earlier suggested that Modern Humor Authority was a parody, based in large part on a PVP forums thread and the fact that webtoonist Kristopher Straub was the registered owner of the domain name, the site itself claims to be the online version of an established small-press Canadian review journal.
The website features reviews of Something Positive, Sore Thumbs, and a look at Sluggy Freelance's seventh anniversary. The August launch issue also includes an interview with R.K. Milholland of S*P, and several other review features.
Original Post: I would welcome the debut of Modern Humor Authority as the third publication to give heavy emphasis to coverage of webcomics except....
It's a parody. A really funny one in lots of ways too. The Checkerboard Kid strikes again!
Or maybe not. Although this site URL is registered under Straub's name it may actually be a serious site.
Developing.....
