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Zortic

Mark Mekkes

 

Creator of Zortic.

2007 WCCA Announcement

Submitted by Mark Mekkes on July 20, 2006 - 12:25

This year the Web Cartoonists' Choice Awards took a huge step forward by using for the first time our own, self-sufficient webhost and voting mechanisms. With any step this big there's bound to be some wobbling, but with the foundation set the future of the awards is ready to take off. And next year we already have even bigger and better challenges ready to take the WCCAs to a whole new level.

The Recruitment Drive is ON!

Submitted by Mark Mekkes on July 18, 2006 - 21:03

Every year it's the same, once the WCCA winners are announced there are a million ideas and suggestions of what should or shouldn't have happened, everyone seems to have an idea or suggestion about how they would have done it. However when it comes to actually stepping up and participating in the discussion, planning and execution of the awards, that same vocal group seems to disappear.

I Am What I Am

Submitted by Mark Mekkes on July 17, 2006 - 11:42

As I promised, here is a bit of back story about me, where I came from and what I have to offer.

I was born in a suburb of Grand Rapids MI in the early 60’s and I began drawing as soon as I could hold a pencil. Art was always a main focus for me growing up and I took a special interest in animation. I was actually working on flip books as early as kindergarten. I began storyboarding ideas for short “movies” based on songs long before music videos were invented.

This Week's Guest Blogger and Other Site News

Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on July 16, 2006 - 12:11

This week's guest blogger is long-time webcomic creator Mark Mekkes (who does Zortic and also Abby's Agency - both at Keenspot). Mark is heavily involved with the WCCA Awards which will be announcing its 2006 winners tomorrow (Monday) so Mark will probably begin blogging on Tuesday.

I'd also like to thank our newest sponsor - the webcomic Templar, Arizona by Spike. A really good read - if you've never checked it out be sure to do so.

Also - I tweaked the layout to include the nifty navigation images from the last site design. Hopefully it's clear enough (although I may have to plead with Tyler to fix them for me) - in any event COMMUNITY = forums, LIBRARY = encyclopeda (comixpedia.org) and PORTAL = toplist (comixpedia.net).

Last - I can set up "groups" here which would allow all of you to set up and manage your own groups for various purposes (like local meetups, peer review, etc). Is anyone interested and if so let me know if you'd like to help me test it out.

Comixpedia's Summer of Guest Bloggers

Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on June 19, 2006 - 11:34

Thanks to all the guest bloggers this summer. I'm still working on rebooting Comixpedia for the fall so posting by me may be light this week. If you guest blogged this summer feel free to post this week if you're interested. Thanks!

Mega-News Dump

Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on June 2, 2006 - 13:02

Two notable bits of book news this week:

John Allison reports that his fourth print collection of Scary Go Round is headed off to the printers. He'll also be crossing the pond for New York's MoCCA this June.

Howard Tayler reports that he's started working on the NEXT Schlock Mercenary collection. This one will collect episodes published online from August 2003 to March 2004. Fleen has a review of the current SM collection - "Under New Management" which I'm still waiting to get in my shiny maibox! Laughing

Some convention appearances to note:

Blank Label dude Brad Guigar is at his hometown convention, Wizard World Cheesesteak Philapdelphia. I don't have the details here on the WizWorldCon but I hear it's in Philly!

Plus several reviews and blurbs for webcomics:

Joe Zabel writes about Derek Kirk Kim's new comic work online entitled Healing Hands. Joe's blog post on his review has already generated a lively discussion.

The Webcomicker has a review of Banished and in it argues that the web has been key to the success of a number of science fiction comedy titles. I don't know if I agree with the assertion, but regardless, Gilead links to many of the best sci-fi ha-ha webcomics I'm aware of.

T Campbell drops that he's bringing back Search Engine Funnies on September 1st. No word on the new artist(s) though.

Here's a business bit of news:

Gary Tyrrell has an interview with Chris Baldwin who recently signed a "web syndication" deal with United Media for his other comic Little Dee.

Some other interesting webcomic-related stories include:

The Penny Arcade duo taught a class on comics to grade schoolers. They've done this before and it's good to see them at it again. Gabe mused aloud about creating some resources for school teachers to download - he should do that. (He might also talk to Brad Guigar who did a similar project with comics in schools a few years ago.)

The blog Filth Hole (which is sometimes NSFW) got linked to by Warren Ellis for a funny sketch (which is probably NSFW).

The Writer Response Theory blog has a post on the history of fiction on the Internet which of course includes webcomics. A project along these lines would probably be able to use T Campbell's book as a jumping off point for a chapter on webcomics - I'm not sure what has been written about other fiction forms on the Internet. More interestingly would be to take a look at any interplay between different forms (and their associated communties of creators and readers) in their development on the internets.

Webcomics In Print blog is having a competition - send in a picture of yourself wearing a webcomic t-shirt before June 10th. Winners will win fabulous prizes no doubt!

We're also happy to report:

Bob Stevenson appears to have updated his blog/comic site Journey Into History. Bob does both webcomics and webcomic reviews well - he's kind of the ultimate anti-FLEEN.

Zoinks reports that it's latest issue is going to press and will be available later this month.

And in Not-Webcomics news:

Lore links to this video of "superhero war re-enactors" which is both a spoof of civil war re-enactors and a total geek-out on Marvel's Secret Wars comic books.

Combining our last two month issues (Superheroes and Movies) in one long post, Phil Kahn geeks out on X-Men 3: The Last Stand. Geeks out in a good way of course! Cool

First and Last: Zortic

Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on May 20, 2006 - 20:02

Zortic by Mark Mekkes started on Keenspace in 2000 before getting snapped up by Keenspot. Here's a snapshot of artwork from the beginning and very recently:

Very first Zortic
Very First Zortic

(Above, part of the very first Zortic. Below a very recent Zortic)

Very Recent

 

And just as a bonus here's a Zortic from a storyline parodying the DaVinci Code which works in a Websnark essay.

MAKING A LIVING: What do you consider a LIVING WAGE?

Submitted by djcoffman on April 15, 2006 - 10:07

Just curious what other webcomic creators or enthusiasts consider a living wage in webcomics? While it is possible to make just as much money as you could with another profession, it's not very likely at this moment in webcomics.What would you consider a success for a webcartoonist to make?A grand a month or more? Less?

Exact date of your webcomic launch?

Submitted by kjc on March 30, 2006 - 11:11

If you know it, please post the exact date your comic started (and the date it ended if it has). Also, include the name of the comic plus a URL for it.

And if you know of the start (and end) date of someone else's comic who doesn't hang out here, by all means provide it.