I’ve been trying to reply to Chris Wright regarding his guest column over at Fleen, but there’s an overactive spam filter suddenly keeping me from posting.
So Chris, here’s my latest reply:
Chris said: “Tim, what I’m saying is that the web is designed in a way that works against for-profit publishing.”
And again, I point you to all kinds of blogs who are making a living doing just that, and to talkingpointsmemo.com who actually has a staff and enough to even fund an internship.
The web in the past wasn’t designed with anything in mind other than to share information between academics. Hell, they didn’t even have webpages in the beginning.
Obviously, it’s now way beyond that original purpose and people are making money on the web and some by being publishers. So, I’m not going to address this anymore.
However, that it’s difficult is besides the point. Most new brick-and-mortar stores fail the first year - going into a new business is hard, and that’s not peculiar to the web. That it’s difficult for an individual cartoonist to make money from their product isn’t new either. It has ALWAYS been difficult.
Actually, I would venture a guess that MORE cartoonists are making cartoons now thanks to the internet, and many of those cartoonists are making some amount of money than before, because now they can just post their work on the web instead of making minis and paying to schlep them to conventions. The web has expanded their potential audience and things like ProjectWonderful has given them the opportunity to earn money from the audience they have.
I think we’re in agreement about this.
What I don’t think we’re going to agree on is your statement about “justcartoonists” vs “professional webcartoonists” vs “amateur webcartoonists.” I don’t believe webcartoonists who are trying to make money think that they’re being undermined by webcartoonists who aren’t trying to.
There may be someone out there who actually thinks that, but I don’t think it’s out there in sufficient numbers to give any credence to the idea.
And any print cartoonist who casts a jaded eye toward the web is doing so not because of webcartoonists, it’s because they’re at a point in their life where they need a business model that will pay their bills. Giving it away for free is not practical. But that just means they haven’t found a way to enter the internet market - and they will.
Seriously, I think the worm has turned and if a new webcartoonist gets past their first year of posting online, those webcartoonists are going to think about ways to profit from their hard work.
The rise of things like ProjectWonderful shows that.
I understand that you think the entire essay is only about publishing, but it’s not. While you discuss how the internet has opened up avenues for individuals to find an audience (which, really, is old news), you’ve also set up what I think is a false tension between people who feel their work is more than a hobby and those who wish to keep it a hobby. Plus you’ve lumped every print cartoonist together into one group - one that is suspicious and hostile to the opportunities provided by the web.
That’s not the attitude I’ve encountered.
The web has upset traditional comics publishing. It has broken up the bottleneck of corporate comics and allowed more people to reach potential readers than ever before.
But it doesn’t automatically follow that the internet is also a barrier to earning a living for these individuals. Some are finding business models that are successful and making money, and others are continuing to pursue their goals.
Those are just the facts, and it’s not my fault that the facts are running counter to your premise.
The Adventures of Bunn-e is a comic strip about a rabbit named Bunn-e who is always hanging out in the forest, trying to escape bordem, And is hanging out with his friend Pinns. Bunn-e is usually trying to avoid his nerdy cousin fred.
Josh’s comics are so raw it’s almost frightening. I never know what is going to happen next. Bam Bam and the Barbarians is great example of how a comic artist’s style can perfectly match his theme. Plus, it’s totally punk rock!
What I look for in comic reading is the characters facial expressions with the dialects. Henrik Rehr has done a great job. Except with a few scenes this series keeps the suspense going. It's like having a spy novel and the supernatural in one. Mr.Rehr is also trying to draw the reader to figuring out the characters next move. I recommend readers to stop by this site and read, not just to find out was viewing in the current page, but to really figure out what the characters are trying reveal to the reader before it happens. Well until I get enough hits on my site to make me a celebrity make mine Webcomicsnation.
I really enjoyed reading the sister comic to this one - Fur Will Fly. This comic has all the same things going for it. The star of the comic is Violet who has grown into a teenager from her FWF days and is in high school now dealing with all the maddness that brings. What is surprising is that in FWF, the plots revolved around very strange sci-fi and fantasy occurances. Violet does not need this in her life as just one date can cause more stress and random occurances than her neighbor turning into a werewol (this happened).
Art - Violet has decent art with a good variety of species used in the cast and the background characters. Good color too.
Plot - This comic does not have a long, complicated plot that unlolds over hundreds of issues. That's a good thing. The plots are light and refreshing, designed to keep you interested and does not force you to read all the back issues though you will likely want to anyway… cause its funny.
Level - Violet is not an adult comic in that it has no nudity or extreme violence but the subject of sex does come up a lot in conversation. Only natural as making a comic that is set in the character's high school and the subject of sex not coming up should be impossible.
Well folks, after much thought I’ve decided that, this Spring, GirlAMatic will not be holding its usual open submission call.
At first, I thought that just postponing the April call until May would be enough, but there are just too many things going on behind the scenes right now for me to conscience bringing new people on board. I’ll open the submission floodgates again in the Fall. Until that time, here’s what potential GAMmers can do to improve their chances of becoming actual GAMmers:
-Build your archive. When I tell people that I need to see at least half a dozen pages of continuity to get a feel for their work, that doesn’t mean that that’s all one needs to have finished. That’s just the minimum it usually takes for me to decide if a series is right for GAM.
A full, ongoing and regularly updating archive tells me that the creator in question is making her/his webcomic because that’s what they want to do. Whereas a few pages that were created just for an open call tells me that that creator has no real idea what’s involved in producing consistent updates every single week. Adding a few extra pages to beef your proposal won’t cut it either. If a series creator can’t show that they update their story regularly, on their own, without editorial mandate, then I can be pretty sure that they’ll wash out of GirlAMatic in short order. Hey, if committed, seasoned pros find the pressure difficult at times, then what chance does the unlearned amateur stand?
If you’re uncertain, try putting your series up on your own site (or blog, or whatever) for awhile. Update weekly. If you can manage that for six months without burning out or calling it quits entirely, then we can talk. Your series still might not be right for GAM, but at least you’ll know what it takes and there are other Modern Tales sites that will gladly look at your submission.
-Write your proposal now. Seriously. Then put it away and forget about it until you’re ready to submit your series for my review. Then take it out, read it and be amazed. Then be prepared to rewrite the entire thing.
-Get to know us first. GirlAMatic is a family. If the first question in your submission is, “How much money can I make?”, then it’s a pretty safe bet that you won’t be joining our family. It’s not that we don’t want to make money, far from it! But getting rich isn’t why we do what we do. If it was, we’d all be politicians or plastic surgeons.
-This is a creative field, so for cryin’ out loud, use your imagination! The comics industry is full of unfunny gag strips, bland slice-of-life chronicles and trite superhero stories. I’ve seen more than my share of manga-afflicted artwork and “tell” rather than “show” writing. There is so much more to good storytelling than aping the stuff you grew up on.
Read more than just comics. Learn what makes good storytelling good and apply that to your work.
That’s about it. I’ll meet you all back here in the Fall, when I fully expect to have my socks knocked off.
Gary from Fleen sat John Boeck and myself down at NYCC and grilled us mercilessly. The interrogation notes are now online. Fear the man with the moustaches! Fear him! For he shall cause you to bare your very soul!
Interesting look at the reasons why one newspaper comic is ending:
Readers of the popular comic strip “PreTeena,” with its theme of preadolescent angst, will soon have to search online if they hope to follow the life and times of heroine Teena Keene. …
Developed in 1999 and syndicated to about 100 newspapers since 2001 …
The author of three books, Barrows said producing a daily comic strip is the hardest, but also the most satisfying, work she has ever done. To produce the strip, Barrows spends anywhere from 40 to 48 hours each week writing, editing and drawing. With a son about to enter high school and a daughter heading for college, Barrows described the future of comic strips in newspapers as uncertain.
“It’s become a labor of love, but not a labor that I was economically able to continue,” she said.
… Barrows said she is moving away from the daily production of “PreTeena” to begin a career as a producer of events featured on the Internet.
ComicSpace sponsored the annual Comic Book Legal Defense Fund Drink and Draw fundraiser this past Tuesday at the Village Pourhouse in New York City. We had a lot of fun, met a lot of cool people, and renewed a lot of old acquaintances. Personally? I neither drank nor drew. Sorry. I also forgot to bring my camera, but Heidi has posted some photographs (thankfully I’m in none of them). Also, look for scans of the sketches drawn by artists during the event to appear on ComicSpace soon (I’ll post a link) UPDATE: here’s the link.
I have just massively expanded the archives of my daily diary comic strip here at American Elf.
In May 2002 I started posting my daily diary comic strip online. However, the strip actually began several years earlier than that, in October 1998. The early years were collected in book form by Top Shelf, but they were never included in the online version of American Elf… until now!
The archives at American Elf now go all the way back to October 26, 1998.
The early strips are black & white, and then when I began putting them online I decided to try a 2-tone color system. However, that two-tone system very quickly expanded into a full and vibrant exploration of color. I’ve tried to use it to enhance the emotional power of the work. But the early black & white strips do have a special power of their own. Both are good, powerful in their own way. Now the readers can see the full evolution of my grand diary experiment, which is really turning into my “life’s work” it seems.
I got introduced to Patty Cake and Scot Roberts a long time ago. When I was young and the heart and soul of this book escaped me.
Sure, it looked good and yes, its humor was cute and even funny to me. Who doesn't like returning to the simpler times in their life when it was a lot more fun to try and sneak a piece of candy than it was to pay bills?
As I grew older, Patty Cake encouraged me to write and illustrate more with my heart, as well as the joys and freedom associated with illustrating using ink and a brush.
Today, a bunch of years older, a father to two children, Patty Cake not only plucks at my heart strings as an artist and a fan, but it also warms me from the inside as a parent.
I found myself in tears at the end of this story. The Glitter Glue incident has also seen its hey day in my house as well, but with less dramatic results, so I can absolutely relate to Patty's dad when she hands him that card.
Many is the time when I've found myself having to discipline my daughter, only to look down at those big blue eyes full of tears and have to take away a piece of the magic that is her childhood because she was only doing what she's thought would make me happy, or what she'd thought was pretty, but it was wrong.
Like the time she painted her wall with her watercolors set, because the white was too plain and she wanted to paint some butterflies, or the time she drew in the first five pages of my sketchbook that I keep for work and the markers that she'd used bled right through to a bunch of roughs that I'd had worked up for my Art Director to hand in the next day at work.
Too many times, adults forget what it was to be a child and too many times we take away the magic that they see in this world that hurts us as much as we hurt them by taking that magic from them by pulling back the curtains of perception and showing them the proverbial man pulling the levers and knobs.
I see now that Scott Roberts not only reminds us of that, but also brings some of that magic back to life. In the beauty of his writing, in the character of his linework, the magnificence of his page layouts and timing, and the euphoria of his overall subject matter.
I cannot now or ever say great enough things about Scott Roberts' Patty Cake books. Changing publishers has never dulled the look, the message or the feel of her world or of its magic message to us adults. I can only pray that his hand never stops and that Patty Cake lives on forever in every brush stroke on every page that Scott Roberts continues to cross paths with.
I know I’m not the first to be taken with the synergy of words and pictures that can make comics so uniquely engaging. The words may be masterful and the pictures finely crafted, but when you get them together, watch out, magic may occur. Such is the case with Batton Lash’s tales of Supernatural Law. The varied personalities that inhabit this series are portrayed with warmth and humanity and you find yourself feeling for the characters. The humor is gentle, subtle, dry and intelligent. And consistently funny. As Neil Gaiman (Yeah, THE Neil Gaiman!) Said in his introduction to Batton Lash’s trade paperback collection, SONOVAWITCH! And other tales of Supernatural Law, “…they are the finest funny supernatural fictions ever created, and…one of the best legal soap operas out there.” I’m going to agree with Mr. Gaiman and recommend that you read Supernatural Law if you haven’t already. Once you get hooked you can go to your local comic shop and find several collected editions of strips that have never been online. I say: Good Stuff! Do check it out.
This surely is a rare kind of comic, and one that must be checked out immediately. There are only four instalments (thus far) and each one is truly beautiful.
These are tragic pieces my friends, and this is the kind of tragedy one could only find in classic European art films - those rare moments which make you not only feel like weeping, but awestruck at the inherent beauty.
I really don't know what else to say. If you like films by such luminaries as Fellini or possibly Godard, I suggest you take the time to peruse Max Peter's wares. You won't regret it, and if you're anything like me, it'll add a bit of deeper meaning to your day.
Dr. Faust definitly has my vote for being one of the funniest comics on WCN. C.J.'s clean style and interesting characters make this a great comic for recommended reading!
"95 Gallons" takes the reader on a journey into the lives of a group of fish living in a large fishtank. The tank is a paradise at first, with everything they need being provided for them and all the fish living in harmony with one another. However, things start to change with the arrival of a new fish, the Tiger Barb. This megalomaniacal fish believes he is superior to the others and wants to become their ruler, and he begins his plans by making small changes to the community, shifting it from a paradise into a twisted parody of human society. The only one who seems aware of his meddling is a Black Skirt Tetra, but nobody seems to believe him…
This colorful and expressive comic is one continuous storyline that should be read from the beginning in order to follow what's going on. Even though none of the characters have names (they're identified by their species, like Angelfish and Pineapple Swordtail), they are still very distinct, and their character traits are strong enough that they don't even need names to be recognized. The interactions of the characters and the continuous nature of the story makes the reader care about the struggles of these fish and wait eagerly to see what happens next. You always know the Tiger Barb is up to something, but it's difficult to predict what it is.
The story and setting also contains a lot of social satire, comparing elements in our society with that of a paradise. It's the sort of thing that helps us to see some of the ridiculousness (and necessities) of our world and our behaviors through its parallels with that of the fishtank. In the creator's words, the point of the comic is "to see different worlds and ones not so different", and it accomplishes this. But even aside from the satire, the humor of the comic is maintained throughout with a mixture of sarcasm, bizarreness, and just plain laugh-out-loud situations.
"95 Gallons" is definitely an awesome, underrated comic; the colorful nature of both the simple but pleasing visuals and the characters themselves draw you in, while the story keeps you coming back for more.
On April 15th, a new superhero team book called THE CROSSOVERLORD will debut.
THE CROSSOVERLORD will involve a teaming between A.N.T. , DASIEN, “Dead Debbie” of INDEFENSIBLE POSITIONS, LIGHTBRINGER, and MINDMISTRESS against a common foe — who also has some of their individual enemies working for him. Plenty of guest-shots and other cameos from other webcomics has already been agreed on, with more to come.
Superhero teams come in two flavors; characters created especially for the book, like X-Men or Fantastic Four or Doom Patrol, and the teams that team-up separate superhero features into one team — like JLA, or AVENGERS. THE CROSSOVERLORD is the latter. Though it will be like JLA or AVENGERS, it’ll also be like EXILES — in that each character is drawn from a different reality. The multiverse is their baliwick — but despite the cosmic scope of their story, there will be a LOT of character friction and interaction. After all — how can they agree on a strategy against a common foe — if they can’t even agree on a NAME?
Interested parties can see a collage of images right NOW at www.webcomicsnation.com/crossoverlord/crossoverlord/ to get an idea. The creators are round-robining the art chores, so the story will be told in a variety of styles, updating every Tuesday.
CRISISes getting too corny and overblown? WARS and INVASIONS too contradictory and messy?
