Year End Thoughts, Part One
You probably have webcomics in your bookmarks from a half-dozen countries on a couple different continents. You can write and draw these things from anywhere. So what’s up with Northampton, MA? R Stevens is there, as are Jeff Rowland and Jeph Jacques, along with a number of print comickers.
It’s always been an artist’s colony, and now it’s approaching a sort of critical webcomics mass. This is good because proximity means frequent contact. It means cross-pollination of ideas. It means that the next spontaneous Bald Lemur meet-n-greet pulls not just fanboys/girls, but some kid that really wants to make webcomics and figures this is the place to see how it’s done. It means that maybe the meet-n-greet after that isn’t in a coffeehouse, but in a gallery space. Good places to sell books, galleries.
And if we’re lucky and we’ve been good boys and girls, it means that creators get more creative. Want to see an explosion of fresh ideas in webcomics? Forget the fights about art vs. commerce, t-shirts vs. subscriptions, and the rest of the public wankery. Kick a buck into the Northampton Moving Fund for Deserving Webcomics Creators. Or, barring that, the Booze Fund for Weekend Webcomics Jam Sessions. That works, too.
Our office is actually in Easthamton, a mere stone’s throw from Northampton.
By jeffrey on 12.21.05 11:56 pm
I’d consider us noho because we are Not Whores. (in a literal sense)
By rstevens on 12.22.05 2:13 am
Speak for yourself.
By jeffrey on 12.22.05 3:05 pm
There are quite a few webcomickers in my town (in Vancouver BC), I have discovered. Except they’re not really as well-known. The biggest one is probably Sam Logan from Sam and Fuzzy, who lives on the island across the water from me. Not that I’ve ever met him.
By lucastds on 12.22.05 9:00 pm
Lucas, have you ever come out to any of the Vancouver comic jams?
Usually about 20 or so comic folk, web and print, show up on a monthly basis.
Vancouver=hotbed.
By Fred Grisolm on 12.22.05 11:43 pm
No, I haven’t. You should email me, my man. I do dig your comic. I’m pretty new to the “scene”, really. I just started drawing all regular-like last year.
By lucastds on 12.23.05 2:46 am
The guy that does Death to the Extremist lives around Noho too, doesn’t he?
By Wingie on 12.25.05 10:06 pm
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