Hey everyone, I have returned from Europe in more or less one piece. If you’re interested, you can read about it here over the coming week or two. I would like to give a massive shout out to the Fleen reader I met on the train to London. I hope the British treated you well.

Coming home after over two weeks without web comics (I tried to keep up with the ones I said I would but it was pretty much impossible) was interesting. Many years ago, I went on holiday for a whole month and when I came home I just didnt have the time/ inclination to catch up on all the comics that I read so I wound up seperating the wheat from the chaff and only filling myself in on the ones that I really liked. This time round, that didn’t happen. All the comics I read regularly these days are pretty much all gold, so coming home to two weeks worth of material on each site was like sitting down to watch a DVD box set of a bunch of my favorite shows, except that it’s all free!

Ah, the simple joy of web comics, how I missed it.

Paul Southworth has some projects to get done, so for the next month we get Ugly Hill with bonus DVD commentary!

Samuel L. Jackson has a video interview up at The OC; you can hear what real-life webcomicker Jeff Rowland sounds like!

Reviews on the books that I picked up at SDCC to start soon; I’ve finished first reads of everything except THOW. We all know that book is going to be a lightning rod no matter what gets written here, so I’m reading it very carefully; when the shitstorm is inevitably released, I want to be able to back up what I say.

Speaking of Mr. T, you may not have him to kick around any more. Peep this. Or is it possible that this is culmination of all of Campbell’s plans, and now he can assume his new identity as Tim Demeter? Keep your eyes open and your brain sharp, ’cause this could be a bumpy ride.

Okay, that covers the happenings at the SDCC Webcomics School panels; I’m thrilled by the positive reaction they’ve gotten so far. Here’s what’s going to happen with them:

1. Your suggestions — what did you find missing from the discussions? What topics do you think would make for a good set of lessons about how to do webcomics?
2. Ask the experts — finding out from people who do webcomics well what lessons they want to convey and fleshing out these session notes with futher content; also, asking the participants to list out any topics that they wanted to get to during the sessions but didn’t.
3. Ruthless editing — having a narrative of the sessions is nice, but it doesn’t make for a good teaching/research tool; we’ll deal with some of the overlap, expand and trim as needed, and generally turn them into something a little more readable.
4. Permanent home — they will be placed here at Fleen as a permanent resource. A free Fleen t-shirt¹ to whoever comes up with a really good name for these lessons.
5. Planning for next year — this was the second SDCC with a webcomics curriculum, and maybe it’s time to add some 200-level courses. Start brainstorming and let’s get a discussion going about what you’d like to see covered next year, and who you want on the panels. I don’t have anything to do with organizing these things, but we can use this forum as a feedback mechanism.

I’d like to take this time to publicly thank all of the panelists: Dave Kellett, Jon Rosenberg, Brian Fies, Phil Foglio, R Stevens, Kristofer Straub, Scott Kurtz, Mike Krahulik, Jerry Holkins, Robert Khoo, Howard Tayler, Jennie Breeden, and Phillip Karlsson, for all their expertise. Between them, I think you’re looking at about a century of direct cartooning and webcomics experience.

Extra big thanks to Bill Barnes for his moderation and direction of the panels. He was also largely responsible for putting them together, so if you liked ’em, be sure to thank him.

Finally, a request for everybody reading this: if you attended one of these sessions, if you wanted to attend but couldn’t, and especially if you lined up but didn’t get in, please contact the organizers of SDCC and let them know what sort of demand there is for this kind of panel. Be polite, but let them know, in Krahulik’s words, “that webcomics are kind of a big deal now.”

Back to regular stuff next week; look for book reviews and whatever happens on the day. Thank you, and drive safely.

¹ Note: Fleen t-shirts do not actually exist.

Today’s Theatre Hopper examines the point of the Miami Vice movie. I think Tom is onto something when he asks why the movie was even made. I mean, who gives two shits about pastel suits, rolled sport-coat sleeves, and cheesy eighties techno? The show was never good to begin with.

How do I know this?

Because my father loved the damn show, so as a child Miami Vice was crammed into my unsuspecting brain. Images of Don Johnson cavorting around in sock-less loafers and spouting cliches still play back in my mind as horrible night terrors.

Continuing from yesterday; if you’re interested in some of pictures of these sessions, Gilead Pellaeon has ’em, along with his writeups of these sessions.

Webcomics 103: Making Money
At the podium, Bill Barnes (Unshelved)
On the panel, Robert Khoo (Penny Arcade), Howard Tayler (Schlock Mercenary), Jennie Breeden (The Devil’s Panties), Phillip Karlsson (Dumbrella Hosting), and Scott Kurtz (PvP).

The Sign Said, “I’ll Just Blow It On Bandwidth”
Barnes opened up the floor to questions, and the first one dealt with making money when starting out — and how can comic books be a part of that? Khoo leapt to the fore with a strong answer that we’ll quote here: “I don’t know why everybody has a fuckin’ hard-on for the book deal. This is webcomics. The goal is not to make comic books when you can do so much more. You can create lots of kinds of content, you can monetize lots of different things.”
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Dave Kellett mentioned something to me over the weekend in San Diego, something potentially cool. Well, it’s up at Blank Label now, so I guess it’s gone from “potentially” to “thoroughly” cool.

Seems our Dave will be doing a stint as Cartoonist-in-Residence at the Charles M. Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa, California. Past C-i-Rs include Mike Jantze, Dan Piraro, and Pixar animator Don Crum. Look for Kellett at the Sparky shrine on December 9th, and then again on the 10th at the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco.

As pointed out by Jeff Rowland, (And now Allison)there is a wiki with drinks and drinking games related to webcomics. The drinks are themed for a selection of possibly more well known webcomics, and may or may not actually be for human consumption.

I think there would be hours of amusement browsing a wiki such as this. But, alas, there is more to this wiki than mere amusement:

This website is intended as a tool for the gathering and organization of information related to the publishing of a book or books for commercial purposes.

All information entered by users, whether registered or anonymous, is considered to be an uncompensated contribution to the project.

Owners of copyrighted or other content submitted through this website grant to Phillip Kahn the unconditional and unlimited use of that material for all manner of publication.

It’s a derivative work, a spinoff, a tribute. Phillip Kahn seems to be a webcomic podcaster, involved in the policy of the WCCAs, and it seems he’s trying to make a book to capitalize on webcomic success. The idea that contributions are uncompensated says that he’s trying to be compensated.

Interesting. Very Interesting.

Edit: An earlier version of this post had content that was based on mistaken assumptions; Phil Kahn was kind enough to provide further information, and Fleen regrets the error.

Over at Overcompensating Jeff is giving back to his audience by linking to the “I’m Just Drinking: Web Comics edition” page. This page holds a rather extensive list of popular and not-so-popular web comics and drink recipes based off the comic itself. I thought to myself “Is it possible that such a list even exists?”

Oh, it is. And it does.

Here are a few of my favorite recipes so far, but I’m sure you will have your own personal favorites.

• Ctrl-Alt-Del
• Diesel Sweetie
• Green Dromiceiomimus
• Dr.MrNinja
• Toothgnip
• ANTHROPC

This list will get you started on the hazy, blissful road to alcoholism.  Have fun friends and remember, if you hook a car battery to your testicles, it is going to smart.

This is the report of the third “Webcomics School” panel session at SDCC. After everything is vaguely back to normal around here, we’ll consult with the session moderator and panelists, expand these recaps, and keep ’em conspicuously posted as a resource for webcomics creators. Please note that these writeups are lengthy, and continue behind the cut for a good long ways.

As an aid to readability, these recaps are presented not as a transcript of a Q&A (although certain sections will quote participants at length, due to extremely critical information that doesn’t deserve truncation), but as a heavily edited narrative, with “takeaway” lessons that summarize the mood of the panel in response to each topic of discussion. Fleen welcomes corrections or clarifications from the participants.

Webcomics 103: Making Money
At the podium, Bill Barnes (Unshelved)
On the panel, Robert Khoo (Penny Arcade), Howard Tayler (Schlock Mercenary), Jennie Breeden (The Devil’s Panties), Phillip Karlsson (Dumbrella Hosting), and special surprise guest Scott Kurtz (PvP) fresh off his Eisner win. Back to room 3, seating 150, with every seat filled. Fan:want to make webcomics ratio of about 20:130.

Who We Are, How We Got Here
Barnes opened the session with a general question to the panel, asking each, “How did you get here, and how do you make your money?” Given the wealth of experience and wisdom at the head table, the answers took nearly a third of the allotted time; pay attention to their answers, as there will be a test later.
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Adis! once again has captured a raw yearning for things to be a little bit more simple, more finite and easy to solve. Ever since Hezbollah captured an Israeli soldier, and Israel put its policy into practice, scenes like this have come to life, escaping from their 132 bit video game screens.

Our newspapers need hugging, considering the headlines and the images of death, despair, and the inexorable march of nations which few in their paths can stop.