Yirmumah is known for it’s gag-a-day social commentary that has come to make me laugh fantastically hard at every update. But D.J. Coffman has decided to take his comic down a different path with the new set of strips titled “Prologue 1: Dad”.

D.J. has wanted to get those story-line demons out of his head for some time, and now he’s finally letting them loose on an unsuspecting public. I’m planning on joining Club Yurmumah so I can get all the weekly strips at once, because I’m intrigued into where D.J. is going to take the story.

All we know so far is that a mysterious, moustache-laden biker stops into a bar and starts reminicing about when he was a child, his dear mother would take in hobos and feed them. But as we all know, you can never trust a hobo.

 If you were wondering, Yirmumah will return to its normal format eventually. But for now I recommend the new Yirmumah because it’s not everyday that a web comic takes the brave leap from gag-a-day to story-driven dialogue. I support you D.J. because you have the balls to do what you want, even if it means smushing hobos with trains.

If my memory serves me correctly, it’s now the third year that SDCC has been bunching together the webcomics crowd into what Rich Stevens once dubbed the sexy lagoon. Check out the map: Dayfree all right next to Flight, with PA near Keenspot and Blank Label and Dumbrella; lobbing a grenade into this section of the convention center could destroy webcomics as we know it. But what’s that?

Right there in between Keenspot and BLC, where it says, Billy West? Sweet mother of Slurm, the voice of Dr Zoidberg is right in the center of the sexy lagoon! Billy West is going to spend his days staring across the aisle to where Jeff Rowland has a tattoo of a character he (West) voices inscribed on his (Rowland’s) body. Bets are now being accepted to determine precisely how cool this is.

Friendly Hostility is sporting a trio of summer-themed storylines.

One: Fatima is in a bit of trouble. She’s dragged her brother away from his summer of lovin’ to fight with her in a team freestyle cage fight to clear her debts get ahead in life. The shocker so far? Fatima is capable of love.

Two: Arath, who couldn’t talk to Collin at first about him being gay, invites Collin to come to Mexico with him. Collin has been banned from Mexico. The twist? It’s an election year.

Three: Bootsy has turned 18 years old, the age of legality. Collin and Fox being gone, she celebrates with The Demon, who invites her to stay the night to get away from paint fumes. And she confesses her love for him. Why, oh why?! It’s so awkward.

Each of the story lines has, in my opinion, a freshness to them because they have such a limited time frame: Summer. They won’t drag on forever, and they have to have a cleverness that comes of conciseness, and the variety also works well.

The storylines are also brilliant in the way that they highlight very important characterizations: Collin as an aspiring dictator, Fox as a loyal brother who respects his family’s… erm… traditions, Bootsy as a romantic, and Fatima as someone who plays by her own rules. The situations that are developing — the Mexican incursion, and what the Demon will say to Bootsy — provide good vehicles to reveal essential things about these characters.

Well played, Friendly Hostility. Well played.

… Tatsuya Ishida! Also, PJ Hart, who has been absent from these pages due to a dangerous mix of personal and professional problems. Anyway. Let’s talk more about the new Sinfest.

When I first started here, one of the first things I did was get on Tat’s back about his extended absences. I was close to bringing it up again when out of nowhere, a new comic appeared along with a brand new website! The new site itself oozes simplicity from html pores that were once clogged with clutter, and today’s strip is old school Sinfest, just the way you remember.

It’s worth noticing also that  there is no trace of Keenspot anywhere on the site, so that’s another loss for them. I wonder if Tat will get snapped up by any of the other comic collectives. My money is on Blank Label.

Ok, so is String really a tantric god, or is that just a rumor? Over at Bad Shape they are calling Sting a “Tantra Jedi”. I’m so going to have business cards printed up with that as my profession.

On the topic of sexiness, Pintsize at Questionable Content considers the possibility of hermaphrodite keytars. If the guitar is supposed to be phallic and a keyboard is yonic, then I guess it makes sense. But I’m sure a hefty debate can be raised on the topic of instrument sexes.

Few more panels of note, y’all.

Saturday

12:30-1:30 Flight: A New Kind of Comics Anthology— The critically acclaimed Flight anthology has begun paving the way for a new vision in comics. Flight artists Kazu Kibuishi (Daisy Kutter), Phil Craven, Kean Soo (Jellaby), Jeff Smith (Bone), Steve Hamaker, and special guest Scott McCloud (Understanding Comics, Making Comics) talk about creating comics for a new generation of readers and artists. Room 9

4:00-5:00 How to Make Compelling Web Comics— Lee Marrs (Pudge, Girl Blimp, Indiana Jones) will present the most direct methods and pitfalls of creating both webcomics and interactive hypercomics, with demonstrations and examples. The direct-from-the-trenches “Marrs Hypercomics Recipe� will be shared by this Inkpot Award winner and Emmy Award–winning TV art director. Room 3

This appears to a usage of the word webcomics somewhat different than you and I are used to.

Sunday

10:30-11:30 History of Webcomics— Join writer T Campbell (Penny and Aggie, Fans, Rip and Teri) and some possible surprise guests to discuss 13 years of online comics, the challenges, conflicts and controversies of chronicling them, and where the project goes from here. Room 9

Unfortunately, gonna miss this one — my flight home is Sunday morning. Anybody want to do some feet-on-the-street reportage? Click the contact link.

The SDCC panel schedule is getting close to finalized, and two more items of note have popped up. In addition to the previously-Fleened Dumbrella and Webcomics 102 panels, we have:

10:30-11:30 Blank Label Comics — The groundbreaking independent comics co-op offers a look at its unique recipe for success and explains why “webcomics” are dead. Moderated by the hosts of the popular Blank Label Comics podcast, Dave Kellett (Sheldon) and Kristofer Straub (Starslip Crisis), the panel will include David Willis (Shortpacked!), Paul Taylor (Wapsi Square), Howard Tayler (Schlock Mercenary), Steve Troop (Melonpool), and Brad Guigar (Evil Inc.). Room 1A

and

6:00-7:00 Keenspot 2006: Spotlight on Awesomeness — The world-renowned Internet powerhouse that makes webcomics history with every new pixel returns to Comic-Con for its 6th annual panel discussion! Keenspot creators who may very well appear (assuming no cool Star Trek panels overlap with this one) include Dan Shive (El Goonish Shive), Jennie Breeden (The Devil’s Panties), Aeire (Queen of Wands), R. Smith (Funny Farm), and Darren Bleuel (Nukees). The panei will be moderated by Keencast hosts Chris Daily (Striptease) and John Troutman (Flint Again), who will be podcasting this panel. Hear Keenspot’s late-breaking big announcements and preview their newest comics and animation projects before anyone else! Free Keenspot giveaways for everyone who attends. Room 9

That makes at least three collectives that will have the soapbox to tell us what they’re up to these days. Will we see the Twin Towers holding forth on behalf of Dayfree Press? Or some announcements about what’s happening at Graphic Smash and Modern Tales? There’s still a lot of hours across four days that don’t have webcomics events, so get cracking, collective people!

Also, it’s starting to look like my schedule will prevent me from attending the “Spotlight on Awesomeness” (you really sorta have to respect somebody that can come up with a line like that with a straight face), so if anybody wants to do the stringer thing for us and grab some dirt, feel free to click the contact link up there.

Holy shit Jeffrey Rowland! Is that the one and only Samuel L. Jackson wearing your “Snakes Flying a Plane” T-shirt?

Damn, you are smooth.

I’m glad your creepy-ass dream has inspired you to go to Comic-Con. I must admit, I was surprised when you first announced that you weren’t going to attend this year. But when the Badass Motherfucker demands that you go, I guess you can’t say no. Or he’ll slice you in two with his purple lightsaber.

After a long-ass day at work, what I like to come home to is a nice refreshing cup o’ web comic. And nothing satisfies better than Rob and Elliot. If you check out the most recent update of the strip, you will be catching the end of a hard learned lesson on stealing. I enjoy it when web comics teach moral lessons, because it usually involves fake blood, squibs, and an old woman dressed like satan.

I think there should be more web comics that teach twisted, horrifyingly effective moral lessons. It could be like what Wonder Showzen did for Sesame Street. Do I dare to dream about such a web comic? Yes, yes I do.

Hey, look at that! Server all migrated and we’re back in business, just in time for me to write an entry before things consume my evening (none of which, sadly, involve the drinking of beer). A quick scan of the internets reveals that Goats, megaGAMERZ, Real Life, and Oh No Robot! have also made the transition safely.
(Edit: Slight delay getting graphics to load. Picture to be added up there shortly Added.)

So, something PJ wrote got me to thinking about what makes for a good webcomic — archives that you can easily (and freely) navigate are the key advantage of webcomics over their print brethren, despite certain business models to the contrary. Jeff once remarked on the importance of infrastructure, including navigation, forum, and blurb space. And I’ve written about the importance of legibility in artwork. But what else is necessary for a really good webcomic?

A quick scan of popular comics reveals that, much like there are essential elements to country/western songs (booze, death, adultery, Jesus, a train, and/or a truck), certain themes may be considered critical for webcomickin’ success; they appear to include:

• pixels
• pretty people talking
• ninjas
• cute fuzzy animals
• video games

Think of it! All of your big-time webcomics feature at least one of these. We may logically infer that a pixel comic of a fuzzy animal ninja that talks about videogames with its pretty friends is destined for megasuccess … it’s scientific! Dinosaurs would be good too, but that’s closed territory, my friend. Try to encroach, and you’ll get stomped. Even now, highly trained Disney™ Fungineers© are reading this, plotting to extend their dominance, coming for your children. In the meantime, Fleen welcomes your suggestions for comics that fulfill at least three of the Criteria of Wonderfulness.