Speaking Of Endings And Beginnings
It looks like Hockey Zombie has gone the way of all (rotting, undead) flesh. That’s too bad, but you have to admire creators that wrap things when they aren’t feeling the love/quality anymore. After all, we don’t want webcomics turning into Blondie.
On a happier note, Wizard talks to Nicholas Gurewitch, creator of The Perry Bible Fellowship; is it just me, or are these online interviews much better than the actual print magazine?
On the philosphical side of things, Colonel Joey is wondering out loud: How many webcomics are, there, really? Best comment is from William G, asking if we count all the two-week-wonders in the total. (Don’t forget that Mr G’s very cool Bang Barstal resumes a weekly schedule next Thursday.)
And, behind the cut, my final letter to a newspaper regarding Diesel Sweeties; I’m one of those people lucky enough to live in an area served by the early launch (although apparently, not all agree with my love of the strip), and that deserves a letter of thanks to the editor responsible.
Date: 5 Jan 2007
From: Gary Tyrrell
To:
Charles “Chick” Harrison
Reader Representative
Newark Star-Ledger
Mr Harrison,
Forgive me for imposing on you; I was unable to find an email address for Susan Olds, your Features Editor. Please share this email with her, as it would concern her as well.
I realize that most letters concerning the comics page are unhappy ones for you. Considering that the purpose of “the funnies” is to make people smile, I’ve always been shocked at how many people can approach them with so little a sense of humor. So let me break the usual pattern: I am writing to thank the Star-Ledger for having introduced a new comic strip, Diesel Sweeties.
For a number of years, I have noticed that the Star-Ledger is unusually willing to shake up the contents of the comics page, despite
the fact that every strip added means annoying the readers of a strip replaced. I have voted in each of your readers polls, and have written
several times to the Features Editor of the _________ (my local paper), attempting to get them to take a similarly active approach, but have never received a reply.
Diesel Sweeties will probably annoy some readers. It will possibly delight others (such as myself). Given its history of online publication and many, many existing readers, it may even bring new readers to your paper; for myself, it’s enough to get me to upgrade my Sunday/Thursday subscription to a 7-day subscription. I particularly appreciate the Star-Ledger for being one of the papers to launch the
strip early, replacing the now-lamented FoxTrot.
Thank you for seeing the potential in a new strip, one that won’t outlive its creator by decades; it gives me hope for this most uniquely American of art forms (well, okay, Jazz is uniquely American, too).
Sincerely,
Gary Tyrrell
________, NJ
Thanks for the shout out, Gary.
A-and don’t forget Spike TV’s short-lived Basketball on Trampolines show, Slamball. Surely your years in Indiana led you to appreciate basketball as an Art Form, no?
By Bg Porter on 01.05.07 3:48 pm
press start to play that had a big fan following its on a hiatus (its looks final) and cute ninja girls ended this year
Some of the comics that ended its because they`re teens when they started their respectives comics but when they fame didnt came or they got to work or something like that.
Even someone ended his comic because he will be 30 soon and he scared to be in his 30`s and still doing the comic.
By algeya on 01.05.07 8:59 pm
basketball was invented by a canadian though.
By lucastds on 01.05.07 11:13 pm
It’s not just you.
By T Campbell on 01.06.07 8:59 pm
Lucas: Canada is in North America. It counts.
By copyrezo on 01.07.07 10:29 am
[…] Gary Newspaper features editors (the friendly, beseiged folk in charge of the comics page) really do have the worst jobs in the world. How do I know? Because an almost throwaway bit of minor kindness cut through the usual heap o’ shit that features editors labor under, and had a tremendous impact. I wrote the following last Friday: I realize that most letters concerning the comics page are unhappy ones for you [the features editor of the Newark Star-Ledger]. […]
By Fleen: Written by bitter, haggard wordbeasts » I Promised You Followup on 01.08.07 4:43 pm
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