I’m gettin’ old … the fall clean-up chores didn’t used to leave me this sore. Perhaps some news from the world of webcomics will cheer me. Let’s start with a new twist on the Original Strip Merchandise Model from Chris Baldwin:

Over the past couple of years I have received many emails from people who wished to purchase a strip, but found it was sold before they got to it. I am now offering to re-draw ANY strip for $80. And worth every penny.

There’s an interesting tension here between desirability and scarcity — common wisdom is that part of the appeal of original strips is that there’s only one of them out there. On the other hand, I’m really kicking myself for not acting quickly enough to buy the April 14, 2007 and October 13, 2008 strips. On the other other hand, I’ve been saying for years that Baldwin criminally underprices his originals, and will be intrigued to see if the hand-drawn do-overs — which are twice the price of the $40 originals — do well for him. Plus there’s this:

Not only will I make sure that any strip ordered before November 1st will be drawn and mailed by December 1st, but also the funds raised will be going directly into the Little Dee book#3 fund, which should be to the printer around year-end, and hopefully to you by February or March. [emphasis mine]

So that’s all good. I will also vouch personally for the worth every penny comment above; Baldwin’s one of the few creators that does full inking and lettering on Bristol, so the originals look absolutely stunning. And if any other creators take up this approach, I can think of at least one other strip I desperately need.

In other news:

• Ian Jones-Quartey’s fondly regarded in webcomics circles for the now-abandoned RPG World, and in I like awesome things circles and his work on Los Bros. Venturos — remember the hilarious bit with “the nozzle”? He directed that. But what I want to point out today is that the latest installment of his ongoing music/animation/improv experiment nockFORCE is a 32 track mixtape that you can listen to and enjoy — so make with the downloading of Siege at Death Mountain.
• Happy Birthday to John Allison; in lieu of cards, he has a special birthday-boy request:
  

  The best birthday present you could give me is putting about the rumour on the internet that Scary Go Round is not hard to get into and a new reader’s worst nightmare. Let’s get that idea out there. I think you could read any of the stories in the last year in isolation without needing footnotes.

  Rumor started, and as an added birthday bonus, rumor sincerely believed in my heart.

• Dirk Deppey at ¡Journalista! linked to a post at the MAD blog about a freelance artist urban myth by Tom Richmond. ‘Tis very amusing and all, but I’m going to refer you especially to the final paragraph, whereby even a likely-specious story has an important lesson for us all:
  

  For me, I never sign my work when I am being provided a by-line, but I am thinking of insisiting I place my full name in each image thanks to the possible passing of the Orphan Works Act. I think that having a signature in a hard-to-miss place in each image might go a long way to preventing it being considered “orphaned”.

  I’ll admit that the OPA is looking more likely than I gave it credit for earlier this year; if it survives challenges and the back-burnering of everything not directly related to the global financialypse, this could be an important safety tip for all you campers out there.