Didn’t See That One Coming
Some time back, I wondered if Ninja Bunny might not have been the ultimate confluence of webcomics memes. You got yer cute animal, yer single-panel gag and no continuity to worry about, yer ninja … and yet, the confluence has hung on for 300 on-average-sorta-weekly updates, and more. And since the big round number, we’ve had color, and a sumptuous style similar to ukiyo-e. If this style is what Ninja Bunny stays with, you’re going to have to drop by more regularly than you do now.
- Speaking of 300 (but not 300, except when we are speaking of 300), Multiplex hit the storied number on Friday (yes, I know, Thursday, but I read it MWF because that’s the way my brain works — movies open on Friday), with a bit of dun-dun-DUNNNNN-worthy drama.
- Did everybody see that E! Online quoted Liz Walsh of Tao of Geek on Barack Obama’s geek cred? Nice one, Liz.
- Since April, serial do-gooder and benefactor of humanity Mike Rouse-Deane has been running guest strips, one after another, at The Guest Strip Project in support of the Make A Wish Foundation; it’s about halfway through its one year lifespan, and it’s looking for your input:
This Christmas, we’re doing another Donationathon. On the 1st December is our 100th strip and that spot could go to you. If you haven’t already contributed to the Guest Strip Project all you need to do is a Christmas strip and be one of the 31 artists, webcomic artists or even just fans. As long as you can pick up a pencil, that’s all we need!
The strip must be 700 x 221, in a gif format and have a Christmas theme including one (or all) of our characters. Don’t forget in your email to include your website you want to be linked to and let’s raise some much needed funds for the Make-A-Wish Foundation!
Contact Rouse-Deane at moovok which is an email address of the Yahooligan variety in this world of dot-coms.
- Finally, a note on digital media, from a creator of Big-Two print comics — John Rogers on DC’s cancellation of Blue Beetle:
Both DC and Marvel are in a weird place right now — are they publishing companies in a dying market or IP companies in a growing one? The answers to these questions demand different strategies, neither of which are necessarily the best circumstances for the creative participants.
Time to go creator-owned, and digitally distributed. Because that’s the only solution that makes sense for our side of the equation.
…
But it seems damn silly to bend storytelling to a format sold almost exclusively in low-attendance, often creepy specialty shops scattered across the nation.Even if it’s a fool’s errand, I’d rather bend my storytelling to fit boxes that almost everyone has in their living room or back pocket.
Will you get even the paltry tens of thousands of paying customers that comics now get? I don’t know. But without the publishing overhead, you may not need that many. Let’s put it this way — stripping out distribution costs and our share of the rent for those nice DC offices in Mahattan, Blue Beetle could have cost fifty cents an issue at its worst sales level, and still paid Rafael and myself more than we made on the run of the book.
Discuss.
I hang out in one of those often-creepy specialty stores, and I feel the blight. Not from the store’s ambience (which I find kind of home-ish) but from the storytelling that has obviously been bent the wrong way. Hardcore fans and employees discuss this stuff all the time, and the general consensus is that there are good issues, and sometimes good runs, but there is never a good continuity.
I think it comes down to icons. Superman is like Tony the Tiger. He’s a brand, not a character. He doesn’t get character development, because if he did then the brand would change, and big companies can’t have that. They want icons. So they write nothing but iconic stories, and then wonder why we complain that the Frosted Flakes are stale.
By Howard Tayler on 11.17.08 7:33 pm
[…] have to reign it in a little or display them in a bigger format. I had some positive feedback from Fleen on the new style which is good to hear and I definitely want to keep it […]
By Not Only Was He Angry, He Was Carrying A Big Stick | Ninja Bunny on 11.17.08 8:00 pm
[…] “Time to go creator-owned, and digitally distributed. Because that’s the only solution that makes sense for our side of the equation.” – John Rogers (link via Gary Tyrrell) […]
By Journalista - the news weblog of The Comics Journal » Blog Archive » Nov. 18, 2008: Our side of the equation on 11.18.08 10:08 am
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