The webcomics blog about webcomics

Slush On The Ground, Freezing Drizzle Due Tonight

… and I am sunburnt! No, wait, that’s Beatrice from Much Ado. I am sore from shovelling that freezing crap out of my driveway. Also, it’s Friday afternoon and I want to knock off and relax. But at least I don’t have to have my comickin’ impaired by a faceless corporation:

Cartoonist Ed Appleby of Ed’s R Us has been producing full color comics on the web for over nine months now. In an effort to streamline his work and produce sellable originals, he has been drawing strips on 19″x24” bristol board and having them scanned professionally at his local Staples.

This all came to a screeching halt on December 10th. Ed dropped off the originals for the week of Christmas (Dec 22-27), as well as the two Sundays previous (Dec 14 & Dec 21). When the originals were returned, no scans accompanied them. Five attempts at getting the originals re-scanned later, and still no scans. Attempts at getting Staples to send Ed the scans by E-mail, burning them onto a CD or putting them on a jumpdrive have all met with failure. [T]he Hub, where Staples copy center sent the originals five times … are sending scans from previous weeks insisting that they are the correct ones.

Ed has vowed to post the proper strips back in the archive once he gets them, and there will be a strip at Staples expense for every day he is forced to miss because of their mishandling.

Fleen would like to express sympathy towards Appleby, and to offer up a small Christmas present in the form of advice: given that Staples charges you to scan your strips and you’re held hostage by them, maybe it’s time to invest in a scanner of your own. You don’t even have to buy it from Staples. And yeah, none of these will scan 19 x 24, but plenty of webcomickers scan a strip in halves and join ’em up in Photoshop. Take the leap, Ed Appleby! Let Santa drop something under your tree and see how rapidly it pays for itself (don’t forget your travel time to/from Staples, car wear & tear, gas, and the frustration that you’re feeling now).

Okay, weekend. See you on Monday.

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