Let’s make this quick so I can start stalking the cosplayers with my camera. I expect a full report (with pictures) from all of you by Monday of any webcomics-related costumery you observe. Bonus points for anybody that captures the elusive Slutty Dromiceiomimus or Slutty Guy With Hat on film.

• Written up by my erudite (if erstwhile) collaborator two years ago, and just getting more interesting in the meantime: Ordinary Things takes the “construction” aspects we spoke about yesterday to new heights as whatever happens to be at hand becomes a mixed-media journal-type maybe-webcomic-maybe-not. Many thanks to creator Ozge Samanci for dropping a little note to say hi; I’ve been compulsively clicking through the archive ever since.
• Also back on my radar: the until-recently-hiatused God™¹ from Eisner nominee (for Speak No Evil: Melancholy of a Space Mexican) Elan’ Rodger Trinidad. Since we last checked in with God™ about five months back (right when the RoboMormons were transforming into bicycles), the story’s just gotten more savage in its satire, and it is well recommended to you. Just be careful about approaching Trinidad’s new random stuff found on the internet blog-project, as there is serious time-suck potential there. You have been warned.

That’s all. Go get overdosed on candy.

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¹ Or, to give the full name, “God™ © 2XX8 *** ***** ****** ******* Incorporated. All rights reserved. God and all related characters, titles, names and documents are trademarks of *** ***** ****** ******* Incorporated. No similarity between any of the names, characters, persons and/or institutions in this deity with those of any living or dead person or institutions is intended and any such similarity which may exist is purely coincidental.”

Are you the one person that didn’t know that Octopus Pie updated last night? If so, my good deed for the day is done. Read, enjoy, and for the sake of all that’s good and holy, avoid unicyclists.

• What the hell, England? Jorge Cham, Doctor of Engineering and well-known world-wide lecturer to graduate students, comes to your fair shores on a speaking tour and you detain him at the border because he’s not a “real doctor”, and thus sentence him to deportation? The first comic went up the day he was due to begin speaking in England, and the story isn’t done yet … but seriously?
• On the non-sucking side of England, there is a new Freakangels trade in my hands after yesterday’s trip to the comics shop — the third of the series, released pretty much like clockwork, and appearing mere weeks after the last page of the book updated online. Okay, granted, Warren Ellis has a publisher taking care of many of the fiddly little bits inherent in publishing, but damn — that’s impressive. Twenty-four (mostly weekly) six-page updates and call it a book. My hat’s off to you, angry drunken sir.
• Reminder: just over two weeks until the Dallas Webcomics Expo takes place in Plano, TX. Taking a cue from New England Webcomics Weekend back in March, Texas-area webcomickers will be getting together and seeing what kind of fun they can have. Speaking of NEWW, it will be returning in 2010, but sources say it will be moving from the very busy Spring con season to Fall. More on exact dates when that information is available.
• Episode 12, and the end of the first “season” of SMASH by Chris and Kyle Bolton, released this week. Know what I call that? A good opportunity to either get all caught up or to read a big chunk of story (just shy of 150 pages worth) before the new season starts. You play end-of-season catch-up all the time with Mad Men or Breaking Bad; just this time it’s got a 10 year old superkid and not morally bankrupt early-60s ad execs or meth-cooking high school chemistry teachers.
• Speaking of milestones, here’s one that’s worth mentioning. Webcomicker get to draw whatever they need to into their scenes, and that makes the most fantastical vistas possible. Slightly more difficult are photo comics, where you have to stage the scenes (or write around your latest random snapshots). Even more difficult would be photo comics where you have to build the settings and scenes, but what about where you had to construct the mise en scène not out of interchangeable components, but from traditional handicrafts? Ladies and gentlemen, Amu’s World:
  

  Amu’s World has reached its first year of updates [28 October]. It’s a photo-based comic featuring hand-crocheted amigurumi characters created by my wife. I know a year isn’t a particularly long time for a webcomic, especially a weekly, but I’m very proud do have never missed an update or been late with a comic.

  Also, we’re celebrating our first year with a Fan Art contest. The prize is a hand-crocheted Amu’s World amigurumi doll and a large print of one of my photos I post every Friday. The winner chooses which one they get.

  Let’s be clear — if creator B. Casimir Slaski wants to do a comic with a ninja, the Prince of All Cosmos, or a villainous gang of bunnies with eyepatches, he first has to convince his wife to craft such a thing. It kind of limits how much he can wake up at 3:00 am with a brilliant — brilliant, I tell you!! — idea to take the strip in a new, exciting, hilarious direction because the lead time on a crochet Yog-Sothoth (is it weird that’s the first thing that popped into my head?) is probably pretty long. For creating under such constraints, we at Fleen salute Amu’s World.

Holy crap, look at what the Amadora Festival has done for T-Xers Karl Kerschl and Cameron Stewart — whole galleries decked out in their signature styles. Along with Ramón Pérez, the three continue to take Europe (in today’s case, Portugal) by storm, unleashing a festival-only book that must be mine. Please explain to me why I’m in rainy New York instead of sunny Portugal?

• Holy crap, check out the gallery show that Eric Monster Millikin‘s got opening tomorrow night. Between Giger, Manson, and Millikin (who looks positively cheery compared to his fellow exhibitors), somebody is gonna have nightmares after viewing The Damned II at Tangent Gallery in Detroit.
• Holy crap, this is some beautiful work. One Nate Simpson [edit to fix link; thanks Matt from the comments!] has written that he’s taking a year off from making art for video games and to take a whack at producing comics. Doesn’t look like he intends for the web to be his primary vehicle for distribution, but as long has he’s channeling a cross between Moebius and Final Fantasy X, I don’t care. I’ll take what I can get.
• Speaking of beautiful work, have you seen the brand new (like, two-pages-new) serialized-to-the-web graphic novel Spain & Morocco? Holy crap, that looks like it took some time draw. There’s a bit of Eric Drooker in the color palette, methinks, and a bit of Sin Titulo in the character designs, and Sin Titulo’s by Cameron Stewart who’s going to be passing through Spain on the way to France, so it all ties back to the beginning.

  In conclusion: Holy crap, I love comics via internet.

So last night, Internet Jesus tweeted about a particularly egregious assualt on an artist’s work. John T Unger doesn’t work in webcomics, or even comics in general; he makes outdoor fire-containment kettles (think “fireplace you can plop anywhere in your back yard”). He’s known for the distinctive look and feel of his work, and has registered copyright on his designs.

An imitator¹ (no link, he gets no publicity from me) has been selling knock-offs; Unger contacted him and provided proof of copyright, and asked said imitator to please work only with original designs. Imitator responded by filing a lawsuit seeking to overturn Unger’s copyrights so that he doesn’t have to stop. And now the punchline: because the imitator sued first, Unger must defend the suit or it’s automatically decided in favor of the plaintiff. It’s a naked attempt to force Unger to deplete his resources (he’s spent more than $50,000 so far) in an attempt to say, Hey, you’re not allowed to steal my stuff and have a court validate you.

As creators of Intellectual Property (those of you that are) and/or fans of those that create said IP, you should be appalled. Copyright and trademark require “vigorous defense” to show that you haven’t let them lapse, but I cannot believe that the intent of such a requirement was to permit naked thievery. If you’re ready to act on that anger, Unger’s using Kickstarter to fund his legal expenses; rather than just ask for donations, he’s created a new line of tabletop sculpture available for certain pledge amounts (and other rewards at lower levels). This situation is pissing me off, and I’m asking you that if you can’t kick in any money, at least read Unger’s account and talk about this. The glare of publicity is probably the best weapon available in this fight.

• Whoa, two updates from E. B-White? No, not Websnark updates (c’mon, guy’s been sick), but updates to the long-dormant (like three years dormant) photobased webcomic The Adventures of Bridadier General John Stark. Exciting! Bold prediction: General Stark discovers Mayan calendar prophecies (after all, there is a precedent for such in webcomics) just in time for either a third update, or for time to end in 2012, whichever comes first. C’mon, Eric — prove me wrong!
• Looks like WOWIO payments for Q2 2008 are still going out; just got an email from a creator that he was just paid. It would be caddish of me to point out that we’re now in Q4 of 2009, but hey — at least people are getting their money.
• If you’ve noticed a dread, palpable chill in the air, if the very atmosphere over New York City seems somehow befouled and borderline evil, there’s a reason. All that is unholy celebrates the unbirth of the darkest creature yet to tear its way into our reality, one that spews forth the very nightmares that will rend the world piece from piece, leaving all who encounter it gibbering pools of tears and sorrow. Also, there is probably cake.

  Happy Birthday, Andy.

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¹ Feel free to substitute alternate descriptors for this individual; suggestions include “–––––––”, “––––––– –––––––”, “–––––––” and “How Do You Live With Yourself?” Redactions because Unger has specifically asked that derogatory language not be used.

Okay, so this was going to go up today, notifying you that Commissioner James Gordon previously noted on this page as vying for the office of Cutest Dog, was into the semi-final voting and needed your support.

But we’ve recently received word that voting was only to occur Sunday night. The reasons for this are not clear at this time, but screw that. If you’re reading this, I don’t think that it’s still Sunday where you are, but it appears you can vote still for Gordon. As of this writing, Gordon has approximately 5400 votes and his nearest competitor 4000, but this is no time to be complacent; if he makes it to the finals it will put Chris Hastings and Carly Monardo that much closer to paying for their wedding and having something even more important.

That’s actually what I wanted to talk about, if you’ll indulge me. Some people in the contest are pledging their winnings (if they win) to various causes (most notably, to the shelter where week 12 winner and currently second-in-vote-totals Little Bitsy was rescued). There was apparently a lot of talk on the forums of the competition site about whether or not a particular dog “deserved” to win based on where the money might go.

You know what? There’s a lot of places that a million dollars might to a lot of good, more than Chris & Carly’s bank account, more than a shelter. My volunteer EMS agency is perpetually underfunded, and that $33,000/year would make good on our insurance payments (although even at implausibly low rates of premium growth, we’d be falling behind by year 22) but not even come close to clearing our operational expenses (much less capital expenses — you have any idea how much an ambulance costs?).

Point being, the contest itself is, by definition, a frivolous thing. The prize will not Carly and Chris sit back in unearned luxury while poolboys and cabana girls feed them peeled grapes. By itself, it would just about come to married couple only needs one roommate to make rent stage in Brooklyn. But it would give them something most artists can only dream of — a safety cushion to their income for the next couple of decades (head over here for the story of another artist who just achieved the same). There’s a lot of things I’d give a million dollars to in an ideal world, but if one of them is ensuring some talented people (who entertain me for free) don’t have to worry about whether they can pay for health care? That’s a pretty good start.

Frankly, since the rules say that the votes at this stage are only guidance to the judges, I fully expect that the grand prize will go to one of the I’ll give it to the shelter dogs. However, $5000 for making it to the final stage would make a nice dent in the Monardo/Hastings wedding bills, so let’s see if we can start there.

• In other news, damn you, Randall Munroe. My eyes are bad enough without you foisting that monstrosity onto us. I thought I’d never have to see another animated guy working/site under construction GIF.
• For those of you that didn’t listen to NPR’s On The Media this weekend, it was all about the music industry and its current tribulations. Nice piece towards the end of the hour about Amanda Palmer and her contention that artists have to get over their reluctance to say to their audience, I want you to give me money. Those seeking to make a living from their art, give it a good listen.

Hope you got your comfy shoes on today, we’ve got some travellin’ to do.

• From the muck and mire known as copyright law, a musing on the Shepard Fairey case and the extent of Fair Use from Leah Riley; in a previous stage of life, Leah was one of the movers-slash-shakers at Lulu, and thus had plenty of context to consider the various interests that must be balanced as we consider who owns what ideas (and what expressions of those ideas). As she asks about the current state of copyright (vis à vis large institutions vs individuals):
  

  Has copyright law changed substantially?
  Has the attitude of businesses towards artists changed?
  Has the public’s attitude towards artist’s rights changed?

  Also a nice reading list for you about the state of copyright and Fair Use. Creators, take note.

• From the far side of the Pacific Ocean, an interview with Rumiko Takahashi, the woman with probably more eyeballs on her comics over the last thirty years or so than anybody else currently alive. Seriously, every ongoing story that she’s thought up — Urusei Yatsura, Maison Ikkoku, Ranma 1/2, Inu Yasha — has run in print for five or ten years, spawned multi-year TV series, and original films (five or six for UY, if my memory serves me correctly).

  The proximate cause of this interview is the publication of the first print collection of her latest series, Rin-Ne, which is released online for free (and in print simultaneously in English and Japanese). As a twenty-year fan of Takahashi’s work, not having to wait years for translated versions to become available is pretty awesome … and as much as I’m enjoying Rin-Ne online, the reader is a it clunky, and the first eight chapters (to be found in print volume 1, released two days ago) are now pulled.

  Interesting model, treating the online much like the phonebook-sized manga anthologies that release weekly in Japan, but are seen as a disposable means of driving readers to the collections. It’s pretty unlikely that this model could work for anybody with less of a built-in audience, though it doesn’t hurt that a weekly “update” of Rin-Ne is actually a full chapter of 18 – 24 pages, often with the first 4 – 6 in color.

  I’m also thinking that at some point, the archive may become deep enough that it’s impractical for a new reader to collect all the in-print volumes and get caught up on all the backstory, but one thing that Takahashi is very good at is providing frequent jumping-on points for new readers (something most American comics authors don’t have so good a handle on — remember, every issue/update/arc is somebody’s first introduction to your story and needs to allow new readers an easy entry).

• From the depths of Europe, an email:
  

  Hi! This is Eugen, from Fredo & Pid’jin. It’s a humor webcomic about two white pigeons on a mission to bring The End. You may not have heard about us, but we’re huge in Romania, which almost means something.

  Not just big in Romania, but also apparently sponsored by the local branch of Adobe, so that’s something right there. It’s easy to read, in that creators Eugen Erhan and Tudor Muscalu have a way with languge and cultural references that aren’t readily distinguishable from any random Americans in the youthful demographic. If you’re of the mindset that Romanian creators should provide a distinctly Romanian sensibility and cultural perspective, you’re outta luck; Fredo & Pid’jin reads like Pinky And The Brain Minus Pinky With Another The Brain and it’s real easy to believe it was put together by creators born & raised in North America.

  I don’t get the feeling that Erhan and Muscalu feel that they have to work with an American voice to gain an audience; the smartassery and humor are too unforced and the rhythms of the gags too natural. Grab a random strip (here’s one, and another, and another) and you’re likely to find something absurdly, rudely funny. Not groundbreaking, but it is an accomplished presentation of a familiar artform from an unexpected quarter. That’s gotta mean more than just something.

If Chris Onstad wrote nothing more than alt-text for Achewood, it would still be better than most of what’s on the internet. The Lash of Thanatos kind of petered out at the end, but the very next strip (on strip-club etiquette) started a chain of events that led to Todd becoming Kim Jong-Il’s flunky in a new country called PEOPLE’S KINGDOM OF ECSTACY AND WRATH! (complete with Malkian exclamation point) in an early-80s text adventure game. Also, there is a van, and peeling out. Reading back over the past month, it’s perfectly logical that we wound up here.

• Couple things are probably pretty likely if you read this-here blog:
  1. You are aware of the fine work done by the Cartoon Art Museum of San Francisco (guy in charge: Andrew Farago)
  2. You are a fan of Pixar‘s work (readers of good conscience may disagree on Cars)

  Bunky, you are about to see those two things combined:

  The Cartoon Art Museum is delighted to host its sixth annual benefit on Saturday, November 14, 2009 at Pixar Animation Studios. This year, there are two great ways to experience the magic of Pixar up close and personal at the studio’s Emeryville home:

  The Family Fun Tier (1:00 pm – 4:00 pm)

  Entry includes the chance to get up close and personal to rarely seen Toy Story art, sculptures, and other items from the Pixar archives and experience a gallery exhibition featuring stunning pre-production artwork from Up. [M]embers will also be able to participate in a Silent Auction to bid on original and signed works by Pixar creators. Pixar artists will be on hand to teach kids how to draw Pixar characters ,[and] a selection of Pixar short films will be showing in Pixar’s state-of-the-art screening room in a continuous loop.

  Tickets are $35 for an individual or $100 for a Family Four Pack, which includes entry for 2 adults and 2 children under 18 (or 1 adult and 3 children).

  The VIP Screening Tier (11:00 am — 4:00 pm)

  Entry includes access to everything from the Family Fun Tier plus access to Pixar’s Studio Store where guests can purchase Pixar items at employee prices.The centerpiece of the event is a noon time 3D screening that includes the rarely seen Cars toon Tokyo Mater, and the feature film Toy Story 2, hosted by Dr. Michael B. Johnson (Pixarian and CAM board member), who will lead a Q&A session along with several other Toy Story 2 crew members. The VIP Screening Tier also includes an offering of light lunchtime snacks, treats and conversation with the speakers and other Pixar employees.

  Cartoon Art Museum members can purchase tickets for the reduced rate of $99, while the non-member rate is $149. Call 415-227-8666, ext. 300 to purchase tickets. Tickets will not be sold at the door.

  Days like this, I’m almost wishing I lived out on the left coast (although, my company used to be headquartered in Emeryville right next to Pixar, and is still in the Bay Area … hmmmm …).

• I know all about the CAM/Pixar event because I’m on Farago’s press release list; not everything he sends me is of interest to this blog’s purpose, but they’re always well-written and to-the-point, so I pay attention to them. The other way to get attention is to … well, see for yourself below the cut. Just keep in mind that wacky for wackiness’ sake can lead to one (i.e.: me) to contemplate the difference between good attention and bad attention. You have been warned.

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Okay, it’s not a “report” in the traditional sense, but it surely is the definitive account of webcomics at APE. Kate Beaton once again wins at everything. Also, I very much want one of these thank you.

• In other news, life is getting pretty spookifying, what with Halloween coming up and all (and wouldn’t you know it, I’m on EMT duty that weekend, while all the rest of you will be getting drunk and dressing up like sexy cops, sexy ninjas, and sexy Weedmaster P). To celebrate, Split Lip (the horror webcomic specialists) are releasing a new comic and a new contest.

  The comic, Termites in Your Smile, is the tale of a two-timing law student, the women in his life, and a ghostly, ghastly revenge; the contest involves the giveaway of Split Lip Volume 1 (a sampler of the macabre) to as many as ten lucky winners on Twitter and Facebook.

• Quick followup: K-9Lives, an animated short with webcomic roots did pretty well at the Marbella International Film Festival; let’s let creator Doug Wilson share the news:
  

  K-9Lives was nominated for best animation at Marbella International Film Festival alongside Leonardo by Pixar artist Jim Capobianco, and Body by Zhivko Dimitrov an MA alumni from St Martins College in London.

  That’ll do, little dog-attached-to-a-cat, that’ll do. For more information, see Wilson’s festival diary entries.

• Know who’s always looking out for the community (such as it is)? Xaviar Xerexes. Guy’s gone ahead and created one a’ them resources that everybody into comickry is going to find helpful, a Google Calendar of upcoming comics event-type things; go to the main page at ComixTalk and click on the “Members” tab over to the right.

  Now the thing is, he put the damn thing up, which means that he’s going to become the de facto data entry maintainer guy for this calendar, and that’s gonna suck for him. So I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that if you want to help keep the calendar up to date (that is, you’re amenable to getting flooded with press releases once word of this thing gets out), are a reliable sort (that is, you won’t flake out after saying you want to help) and are a skilled communicator (that is, you can spell and use proper punctuation on a regular basis), go ahead and drop an email via that contact link over there to the right, and I’ll forward the lot of you onto XX-Man.

See that up there? That is the wedding cake of David Malki ! and Nikki Rice from a few years back. It’s not the anniversary of the event or anything, but Mr Press Release (seriously, get yourself on the TopatoCo press release list, because those things that Malki ! writes are freakin’ hilarious; they are the only ones that reward you for reading all the way to the bottom¹) saw fit to share it with the world, and I share it with you because it is the coolest cake ever that could only be improved by the little bride figure kicking one of the black-clad agents of doom in the face.

• Similarly, this world was rocked on this day in both 1976 and 1980 as John Allison and Ryan North were born (or, as rumo[u]r would have it, sprung fully formed from the forehead of Zeus) in, respectively, Englishland and Canadia. Fleen wishes a very happy birthday to both.
• And blasting forth into the marketplace are not one, but two separate books from Tyler Page. Up first, the second volume of Nothing Better, which remains the benchmark for headin’ off to college storytelling. When last we left our intrepid heroines Kat and Jane, they had just come to the uneasy realization that sometimes the Freshman Roomie Match-o-Tron does a better job than either would be willing to admit; with semester one part-way over, school rhythms starting to gel, and old lives starting to drift further away, the real work of growin’ up in Ermerica can begin. It’s my very next webcomics purchase, you betcha.

  Second, you got The Saga of Rob Harvard, the first publication culled from Page’s daily sketchblog, and the first (only, really) extended story arc from that creative stew. This one is hand-bound and limited to 250 copies, so get it while the getting’s good if you really want it. Both The Saga of Rob Harvard and Nothing Better Vol 2: Into the Wild are available now in the Stylish Vittles store (along with NB volume 1, for those needing to catch up).

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¹ Case in point, from a recent release authored by Mr Malki !:

ABOUT TOPATOCO / www.topatoco.com
Founded in 2003 by maverick cowboy cyber cartoonist Jeffrey Rowland, TopatoCo handles the production and fulfillment of licensed merchandise for over forty independent artists and entrepreneurs. TopatoCo is the exclusive online retailer for dozens of the comics world’s most popular online brands and maintains a commitment to helping content creators worldwide establish sustainable careers from their art. TopatoCo was also the first corporation in Massachusetts to get super scared of a wolf this one time, but in its defense, it was a really scary wolf.

Where to start?

• Perhaps with the almost-overlooked PC Weenies anniversary? Turns out that you won’t be able to see those first efforts, since the current site only goes back to the retooling of January Aught-Eight, but there it is: Krishna Sadasivam’s been using the same characters to poke fun at kohm-puu-tars since October 1998, which is about 93 years in internet time.
• The long wait for new Erfworld strips is finally coming to a close; as of this writing, the site is down (presumably for retooling), but expect to see the new “book” start soon, with a new artist, and a new model: twenty-five pages equals a book, short texty interludes between books; by that model, “Book One” was actually about six books worth (and, coincidentally, will be available from Giant In The Playground early next year in dead-tree form).
• APE happened, and the news was joyous as a sizeable portion of the TopatoCo roster (including all of the ruling junta) plopped themselves in a limo and toasted, Here’s to stumbling ass-backwards into good decisions. Big Apple Comic Con also happened, and the news was decidedly more mixed, with none of the major comics publishers present, one of the two “biggest” draws (Gary Coleman) not showing (that building-super job must have kept him too busy) and the show’s management announcing that next year, BACC will take place the same dates as New York Comic Con (which has made a pretty good name for itself in only four iterations). So, webcomickers — NYCC or BACC, and why?
• Tweeted this AM: Templar, AZ books to be distributed by Last Gasp, which ought to make them available anywhere that artcomix are to be found. Whoa.
• John Baird of Create A Comic Project (oft-featured in these pages) sends word of interest to all New York City area comickers of all stripes:
  

  LearnPlay is looking to bring a series of speakers to Teachers College at Columbia University to speak on the combination of comics and education. The monthly speaker series starts in November and will go through April.

  LearnPlay is TC’s student organization for the research and development of educational games and activities, including comic making. If you’re interested, please contact LearnPlay’s president, John Baird, at jlb2226 at columbia dot edu.

  Okay, everybody else who is not in charge of multiple educational/outreach programs for kids? You’re officially slackers now. Baird’s the man.

And that’s it for today. Nothing else going on in webcomics, nope. Aaaaaaabsolutely nothing. Move along, and don’t bother to click on that completely non-descript link that leads nowhere.

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