The webcomics blog about webcomics

Gifts That Keep Giving

Everybody do the Snoopy Dance!

It’s a day to be blessed with gifts, if you’re a webcomicker, or a webcomics fan, or just if you’re me. Let’s run ’em down.

  • Over the weekend, news broke that Ben Costa’s Shi Long Pang is one of the latest recipients of the Xeric Foundation‘s grants; look for the wandering Shaolin monk to have his way into print significantly eased by the award. Hooray!
  • Also over the weekend, Phil & Kaja Foglio must surely have been gratified (perhaps even a little mystified) to see that Girl Genius is up for consideration at The Washington Post‘s comics blog as Best Comic of the Decade. Considering that every other nominee appears to be a strip that runs on WaPo‘s comics pages, somebody must have gone further afield that is the usual case in these sort of polls.

    Oh, yes, it’s a poll, and it’s awaiting your vote — you know what to do. Make this not only a victory for a long-form, independently-produced, full-color, full-page comic, make it such an overwhelming victory that none may dare challenge the Foglios again. Oh, and start saving your pennies because Girl Genius volume 9 just wrapped, which means that a book collection is on the horizon (and volume 1 is getting set for reprint in March– in color this time!).

  • You thought the Twelve Days of Hipsters was awesome? Check this out: Octopus Pie Christmas Special! Singing! Dancing! Cat barf! Yaaaaay!
  • Received in the mail today: an invitation from :01 Books to join their review copy list, which means I’ll be able to bring you timely writeups of new work by webcomickers the likes of Gene Luen Yang and Tracy White. Big thanks to Gina, Colleen, and all the folks at :01!
  • Also in the mail today, a gift from Rich Stevens, who found exactly what I didn’t even know what I needed and sent it along as a gift for the holiday of my preference. This one keeps on giving because I now have the URL for the artists that created this glass, meaning that I can purchase more of these to form a matched set. And guys — they have moustache pint glasses and champagne flutes. I now understand what leads people to “register a china pattern” to ensure they have matching designs on their formal dining table. I have found my signature design and will follow this imperative to the ends of the earth (or at least the glass cabinet of my bar).
  • And finally, if you’ll forgive me for being slightly maudlin, thanks to all of the creators that entertain me so tirelessly, the readers who write in and tell me I’m doing something useful, and the friendships that webcomics have brought me — these are the real gifts that I’ve recieved and I treasure them above all. Except the moustache glass, that’s better than anything ever.

Hey, thanks, Gary! I was going to send you a message one of these days to let you know about the grant, but you’re all over it.

[…] mentioned the success of Girl Genius in the online poll at The Washington Post’s comics blog search for Best Comic of the Decade. Having see the Foglios run away with the victory, there’s now an open call for nominations […]

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