The webcomics blog about webcomics

The Pope Of Awkward People

So what happens when you throw somebody functional in among the dysfunctional? Pure comedy gold, my friends.

Meredith Gran has dropped her latest Octopus Pie update (14 pages worth of awesome), and we’re given a 14 page tale of a magical awesome guy, told in media res. Who is the mysterious, handsomely mustachioed individual sleeping on the couch, and why does Eve smile at him so sweetly around her yogurt spoon? Why do Marek, Hanna, and even Manuel find him so comfortable to be around? And why, oh why does the coffee get served by sock puppets?

You want answers to these questions? The answers are inside you. Except for the one about the sock puppets. I have no idea what that’s about. And I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that Gran has knocked herself out with facial expressions in this update (warning: that last link has the SUPRISE TWIST ENDING, so don’t read it early); her characters always have had a certain transformability that mere mortals lack, but this time, it’s grounded in a way that’s both cartoony and restrained (bonus points for the feline anatomical study which so beautifully expressed frenetic action in static images). Bravo.

  • Not webcomics, but close enough: Eloise makes stuff in the UK, mostly prints with a strong fairy-tale component. Paperchase are a stationery store chain in the UK. They have also apparently taken elements of one of Eloise’s prints and traced it badly onto a tote bag (scroll down) and possibly an album. Good news: they’ve apparently taken the offending album down from Amazon.uk, but they’re stonewalling Eloise’s attempts to get them to agree to not sell this stuff.

    We’ve been through this nonsense plenty of times with webcomickers, and it’s always the same thing that needs to be done: contact the offender and let them know that they’ve got to do better than issue a statement that says, “Not our fault”. Since that statement just happens to end up on a page that would let one contact Paperchase, well gosh — it could hardly be more convenient to let them know (politely, please) what you think of the situation. Go forth, my minions, and protect the interests of the independent creator.

  • New funding mechanism for said independent creator, and Eric Snark-White has some thoughts on it. I’ll admit I didn’t get what Flattr was trying to achieve until Eric identified it as the busker model — you can’t possible get money unless you’ve already given away the product. Not likely to be a huge amount, but free money is free money. Expect to see Flattr links (and hopefully, a new name for the service, because that one’s just stupid) on webcomic sites in the immediate future.

I see what Flattr is trying to achieve, but I don’t think inserting a middleman into the equation is useful. The web is about disintermediation, not the opposite.

I thought the sock puppets were a reference to Edward J. Grug III & Jessica McLeod’s “Love Puppets” comic on the Top Shelf 2.0 site… but possibly not? Maybe the internet is big enough for two sock-puppet coffee shops.

http://www.topshelfcomix.com/ts2.0/love_puppets_ch1/

RSS feed for comments on this post.