Best wishes to the entire Canadian contingent of webcomicdom — it seems that every other person I know in this crazy community is/was/will be Canadian one way or another. Happy Canada Day to them all, and to you non-Canadians as well. In the heart of hearts, we’re all Canadian.

• News broke in the past few hours that Zudacomics has folded, effective now-ish; Zuda ended its competition format about two months back, and it looks like the new submission format won’t take place, at least not under the established name. From Ron Perazza’s blog post:
  

  It is the new DC Co-Publishers’ plan to expand submissions beyond just Zuda Comics and the Online group into a larger, more comprehensive system that covers all of DC Comics’ wide variety of needs, skills and interests. Jim and Dan are very excited about bringing in and developing new talent so look for more information about that from them as plans develop.

  As for the site, from here on out, Zuda Comics will be folded into DC Comics’ exciting, new Digital Publishing initiative. Expect more Zuda series to be released through the DC Comics and comiXology Apps, the Sony PSP and on both the comiXology website and, eventually, the main DC Comics website as well. You’ll be able to read all of your digital editions and manage your entire library in one place, whether DCU, Vertigo, WildStorm or Zuda. The goal there is convergence of technology and convergence of editorial.

  Not an unforseeable action to take, but I have to admit to a certain amount of … trepidation about that last sentence: The goal there is convergence of technology and convergence of editorial. While I haven’t seen anything announced regarding Zudastaff being shown the Zudadoor, I’ve worked for big corporations long enough to pick up on euphemism in public announcements, and right now convergence of editorial sounds a hell of a lot like Bob has decided to pursue other interests.

  It’s no secret that I thought that the competition model of Zuda wasn’t the best thing that [web]comics could develop, but everybody I’ve met associated with Zuda has been an absolutely stellar, professional, admirable person. Here’s hoping that in the condensation of the the imprint into regular ol’ DC, the individuals find their way to stable, rewarding work quickly.

• Speaking of uncertainty, something I saw yesterday may be of interest to those of you that process credit card transactions — starting today, small merchants are compelled to participate in a data-security initiative:
  

  From 1 July small and medium enterprises using electronic point of sale terminals and e-commerce systems need to reach basic compliance with an entry-level version of the standard or face higher merchant fees or, in extreme cases such as in the aftermath of security breaches, the withdrawal of merchant statuses.
  …
  Requirements include a mandate to build a secure network and protect cardholder data. Compliance is achieved by self-assessment for mom and pop shops processing less than 20,000 e-commerce transactions a year and compulsory external audits for e-commerce heavyweights.

  Those of you using Google Checkout or PayPal, it would appear the onus is on them, as they would be the actual payment processors. Creators with their own swipecard merchant accounts (hello, Square users) might think that 20 000 transactions a year is a lot (more than 50 transactions a day, after all), but they could add up quickly. If you’ve reached the point of establishing your own merchant account, make sure you read the fine print.