The webcomics blog about webcomics

New Adventures

Where to start, where to start? There’s so much evil running around in the world, we need to grab up the positive where we can find it. Let’s dig in.

  • You can say what you like about C Spike Trotman — and in the past, a lot of people did, which opinions she catalogued for future reference/vengeance — but nobody can say that when she sets her mind to something that she will half-ass it. She set ambitious goals for Iron Circus Comics for the 2017-2018 timeframe, including more than a dozen new books (well underway) and finishing up a distribution deal (done!).

    Now that she’s got the ability to put IC books in any bookstore in the country, she’s determined to find the best of independent comics that have been overlooked by major publishers, and she’s gonna shove ’em at libraries and the trade until everybody can see ’em. And she’s starting with one of the very best:

    Real Talk: indie and small press comics are the industry vanguard. They set the pace and predict trends; they’re years ahead of the rest.

    But sometimes, that means independently-published masterpieces never get the dissemination, and wider audience access, they deserve.

    ICC wants to fix that. And we WILL fix that.
    Starting in autumn of 2017.

    When Spike says she WILL do something, understand that arrangements are in place, all will be ready to go, and nothing shy of a multi-state near-extinction-level event will derail those plans. The wider world will soon learn what we in webcomics know (namely that Rice Boy is friggin’ brilliant¹), because she is going to shove the books in front of them until they can’t ignore them. Well done, Spike.

  • The influence of webcomickers on the next generation of comics creators continues to grow; Jamie Noguchi is getting ready to join the faculty of Montgomery College, and he’s got the purpose of comics down:

    I start teaching comics next week at Montgomery College. Lesson 1, comics are about fighting fascism and hate. Done.

    While comics can advance any view desired (cf: Jack Chick was fabulously successful at advancing a particularly hateful POV with his comics), starting the kids off with a charge to uphold a vision (say, Truth, Justice, and what is still The American Way) via their art is a damn good way to start. Within that overarching philosophical approach, there’s lots of room for opinion:

    • Don’t buy Moleskine. They are entirely too expensive for what we’re planning on doing with them.
    • The Canson Fanboy [bristol] pads, despite the terrible name, have blue guidelines printed on the pages to help you measure panels and keep things proportional.
    • Brushes. Welp. If you thought nibs could be confusing, brushes for cartooning will drive you mad.

    I have a feeling that Professor Noguchi’s classes² will learn as much as Professor Zub’sProfessor Gran’s, Professor Guigar’s, and Professor Corsetto’s³ do and/or did. Heck, as alert reader Mark V noted, the legendary Lynda Barry will be teaching at this year’s Clarion writer’s workshop; there’s a lot of talent out there developing the next generation.

    And everybody that doesn’t get to take classes from the pros? Just recall the Jamie Noguchi System and fuckin’ do it all self-taught style.


Spam of the day:
Okay, this isn’t really spam, since it comes to the Fleen email account as a consequence of being on the press list for various cons; it’s a minor comics publisher that doesn’t really overlap with our interests here at Fleen, but gotta recognize them for the subject line:

So a mustachioed skeleton walks into the jungle …

It’s like they know me. So congrats, Alterna Comics, I’m name dropping MR. CRYPT #3 (US$1.99, digital comic book, all ages) as a result of your email. You win.

_______________
¹ Seriously, how do you get a Jeff Smith blurb on your book and not have publishers drive a dump truck full of money up to your front door?

² For extra credit, be ready to discuss your favorite sentai and kaiju series/movies. Trust me on this one.

³ For those that were smart enough to snag up the Girls With Slingshots book 9/book 10 bundle, some of the lessons that Corsetto gave in her cartooning class are in the back. It’s good stuff!

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