I bet I can write and format the snot out of this thing off-line, but posting may be inconvenient for a bit. Of course, by the time you read this, those problems will be resolved, yes?

• Dylan Meconis is, in no particular order, an awesomely talented artist, creator of kick-ass comics, and a little short on cash today. Her need is your opportunity, as originals go on sale at her Esty shop. Love that dog walking watercolor — are those Doggles on the chihuahua?
• If you were wondering what Platinum were going to do with that cash infusion, here’s one hint (thanks to algeya for the heads-up): merch on-demand store.
  

  Los Angeles, CA – January X, 2010 – Platinum Studios, Inc. (OTCBB: PDOS), an entertainment company that controls an international library of more than 5,600 comic book characters which it adapts, produces and licenses for all forms of media, and ezprints, Inc., a provider of personalized product and related technology solutions, have partnered to create a revolutionary merchandise creation and fulfillment program for Platinum’s leading webcomics portal, DrunkDuck.

  This new program will allow users of DrunkDuck to choose art from the site, design their own products, and order merchandise from a storefront integrated directly into the popular webcomics portal. Comic creators on the site will be able to earn money from merchandising their creations on the same website that they are currently publishing their work. Artists and creators who opt in will be earning money from every sale related to their work.

  There’s a lot more of the PR-ese in the full announcement, and not much detail on exactly what the store will offer, but it sounds like an in-house version of CafePress (anybody with first-hand knowledge, please chime in with details). Personally, I find the dateline of the press release to be the most amusing thing that Platinum’s done forever. January X, 2010 will surely join 20X6 in the pantheon of great, imaginary dates.

• New series of interviews with the creators of longform webcomics over at Growly Beast; if you want to talk about your project, I suspect that Ange Story wants to hear from you.
• Fresh off the big hoo-ha over notorious anti-gay campaigner (and occasional writer) Orson Scott Card getting tapped to write a comics adaptation of a famously gay-friendly videogame (good summary of the issue from Chris Butcher here), comes more Card-related news. John Lustig writes:
  

  I’m holding a contest for fans to guest write one of my Last Kiss comics with writer Orson Scott Card.

  Details are here; I’m going to suggest that every gay and gay-rights-friendly comics creator out there enter the contest, because if you win, you might be able to make Card’s head explode from proximity (no matter how slight) to your gayness/gay-acceptingness. Do it for the children.

• Last word today — guest post on hand-lettering up at Webcomics Dot Com from Chris Eliopoulos (of Misery Loves Sherman fame); Eliopoulos letters about every other comic on the stands today, and stands in the company of amazing letterers like Klein and Sim (yes, Sim is all kinds of wacky, but you can’t deny that he’s one of the most expressive letterers in the history of comics), so this is one tutorial worth your attention. WDC is subscriber-only, but a few more tutorials of this kind and that $30/year may become a no-brainer.