Okay, so you may recall Jeff Zugale from his various webcomics, or his work on the Kindergoth comic books, or even a guest appearance full of Wooo! For a while now, Zugale’s been working for a video game company, drawing cool stuff.

But he just got laid off. Suck. But he’s also going to be giving us more comics, so that’s good. Also good — there’s a history of webcomickers getting laid off and throwing themselves into their creations with more fervor and success than when they were toiling for The Man.

Even better, Zugale’s been careful with his finances (having an innate understanding of what capitalism is, which others seem to lack), and he’s got some savings and plans. Or, as he put it in discussion, Plan A has gone by the wayside, but he also had Plans B through E.

As a guy who teaches IT pros how to prepare those other plans, I’m declaring Jeff’s experience your Takeaway Lesson Of The Day. Whatever you do for a living (webcomics or no), ask yourself what (at least) your Plans B and C are. And if that conversation results in you maybe defining your Plan B, give Jeff the props due him (and maybe buy something from his store).

Similarly, this morning brings the official announcement of the formation of a new group devoted to [web]comics as artform/medium/topic of serious talk. Yeah, yawn, happens all the time, why the big whoop? Because of some of the names attached to the project — Matt. Murray and Anne Jen Babcock. You will perhaps recall them from previous writings that were associated with Museum of Comics and Cartoon Art and its attendant Fest.

The gist of it is, members of the MoCCA board have left behind their association with the museum to form the Sequential Art Collective, so that their efforts could be made more broadly than the confines of the museum would permit. As Murray puts it, the SAC will be:

… an organization that looks to work with publishers, creators, fans and other organizations to coordinate comic and cartoon themed art exhibitions, programs, performances and lectures for and at various venues providing for and attracting the widest and most varied audiences possible.

“As far back as December, 2007 there were a number of [MoCCA’s)] leaders and longtime volunteers who began to feel that our next steps personally and professionally would be to collectively branch out and work with other organizations. We’re looking to not only bring the comic and cartoon community closer together, but to recruit new fans in other markets– who might be out there waiting for the right invitation in to the fold.”

[The mission of SAC ]is to work with publishers, creators, fans and other organizations to coordinate comic and cartoon themed art exhibitions, programs, performances and lectures for and at various venues providing for and attracting the widest and most varied audiences possible.

Given the indy- and web-comics friendly tone that Murrary, Babcock and others of their MoCCA contemporaries have always had, I’m quite intrigued to see how this plays out. There are some really capable people in on this effort — including MoCCA curators and Fest directors, and Leah Schnelbach, who was instrumental in the SPLAT! symposium — and what can [web]comics as a whole be if not thrilled that a 6′ 6″ self-described Smurfologist is working to promote the medium? We at Fleen will be following the efforts of the SAC with interest. For more information, check out the (yet-to-be-fully-launched) website of SAC or read the announcement after the cut.

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What is the Sequential Art Collective?

The Sequential Art Collective (SAC) is a group of individuals with the belief that comics, cartoons, illustration and animation are important art forms worthy of serious study and promotion.

Our mission is to work with publishers, creators, fans and other organizations to coordinate comic and cartoon themed art exhibitions, programs, performances and lectures for and at various venues providing for and attracting the widest and most varied audiences possible.

Who is the Sequential Art Collective?

SAC was started by a core group of professionals and scholars with the idea that the culture of sequential art and cartooning should be inclusive of fans from all walks of life, education levels, beliefs, genders and backgrounds.

Its governing body is a working board of directors, with diverse experience in business and scholarship, which is supported by an advisory board and a small, dedicated volunteer corps.

Ideas and discussions about founding the Collective were in motion as early as December, 2007, while many of the founding members were involved (at different levels of leadership) in running New York’s Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art (MoCCA). The Collective currently has over 20 years of combined experience in working for and with not-for-profit organizations in the comic and cartoon art field, and in forming this new organization, it has freed its founders to bring all of their experiences and unique perspectives to the table. They intend to use that energy and know-how to create a kaleidoscopic vision that extends beyond any one place.

Board of Directors:

Matthew C. (Matt.) Murray (Executive Director, Co-Chairman of the Board of Directors) earned his BFA in film, television and radio production from NYU, where he also studied the history of animation under noted scholar Jerry Beck. At the age of 30, Murray was elected president and was hired as the first executive director of MoCCA where, among other projects, he curated an exhibit on the history and impact of Saturday morning cartoons and crafted events and programming such as the year-long retrospective about 1986: The Year That Changed Comics. He is an avid collector of comic and animation art, and a recognized “Smurfologist.”

Allan Dorison (Director of Organizational Outreach, Co-Chairman of the Board of Directors) is the event and conference manager at Credit Suisse Financial Bank in New York City. He has previously served in a leadership capacity on the leadership and executive boards of the New York Comic Collective and the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art. While at MoCCA he was the co-director of the 2006, 2007 and 2008 Art Festivals, each of which brought thousands of comic and cartoon creators, scholars, and enthusiasts together with the singular purpose of celebrating the art form.

Jennifer Babcock (Director of Exhibitions and Research) holds her MA in art history and is currently pursuing her doctorate in Egyptology from NYU’s Institute of Fine Arts, where she is also known as a comics scholar. Originally from Los Angeles, she has worked for museums on both coasts, notably the Los Angeles County Museum as a Getty intern, the UCLA Hammer Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In 2007, she had the distinction of curating MoCCA’s Infinite Canvas exhibit, the industry’s first fine art exhibition dedicated to webcomics. A creator herself, she is the artist and writer behind C’est La Vie, which is syndicated by Universal Press Syndicate and available on their website.

Lee French (Director of Foundation Support and Development) served in the United States Army during Operation Enduring Freedom, before earning his bachelor’s degree from Carnegie Mellon University. A former gallery supervisor at MoCCA, he was on the leadership board of two Art Festivals and was instrumental in raising funds for a number of exhibitions including Things That Go Bump… and Infinite Canvas. A lifelong reader and collector of comic books, he fondly remembers his first comic as being John Byrne’s Superman #7, which he still has, “bagged and boarded,” even though it has long since lost it’s covers.

Jared Gniewek (Director of Events and Entertainment) is a freelance writer whose work can be seen in the recent re-launch of Tales from the Crypt and heard on The Dark Sense, an audio anthology of the macabre for which he is also the story editor. While he grew up on superhero comics, he favored horror and made the leap to the undergrounds at 16 when he came across a copy of Weirdo at a newsstand in the Catskills. This diversity in taste and knowledge led to his co-curating two exhbits at MoCCA including Things That Go Bump… In addition to writing, Gniewek also works in the music industry as a back line technician, performer, and promoter.

Sharon S. Ma (Director of Education) works in strategic and exhibition planning at one of New York’s major non-profit institutions for science. At MoCCA, Ma was the Director of Special Events, Education, and Programming, where she created educational courses and programs led by authoritative experts, coordinated and was on the team behind Saturday Morning: Art and Artifacts from the Golden Age of Television. She holds her BA in history, art, and anthropology from NYU, and earned her MA in archaeology from Yale.

Leah Schnelbach (Director of Publications) is currently the Assistant Director of the New York Center for Independent Publishing. For two years, she was MoCCA’s Co-Director of Educational Outreach and during her tenure she organized several evening comics classes as well as MoCCA’s involvement in the SPLAT Festival. A writer who earned her B.A. from New College of Florida and an M.A. from NYU, Schnelbach’s professional writing tends to be more in the prose arena, but she believes in the power of comics as a medium, and is particularly interested in their use as a literacy tool.

Board of Advisors:

The Collective will be announcing its initial Board of Advisors in November, 2009.

Support staff currently includes: Michael Carlisle (Online Media), Sandra Correa (Online Media), Justin Maudslien (West Coast Operations) and David Wasserman (Online Media).

What Events and Programs Does SAC Have in Store?

SAC’s first order of business is incorporating legally, and establishing not-for-profit status with the Internal Revenue Service and the New York State Education Department.

As anyone who has been through those processes can tell, in some cases it can take up to year or more to properly set-up shop. In the meantime our provisional co-chairs are initiating discussions with established not-for-profit organizations about sponsoring our first events and becoming potential “umbrella” organizations that can accept tax-deductible donations to fund our activities.

That hasn’t stopped us from lining up and beginning work on a series of projects which includes but is not limited to:

sacart.org (ongoing) – our website which will feature exclusive artwork, content and online exhibitions celebrating and shedding light on all aspects of the sequential art and cartooning culture and community. Proposed online exhibits include webcomics and Saturday morning cartoons, which would be curated by Jennifer Babcock and Matt. Murray, respectively. Each would also have a physical collection of art available for rental and touring.

Classics Illustrated: The Raven and Other Poems (April, 2009) – a dramatic reading of Edgar Allan Poe’s poetry set against the art of Gahan Wilson, as featured in the forthcoming Papercutz re-release of the 1990 graphic novel (also April, 2009.)

Sequential Art Collected (date, TBD) – a self-published print anthology of short work by contributing professionals and new exciting voices in the field of comics and cartoons.

More information about the Collective, its members and its programs can be obtained by contacting us at tellmemore@sacart.org