The webcomics blog about webcomics

Dear Identity-Thieves: I Intensely Dislike You

Bob Bailey is the one, true Johnny Dollar

I’m fine, but let’s say that a near miss happened today to someone I know and it’s got me in a mood; if the news about the x0,000 phished Hotmail, etc. accounts weren’t enough to make you reevaluate your approaches to password discipline (mine verges on clinical paranoia), then hey — awesome. You’re the soft target, not me. With that bit of entirely callous disregard for the well-being of my fellow netdwellers out of the way, let’s get some quick news items in.

  • Speaking of bad people, Ryan Estrada has launched a new daily webcomic about them; okay, his are more the “costumed bad guys” and less “disaffected programmers working for various ethnic mafias”, but you get the idea. Chillin’ Like Villains launched with a full 24-page story in the archives, and after a one-day chapter splash, kicks in with fresh adventures today. Reached for comment about the new competition in the supervillain-themed webcomics sphere, Brad Guigar bellowed, Fools! I will vanquish every one of you puny mortals and lay all your works to waste! After pausing for breath, Guigar continued, Moohahahahahaha! and fiddled with what appeared to be some kind of nullifier, or possibly a mind-control beam.
  • Speaking of insane rantings, Jeff Rowland would have you believe that he is prone to such outbursts; in fact, he is a pretty savvy businessman who’s managed to negotiate his way to a modest (if possibly accidental) empire of internet merchandisery, which he talks about at Comic Alliance:

    It’s still the friggin’ wild west out here; if you can get 20,000 people to read your comic about a dog that huffs paint, there is a way to make a living from that.

    Much like our own interview with TopatoCo VP Holly Post, Rowland talks about webcomics giving you slack for being weird, TopatoCo’s growth curve, and their unique corporate culture:

    I got David Malki [!] running promotions and propaganda and that dude is an idea dude to the marrow. Most days I just spin him around on this big board and decide what to do from what thing his feet point at.

    People, I have stood in TopatoCo HQ, and I am fully prepared to believe that Rowland is telling the truth. If you want to make good business decisions, your course is clear — obtain your own David Malki ! and revolve him until gravity tells you what to do.

  • Speaking of interviews, Zudaboss Ron Perazza had one with David Gallaher a couple days back at CBR; full disclosure: Gallaher is the creator of High Moon, which was one of the first Zudawinners. The interview is full of interesting stuff, and whatever your views on Zuda, the Zudacontests (I’m decidedly meh on them), the Zudainterface (hell meh), these are some talented guys and it’s worth your time to listen to them. Besides, I can’t be the only person who swooned upon learning that Gallaher has written a graphic novel of Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar!.

    What do you mean, you never heard of YT,JD!? It was an awesome radio drama about a fabulous freelance insurance investigator … a freelance insurance investigator with an action-packed expense account! Look, if you live in or around Washington DC, WAMU does this multi-hour block of old radio programs on Sunday nights, and YT, JD! is often in the rotation. It’s cracktastic.

When I lived in Frederick, WAMU is where I used to hear YTJD as part of the Big Broadcast with host Ed Walker!

Actually only one of the characters is a supervillain! This is gonna be about all kinds of bad guys. If you look at the right side of the header, you’ll even see…. various members of an ethnic mafia! We got alien overlords, small time hoods, conspiracy theorist wackos, mafia thugs, everything! (Okay, but yeah- the first 100 pages are about just the supervillain and the small time hoods)

Actually only one of the characters is a supervillain! This is gonna be about all kinds of bad guys. If you look at the right side of the header, you’ll even see…. various members of an ethnic mafia!

Johnny Dollar:

Was one of the major influences on my Daily Grind webcomic, right up there with The Shadow and I Love a Mystery. Out here in southern California, alas, it’s been years since we’ve had anyone who plays the old radio shows over the air. And yet, the French horns from the Johnny Dollar theme are swirling through my head right now…

Mike

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