Regarding the brouhaha over the comics-themed issue, Tony Ortega, Voice editor, had this to say:

I wanted to have a big special comics issue, but I had a limited budget. So in a well-meaning effort to make this work, I asked some cartoonists to provide work without compensation. In the last couple of days, it’s been pointed out to me quite clearly that this was not the best way to help out the cartooning industry. The thing is, we’re not a company that expects people to work for free for the exposure. And I’m making this right: I’m paying all of the artists in the special issue.

And hopefully buying them beers and working with them again soon.

Rest of the publishing industry: please follow this example.

• Hey, lookit that, the Eisner nominations are out, and there are some notable names from the world of webcomickry. Over at Best Publication for Teens you have Raina Telgemeier‘s SMILE, a book often championed on this page, which of course started as a webcomic. Likewise, Barry Deutsch’s Hereville: How Mirka Got Her Sword, which started on Girlamatic.

  In the realm of Best Humor Publication you have Dave Kellet’s Sheldon collection, Literature: Unsuccessfully Competing Against TV Since 1953, and Julia Wertz’s Drinking At The Movies, a original graphic novel but direct offshoot from her webcomic (formerly known as The Fart Party, now rechristened Museum of Mistakes). Similarly, Jason Little’s Motel Art Improvement Service (over in the Best Graphic Album — Reprint category) is a collection of his storyline from the ongoing Bee.

  Then, naturally, the Best Digital Comic is entirely ongoing webcomics, with nods for Karl Kerschl (The Abominable Charles Christopher), Travis Hanson (The Bean), Tracy Butler (Lackadaisy), Caanan Grall (Max Overacts), and the pseudonymous duo of Amir and Khalil (Zahra’s Paradise) getting the nod.

  Here’s what’s most satisfying to me: the do-it-yourself, no publishers, no distributors, entirely creator-owned model is creeping out of the webcomics category (which, as we’ve argued before probably shouldn’t be a category of its own, but let’s not rehash that now) into the other awards. Kellett’s nominated book didn’t come from a publisher that was looking to get in on “this web-comics thing” — he produced and put out the book on his own. Look for this to continue in future years.

• As long as we’re talking about DIY publishing, get yourself over to Olly’s Organix and pre-order the new Octopus Pie book. Listen at Home with Octopus Pie contains more than a year’s worth of comics that have never seen print before, and now that Meredith Gran is back to self-publishing (following her Random House sabbatical), the enterprise is both potentially more rewarding for her (nobody else to split the money with) and more financially taxing (nobody else to pick up the printer’s bill).

  The book ships next month, and even if you’ve never read Octopus Pie before (and if that is the case, what the hell is wrong with you?), just the cover should be enough to pull you in. That is some goddamn gorgeous work, and it only gets better on the inside. Git. Order.

The Village Voice, in either an incredibly ballsy “fuck you” to an entire industry, or an incredibly clueless display of irony, answers its own question.

Namely, If Cartoons Are So Big, Why Don’t They Pay?, the title of the four page surface-treatment of the economics of cartooning. Right in the middle of page 2 is the answer:

Also, many of the artists in this issue aren’t getting paid, but have contributed work for the exposure¹. [emphasis added so you can’t possibly miss the important bit]

Dear The Village Voice, you could have done a one-graf blurblet and accomplished the same thing. Here, you can have this one for free:

If cartoons are so big, why don’t they pay? It’s because publishers [including us] would rather put together an entire issue focusing on cartoons, but not pay cartoonists for their work. Works for us, sucks to be them. The end.

• Let’s shift gears to happier thoughts, shall we? Raina Telgemeier, genial chronicler of dental trauma, got to share some good news yesterday regarding fellow Comics Bakery members John Green and Dave Roman (the latter being Telgemeier’s husband):
  

  Finally announced!! @yaytime & @johngreenart‘s TEEN BOAT to be published in full color by Houghton Mifflin.

  For those of you not in the know, TEEN BOAT is an all-ages, very funny, occasionally touching web/print comic that tells a universal story: that of a typical teen who also happens to be a boat. Also, in a stunning proof of the proposition that there’s nothing that the internet can’t ruin, Googling “teen boat” also leads to a porn site that involves alleged teens gettin’ extra naked on a boat.

  Please don’t confuse the two if you’re trying to share Green & Roman’s work with your mom, the local librarian, kids that you know, your grandparents, or pretty much anybody that you’d be willing to shake hands with and not immediately want broad-spectrum antibiotics. For more on the good kind of teen boat, the announcement, some comic excerpts, and a video trailer can be found at The Beat.

• The thing about the bad kind of teen boat is that — like so much unimaginative modern naked media — it leaves a bad taste in my mouth (yes, yes, “That’s what she said”, moving on) from its exploitative, power-disparity POV. There’s quality naked media out there, by the likes of Jess Fink [NSFW] or Erika Moen [NSFW-ish], stuff that’s personally revealing, romantic, tender, and/or funny.

  Another good provider of quality naked media (although that’s far from the extent of his talents, having done by my estimation far less naked media — nakedia? — than non-naked) is Sylvan Migdal, who’s never been satisfied with doing just one comic at a time. Seeing as how Curvy [NSFW or not, depending on the page in question] is in the depths of storyline, it’s naturally time for Migdal to launch another comic, which will apparently happen on 1 June.

  Judging from the teaser, I’d say this one is towards the fully-clothed end of the spectrum, albeit the global catastrophe that’s hinted at might change social mores. Proceed with caution at place of employment, and with full enjoyment elsewhere. If you’re dying to know the naked-people quotient of the new strip, you can ask Migdal this weekend at MoCCA Fest, where he will be tabling.

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¹ People die of exposure.

It’s a real day for revelations in Webcomickia.

• Firstly, why is there a countdown on the Machine of Death webpage? Answer, from the Machine of Death webpage’s latest update — because that’s when the first ever Machine of Death talent show will take place. It’s in LA, it’s free, it’ll be streamed live for those of you that can’t make it to LA, and it could feature you:
  

  Just submit an audition of whatever you want to perform. Anything is allowable — a song, a performance, a reading, a dance, a video, you name it. The guidelines are:

  • The act can be a maximum of five minutes in length (shorter, punchier = better)
  • Related somehow to MOD or to the concept of a death prediction
  • Performable in front of mixed company (no nudity, Nazi uniforms, or both)
  • If you want to perform live, you must be willing to come to Los Angeles. Otherwise, we can show a video.

  Send your audition (which, if you can’t attend in L.A., will be the video we show) to: submit at machineofdeath dot net. A link to YouTube or Vimeo or something is fine. The deadline for submitting an audition is April 18. That’s not very long! Get going! [emphasis original]

  David Malki !, when cornered by me weekend before last, was very coy about what the countdown timer meant (although he gave some fascinating hints about what it wasn’t, given some of the other things that the MoD Squad seem to be working on but can’t talk about yet), and this announcement exceeds my expectations.

  Also, I think now I know why Malki !’s been taking that machining class he’s been Twittering about for the past couple of weeks — you guys I think he is going to make an actual MACHINE OF DEATH. Just remember that the card that it spits out for you says SMOTHERED BY BUNNIES, I was totally the one to think that up.

  Entirely apart from the talent show, there’s now a Machine of Death limited hardcover + goodies set, and any order from TopatoCo will get you a free death prediction card while supplies last. Here’s hoping they last until MoCCA Fest.

• Speaking of MoCCA Fest, the next answered question is, what will their programming be like? Answer: pretty cool. I won’t be able to make MoCCA on Saturday (my nephew will be recognized as an Eagle Scout that day), but the best panel looks to be on Sunday anyway:
  

  2:30pm Pizza Island: The Panel
  Moderated by Brian Heater
  Panelists: Julia Wertz, Sarah Glidden, Kate Beaton), Meredith Gran, Lisa Hanawalt
  Some of today’s brightest young cartoonists share a workspace in Brooklyn. Here is their story.

  Pound for pound, I think that’s the greatest concentration of cartooning talent in the world. Can’t wait to hear them talking about their experiences (although is Domitille Collardey not on the panel? must investigate).

• Speaking of Pizza Island, if you wondered who these amazingly talented cartoonists are, they’ve been kind enough to answer you in the form of self-portraits, which are pretty much the best things ever. Even better, they’ll be used in an upcoming piece in New York magazine, which will hopefully be less infuriatingly superficial than the last local press they received.
• Finally, speaking of Pizza Island again, lots of questions for Meredith Gran were answered in her brand new interview with Zack Smith at Newsarama. I particularly liked the discussion about the types of stories that Gran found herself moved to write while living in Portland, versus those inspired by Brooklyn. Good stuff.

My laptop’s VPN (via physical network cable) sudden died and my cell phone spontaneously rebooted at the same time. I’d call it a coincidence, except the same thing happened a few months ago with a different computer. And, um, a different phone. Still spooky. Also, my throat is killing me and I’ve got that general blah sense that makes me think I got all the way through winter without a flulike disease, only to be laid low now that spring is here. Let’s do this.

• Webcomicky signing for those of you in Portland: Mike Russell and David Walker will be hitting Bridge City Comics on Wednesday, 13 April. Also, Portland, you have too many nicknames. You can pick one of “Bridge City”, “Stumptown”, or “PDX”, and let some poor, undernicknamed midwestern burg have the excess.
• Speaking of events, the first book collection of SMBC, Save Yourself, Mammal!, hits Brooklyn on Sunday, the 8th of May. It’s a ticketed affair, and in keeping with the cheerful principles of capitalism (much the the cheerfulness with which he does everything), SMBC supremo Zach Weiner is offering you the chance to buy yourself advantages (better seats, priority position in line, physical contact with Weiner himself) at the launch.

  But in keeping with the cheerful principles of philanthropy (ibid.), all proceeds go to a pair of classroom charities via Donors Choose. In fact, Weiner’s flirting with filthy (albeit cheerful — passim) socialism, in that all proceeds from the sales of SY,M will be going to Donors Choose. Isn’t that worth your $10 to $40 (USD) (plus convenience fee)? (Yes.)

• One day, two webcomics, two hideous monstrosities from the deep. Such a coincidence hasn’t been seen since the crocodilian-themed coincidence on the day Steve Irwin died. Add that to the electronic coincidence up above, and I’m almost to the point of buying a lottery ticket. Almost.

I’ll go further — it is the first really nice day since the near-fimbulvetr arrived with a vengeance back in December. The seasons have continued their turning, the warmth has returned, and things are growing. Let’s make this quick so I can get out there and enjoy it.

Readers may recall the package o’ minicomics that Eros, Inc. [safe for work, really!] creator Michael Jonathan sent me back in October. Some pretty good stuff in there, including one, Quail: The Song of the Blackbird EP, that I thought was perhaps a bit under-realized:

The broader framing story of [Eros, Inc.] served [two related minis] well, and Quail: The Song of the Blackbird EP seems slightly lost without that framework. That being said, nice job by Jonathan on making music an integral part of the story. I’m not certain that the tunes that popped into my head fit any of the songs that the characters sang on the pages, but the fact that they spontaneously generated in my frontal lobes says he’s doing something right.

That framework exists now, and in a form that may put your expectations and Jonathan’s on a mild collision course, maybe:

My indie-folk, kung-fu musical comic “Quail: The Song of Blackbird EP” is now available to read online in its entirety! You can find it here.

I’m meeting with a friend of mine who is going to write the music this month, so a CD should be ready in time for TCAF. [emphasis added]

So now we see if the songs in your head and the songs in the comic match up at all.

• Speaking of shows (TCAF is a show!), word came late yesterday afternoon that MoCCA Fest tables are sold out. Is it just me, or do these smaller shows (cf: Stumptown, SPX) fill up quicker every year? Everybody’s pretty much used to the megashows being locked up years in advance, but it used to be that you didn’t have legions of previous exhibitors talking about getting shut out from tabling.

  Either the small shows need to get larger, or … not sure what, actually. There’s more people than ever making really high-quality comics, and that’s good. Looks like the even newer/smaller shows (cf: MIX) are succumbing to the limits of time/space/reasonable organizational effort. Suggestions for solutions cheerfully accepted.

• Following up on the previous mention of charitable efforts to help Japan, the ToonSeum is hosting a series of film screenings, with proceeds going to the Artists Help Japan Earthquake & Tsunami Emergency Fund (founded by Dice Tsutsumi, an art director at Pixar).

  Next Saturday, 26 March, those of you in the Pittsburgh area can see Hayao Miyazaki’s Kiki’s Delivery Service at 2:00pm, Makoto Shinkai’s 5 Centimeters Per Second at 4:00pm, and Satoshi Kon’s Millennium Actress at 6:00pm. Museum admission is a lousy four bucks, so how about you donate what it would cost you to see three movies in a theater?

The rumor and innuendo swirling about was damn near impenetrable. Suddenly, a mysterious message appeared in my inbox, promising shadowy secrets in webcomics, and for once it didn’t come from Eben Burgoon. Who could the beardy figure in that photograph be? The possibilities are endless, although the filename — prof_smith — offered tantalizing possibilities, but nothing concrete. Then I just read the email and it was all obvious:

[W]e’re making a PHD movie! — Jorge

Yeah, probably shoulda just read the damn thing first ‘stead-a getting all worked up. Jorge Cham (for it was he that sent the not-very-mysterious email) tells us that it’s not yet decided how/when/where the movie rolls out, but if they went to the trouble to find a guy that’s such a dead ringer for Professor Smith, I’m guessing that the project is planned well enough to see completion on time, under budget, and without any hint of procrastination. Jorge would never procrastinate. Besides, if you look closely enough at the picture, there are playback controls, so I’m betting a significant chunk of the film is “in the can”, as they say in Hollywood (or Hollllywood as Bullwinkle tells us is correct, with “three or four Ls”).

Now, the only question is if Cham plays the (thus-far nameless) POV character in the movie.

In other news:

• New books have been announced by Rich Burlew and Paul Taylor. They would be, respectively, the special-to-Dragon-magazine monthly strips that ran outside of regular Order of the Stick continuity, and the post we-kicked-the-calendar-machine’s-ass strips from Wapsi Squre. For good measure, Burlew will be donating $1 per copy of Snips, Snails, and Dragon Tales bought or pre-ordered this month to the Japanese Red Cross for earthquake and tsunami relief.
• Per The Beat, the nominations for the Stumptown Awards have been announced, to be held on 16-17 April in conjunction with the Stumptown Comics Festival in Portland “Stumptown” Oregon¹.

  What I found refreshing is that that Stumptown Award jury, in contrast to pretty much every other comics-related awards program — has essentially drawn no distinction between webcomics and not-webcomics. Carla Speed McNeil’s Finder: Voice (cf: here) looks to be the most-honored work, and it’s a web-to-print creation. But look at the multiple nominations for Emily Carroll’s His Face All Red, which is purely a webcomic.

  Carroll’s not up for Best Artist That Doesn’t Use Paper or Best Colorist That Works In Pixels, she’s up for Best Artist and Best Colorist, period. Heck, Ben Costa’s nomination for Best Colorist nod is listed as for Pang: The Wandering Shaolin Monk, but is that for the book or the webcomic? It doesn’t matter, and the Stumptown Awards are the first to really erase that distinction. Bravo.

_______________
¹ Stumptown, Stumptown, Stumptown, smock!

Bigbooté.

• Because I work in New York, I was able to obtain a copy of this article on paper, and will forthwith be framing that sumbitch and keeping hard by Fleen’s Action News Desk. Clearly, I have approached all of my hack webcomics pseudojournalism completely wrong, and in future this bastion of reportage will be my model. I will no longer ask webcomickers about their work, their inspirations, or how they hope to inspire or interact with their readers. From now on, the emphasis is on how much they love the gossip¹.

  Readers of this page may recall that Dave Kellett (that would be the creator of Sheldon and Drive, not Dave Kellett, Osteopath) was invited back in October to give a talk at Ohio State University’s triennial Festival of Cartoon Art, and did so in response to a talk that Bill Watterson had given at the same conference 21 years earlier. It’s taken a while, but Kellett’s talk is now available on the Youtubes in five parts. The most important thing established: Kellett’s crush is Watterson, given that he returned repeatedly to a photo of Watterson at the drawing desk, turning the projector of the auditorium into his own public crush wall. Adorable!

  In other news, Scott C has produced visual documentation (and it is now mine, sitting on my desk in my home) of notroious partiers Mister Banzai and Mister New Jersey gossiping with and mutually crushing on a pair of Red Lectroids; clearly one is John Whorfin, but who could the other canoodler be? Not John Bigbooté, since he has no glasses. Our inside sources say it may be John O’Conner, John Gomez, John Yaya, John Littlejohn, or even — gasp — John Smallberries.

  Okay, I can’t actually keep up the tone any longer — it makes my brain hurt. It’s a bit difficult to put the info from the website, but I believe every member of Pizza Island is going to be a featured guest at the MoCCA Fest in four weeks, Dave Kellett’s talk was erudite and funny, and Scott C rules. That is all.

• It’s been a long, long time since we first laid eyes on Nate Simpson’s comics work; back then it was apparently (judging by file names) called Waldo then, and now it’s known as Nonplayer. The writing’s a bit tighter, the art as gorgeous as it ever was, and it’ll be hitting the comic shops next month. Check ‘er out.
• Got a tweet yesterday (from J Baird, of the Create a Comic Project), reproduced here in its entirety:
  

  @fleenguy Here’s a news item: Lulu has released its API. You can publish to your own site with them solely as a backend. It’s free! #luluapi

  It took a bit of digging from there, since the main Lulu site didn’t have mention of this that I could find, but here’s what I know so far (via the Lulu Developer Portal):

  The Lulu Publication API allows individuals and publishers to use the Lulu backend to publish print-on-demand and electronic books programatically. Upload and publish books in any format (paperback, hardcover, eBook), get free ISBNs (or assign your own), sell on Lulu.com, Apple’s iBookstore, and other leading retail channels.

  Interesting. There’s quite a lot of technical documentation, but as I don’t have a developer’s account (nor have need of one), I suspect that there are subtleties that I’m as yet unaware of. Fingers crossed that we get a good FAQ-style summary of the API’s features, but it looks like e-books can be done perhaps more simply than they were before this release. Not everybody wants to go to the trouble of producing their own in various formats, naturally, but right now I don’t have enough info to tell you more than interesting. Maybe very interesting?

• Speaking of interesting, may I refer you to a link? Why yes, I believe I may. Your guess is as good as mine, but 26 April at 10:00pm EDT is when I’m going to try very hard to be near a computer.

_______________
¹ Jesus Tapdancing Christ.

Let’s start off with a few Updates on Emerald City Comicon (kicking off … nowish) attendees, shall we?

• Evan Dahm will be bunking with Magnolia Porter in Artist Alley, table L-06.
• Scott C (and goodness, have you seen his new site?) will also be there today, AA table D-05, although the ECCC guide doesn’t list that table being assigned to anybody. If in doubt, obtain the services of any passing Sherpa.

In non-convention related news:

• Everybody be happy! Jess Fink‘s Chester 5000 XYV has a release date. Waaaay back around [American] Thanksgiving 2009, both Chester (and the time-travel self-makeout guide We Can Fix It) were acquired by Top Shelf and were due “next year”. Then about a year ago, they were due in August 2010, and by May they had been pushed to “next year” (i.e.: 2011). But now there’s an actual hard (heh, heh) date for Chester, at least:
  

  Top Shelf’s May releases, THE HOMELAND DIRECTIVE, CHESTER 5000, & GINGERBREAD GIRL are now available in Previews.

  I’m afraid I don’t have a better date for you than May, but hey — solicited through Previews means it’s really, truly on the way. Asked about We Can Fix It, Fink tells us she hopes it’s this year, but at the moment we just know it’s in the future. Which is kind of appropriate if you think about it.

  To celebrate, there’s a new, self-contained Chesterverse story, and it’s a bit of a heartbreaker. That’s really Fink’s talent — to take real human emotions and effectively mix them with wonderfully smutty up-sexings. And though I never thought I’d say this, as long as you don’t hit the “previous” link and only read forward from that landing page, this Chester story is Safe For Work.

• Anybody got a good idea what the weather in Ottawa will be like next week? I never seem to be sent there for work in warm times. Along those same lines, next week’s updates may be late because the posts will have to cross the international border, and you just know that the Customs guys are sticklers.

For the past couple of years, one of the most successful and generally-agreed-upon-as-fun events that’s occurred in proximity to the MoCCA Festival has been the Drink & Draw Like A Lady meet-up. At least, that’s the report that I’ve always gotten, as (not being of the XX chromosomal persuasion, much less a lady) I haven’t been.

Event brainstormer Hope Larson won’t be at MoCCA Fest this year, but she’s passed organizational duties on, and arrangements are being ably handled by the likes of Raina Telgemeier and Lucy Knisley. If you are a lady who loves/makes/sells comics, head over to 192 Books (Tenth & 21st in New York) on Friday, 8 April, starting at 7:00pm.

• Have you guys been enjoying the between-chapters break at Curvy? It’s been sexy and occasionally SFW guest strips all week, from the likes of David McGuire, Erika Moen, and Megan Gedris. More than just a chapter break, these strips also honor ten years of webcomickin’ by Curvy creator Sylvan Migdal. If Curvy is the first of his work that you’ve read, go familiarize yourself with earlier works like Spork, Rho, Mnemesis (don’t be put off by the fact that the first page says “The End”), Ascent, or Where the Typos Og.
• I believe that I may have mentioned in the past that there are certain no-longer-updating pages that I always go back and check; I don’t care what anyone saw, some day Vera Brosgol will get the sudden urge to finish Return to Sender, and I’ll be ready when she does. Occasionally, these acts of extreme optimism pay off, as this morning when I noticed the following:
  

  Because there are more heartwarming childhood memories still to share … You Damn Kid returns on Monday, March 7 2011.

  Yes!

  Owen Dunne’s had — and returned from — numerous hiatuses (hiati?) in the past, but he’s always come back, and I’ve always been waiting when he does. Maybe it’s because something in his work speaks to me. Maybe it’s because the first webcomics purchase I ever made was the YDK print collection and a sketch of Jethro and the frog rocket wiener. Welcome back, Mr Dunne; also: Clippy!

• Let’s finish up with a quote that I found yesterday after reading Axe Cop: Bad Guy Earth #1:
  

  “Zany” clearly does well on the Internet, and another graphic-novel-compiled webcomic, Dr McNinja, definitely embodies the word. It’s memo-olific, with pop-culture references flying a mile a minute. I super enjoyed realizing, “Hey! That’s a He-Man quote!” and patting myself on the back for being clever and “in”. The pace of this comic is super fast, and my mind was whirling in glee at some of the outrageous stuff that happened.

  That was reigning nerd-goddess Felicia Day, in the March 2001 edition of “Horsepower” (which runs on the inside back cover of Dark Horse comic books) in reference to the upcoming fourth overall/first from Dark Horse Dr McNinja print collection. Hey, Chris, now that you’re all buds with Ms Day, can you get her autograph for my wife? Awesome.

Okay, so Em-City. Lotta webcomics folks heading out that way, including some that I almost certainly missed, so let me know about any obvious omissions, yeah? Most of those folks have been helpfully putting up maps to show where to find ’em, and they all have something in common: a tendency for the arrows to point towards the lower-left corner of the booth space.

For the sake of convenience, because it’s got the most names pre-written on it, I refer you to the TopatoCo map [PDF] and add that most every other webcomics person of interest not written on the map is within a brief walking radius of the smiling Topato in booth 202. We’ll use that as our navigational starting point, because it’s right by the entrance.

• Put your back against the wall and stare directly at the TopatoCo booth, then let your gaze wander leftward and across the aisle. All four Halfpixel üdes are at booth 102, adjacent to the Sam Logan/Jeph Jacques Argument Annex in booth 203; special guest Mary Cagle joins said Düdes. Nestled in the bosom these two booths is the Red Bull Top Fuel Fun Machine (booth 104), with the exception of Ms TMI Tuesday, who can be found oversharing at booth 207 with the Weregeek.
• Not sure where 207 is? No problem. First of all, look at the TopatoCo aisle opposite the wall of the convention center. On the other side of it, you’ll see The Library Guys and Mister Mumbly Eyebrows at booth 206, and behind them you’ll find The Historian & The Hurricane in booth 208, as well as Angela Melick and Joel Watson (I, uh, ran out of nicknames) in booth 307.
• Having visited the Melick/Waston Axis of Awesome (Nickname! Still got it!), do a 180 and you’ll see the Blank Labellers in booth 210; merely rotate leftwards again and walk forwards until you see all the Steampunk cosplayers, and you’re in Foglio country (not to be confused with bat country), booth 110. Rotate again until you once more face the mighty Unshelved/Biff booth and the once-mysterious 207 will be directly in your sightline. Alternately, you can stand alongside the gaslamp mafia and walk towards the back of the hall two aisles, and you’ll be at the Webcomic Bucket Brigade, booth 116.
• Since you’re hugging the left wall and all, this might be a good time to visit Artist Alley, where you can find multiple Bobs — both Angry Flower (E-14) and White (L-06) varieties — along with Let’s Be Friends Again (A-11), various members of Comics Bakery (G-10), my sporting bet nemesis (G-14), and the Chancellor of Iron Crotch University (I-07).
• Finally, you’ll have to brave the far side of the hall to visit Alaska Robotics, off in booth 906, the veritable hinterland. It’s okay, they’re from America’s Frontier, they can survive on their own just fine. We should also note that Scott Kurtz wants you to remember that Saturday is Classoline Alley Day at ECCC, when all and sundry are invited to nudge their wardrobes up a notch or two. If you’re not sure what constitutes “classy”, quietly observe Latin Art-throb Aaron Diaz back at the TopatoCo booth, but please — no sudden motion; he startles easily.

Now that we’re all caught up, let’s move on to fresh territory, shall we? Actually, let’s revisit recently-covered territory; in comments on this site, one may observe a pair of missives that are worth your attention.

• In reference to the difficulties of getting the Erfworld books delivered, Darren Gendron helpfully notes that any business with China around the Lunar New Year is a dicey proposition. File that one away for next year, those seeking overseas printing.
• In reference to the wanton destruction of his sites, Friend o’ Fleen Lore Sjöberg (link still dead, but it’ll be back someday) thinks out loud about a madcap new idea he’s having. From his Tumblr, the possibilities of new forms of electronic media enjoyment:
  

  I want you to be able to treat my digital creations — pictures, words, music, video, whatever — the same way you do mp3 files. I want you to be able to download them as files, mail them to your friends, stick them on the portable or stationary device of your choice and enjoy them how you want.

  I want you to be able to read them online if you have a net connection, but I want you to be able to pack them up and carry them along with you in case you don’t. Maybe you want a simple, no-frills reader on your smartphone, and maybe you want a pretty custom skin for reading them on your home computer, and maybe you want random Lore cartoons to come up on your screensaver.

  I think in a decade or so this sort of thing will be much more common. Websites and PDF files will still exist, but encapulated data with rich metadata that can be sorted and rendered according to the needs of the reader will be the standard for any sort of serious data stream.

  I’ve done a little poking around, and I’ve found something that I think will work for now. It will render in at least 75% of current browsers in operation, and more like 99% of browsers that don’t have my name in them. It will be reader-friendly, generous with metadata, and extremely portable. I hope you’ll have fun reading it, and I hope other people will join in the fun as well.

  I’m just going to dive in and see if I can make something neat. With a little luck and a little free time, you’ll see the first steps in a few days.

  Call me crazy, but that right there is what you call a Manifesto, with a capital Man! I am going to be really intrigued to see what Lore (who is a very clever guy) can do along these lines, and even more intrigued to see if, in that promised decade, we’re all casually using LEM (Lore’s Encapsulated Media) as the default content format.