This is the report of the third “Webcomics School” panel session at SDCC. After everything is vaguely back to normal around here, we’ll consult with the session moderator and panelists, expand these recaps, and keep ’em conspicuously posted as a resource for webcomics creators. Please note that these writeups are lengthy, and continue behind the cut for a good long ways.

As an aid to readability, these recaps are presented not as a transcript of a Q&A (although certain sections will quote participants at length, due to extremely critical information that doesn’t deserve truncation), but as a heavily edited narrative, with “takeaway” lessons that summarize the mood of the panel in response to each topic of discussion. Fleen welcomes corrections or clarifications from the participants.

Webcomics 103: Making Money
At the podium, Bill Barnes (Unshelved)
On the panel, Robert Khoo (Penny Arcade), Howard Tayler (Schlock Mercenary), Jennie Breeden (The Devil’s Panties), Phillip Karlsson (Dumbrella Hosting), and special surprise guest Scott Kurtz (PvP) fresh off his Eisner win. Back to room 3, seating 150, with every seat filled. Fan:want to make webcomics ratio of about 20:130.

Who We Are, How We Got Here
Barnes opened the session with a general question to the panel, asking each, “How did you get here, and how do you make your money?” Given the wealth of experience and wisdom at the head table, the answers took nearly a third of the allotted time; pay attention to their answers, as there will be a test later.
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This is the report of the second “Webcomics School” panel session at SDCC; look for the third tomorrow-ish. After everything is vaguely back to normal around here, we’ll consult with the session moderator and panelists, expand these recaps, and keep ’em conspicuously posted as a resource for webcomics creators. Please note that these writeups are lengthy, and continue behind the cut for a good long ways.

As an aid to readability, these recaps are presented not as a transcript of a Q&A (a shame, really, as a transcript of what quickly became The Scott & R Show would be really, really funny), but as a heavily edited narrative, with “takeaway” lessons that summarize the mood of the panel in response to each topic of discussion. Fleen welcomes corrections or clarifications from the participants.

Webcomics 102: Finding Your Audience
At the podium, Bill Barnes (Unshelved)
On the panel, R Stevens (Diesel Sweeties), Kristofer Straub (Starslip Crisis), Scott Kurtz (PvP), and Jerry “Tycho” Holkins & Mike “Gabe” Krahulik (Penny Arcade). More than 200 people can fit in the room, if 50 of them stand around the perimeter; Krahulik suggested the audience ask for a larger room next year, and to let the con organizers know that “webcomics are kind of a big deal now.” Moderator Bill Barnes started by asking the audience how many of them were there specifically to hear a creator speak, and how many to learn how to make webcomics; it comes down about 200 to 30, in favor of learning webcomics. Given the sheer number in the audience, Barnes opted to immediately open the session to questions from the floor.

Giving The People What They Want
Asked how often they pander to the audience in an attempt to boost readership, Holkins and Krahulik commented that Penny Arcade has a history of being “self-indulgent” (Holkins) and sometimes irritating people who just want a videogame gag. Put another way, “I got a lot of angry mail after Kenny Rogers saved Gabe from hobos” (Krahulik). But, Kurtz said, while you don’t want to pander, you do want to keep the audience engaged by providing something accessible.
Takeaway — If you want to do hobos, do hobos — but your audience needs to be hooked if hobos aren’t their thing.
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This is the report of the first “Webcomics School” panel session at SDCC; look for the other two in the forthcoming days. After everything is vaguely back to normal around here, we’ll consult with the session moderator and panelists, expand these recaps, and keep ’em conspicuously posted as a resource for webcomics creators. Please note that these writeups are lengthy, and continue behind the cut for a good long ways.

As an aid to readability, these recaps are presented not as a transcript of a Q&A (in fact, the sessions were quite wide-ranging and sometimes anarchic), but as a heavily edited narrative, with “takeaway” lessons that summarize the mood of the panel in response to each topic of discussion. Fleen welcomes corrections or clarifications from the participants.

Webcomics 101: Getting Started
At the podium, Bill Barnes (Unshelved)
On the panel, Dave Kellett (Sheldon), Jon Rosenberg (Goats), Brian Fies (Mom’s Cancer), and Phil Foglio (Girl Genius). Let’s see, that’s funny, funny, funny, serious, funny. Everybody milling around the podium is polite until Rosenberg asks Fries, “Is it okay if I make fun of your mom?” “We do,” comes the reply. Laughter, broken tension, and smiles all ’round as the audience is coming in. There’s space for 150 people in room 3, and just about every chair is taken.

Word of Mouth
Barnes introduces the session as “year two of webcomic school at SDCC”, and starts off with a question for the panel: “What brought you to publish on the web?” The answers varied from “accident” (Kellett was prepping a syndicate submission and wanted to share his efforts with family and friends) to “malice” (since they got on each other’s nerves, Rosenberg’s roommate wanted to keep him busy for a couple hours in the evenings), to “necessity” (Fies wanted to get the story out and get feedback as it was happening), to “getting smart” (Foglio had advised many people that the economies of print are not in their favor, and the web is).

The common thread was that all of them saw things balloon and grow in a grassroots fashion (in Foglio’s case, increasing readers of Girl Genius eightfold and tripling sales of the reprint volumes).
Takeaway — When readers like what you do, they will tell people.
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Okay, no more of that. I’m tried and cranky as hell, so here’s what to expect over the next couple of days:

1. Postings about SDCC (including this one) will be edited to include links and graphics, as well as some corrections prompted by comments from you. Thanks to everybody who supplied details when I was unable to.
2. A full writeup of sessions will be the next priority. Bill Barnes, moderator of the Webcomics 101|102|103 series, has directed people here for summaries of the sessions. In time, I hope to make this a permanent part of the site, maybe call it “Class Notes” or something.
3. Book reviews. Got everything I wanted except for the new Penny Arcade volume, so I’ll pick that up (hopefully) this week.

Lastly, congrats to Eisner winner Scott Kurtz, for the category (Best Digital Comic) that most closely resembles “webcomics”.

Update: I’m sure that Aaron Renier is a nice person and I like just about everything that Top Shelf does, but fie! Fie on the Eisner voters for overlooking Ursula Vernon as “Talent Deserving of Wider Recognition”. To right this grievous wrong, I’m telling you all to go read through Digger if you haven’t already. Buy the book, too.

Update: He may not work in webcomics, but he’s a great friend of the medium and a hell of a nice guy, so congratulations also to Eisner winner Andy Runton, who clearly produces the “Best Publication for a Younger Audience”.

Update: Speaking of Graphic Smash, I was unable to attend Mr. T‘s session on Sunday regarding the History of Webcomics, wherein I understand there were to be announcements regarding the changes at GS. T, if you’re reading, point us to the info.

Update: I was also unable to attend the Lee Marrs “Hypercomics” session; if anybody can give us a rundown, the contact link is just over there to the right.

Links and graphics to be added to these reports later. But hey: Saturday update! Here are the haps from Friday at San Diego Comic Con:

• The Lovely Lads of (Blank) Label have a plan for domination; these gentlemen do not merely constitute a group of like-minded talents, but the cogs of a finely-tuned Webcomics Engine that seeks to operate with maximum purpose and efficiency. If you meet Paul Taylor, speak up, as I fear his hearing has been damaged a bit from sitting between the very loud shirts worn by David Willis and Howard Tayler.
• The Dangerous Dudes of Dumbrella, by contrast, do not have a plan any more elaborate than “have fun with friends” and “make sure the booth has exactly what the fans want” (and that includes not merely merchandise and the ability to pay with plastic; it also means access to creators who are accessible and truly appreciative of their visitors). Sadly, nobody took me up on the $1 Challenge, and so the world does not know what the collective noun for members of Dumbrella is.
  Update: There have been multiple guesses in the comments and let me say, you’re all so far away from the real answer, it’s not even funny. Hint #1: The answer is in the form a “____ of ____”. Hint #2: No variation of the world “Dumbrella” appears in the answer.
• I have a new found respect for Bill Barnes, Kris Straub, and Dave Kellett with their mad moderation skills. A snap invite and hasty acceptance led to me standing at a podium and microphone to “run” the Dumbrella panel. Really, it’s an easy job, since all you have to do with Messers Bell, Cloud, Rosenberg, Rowland, and Stevens is to wind ’em up and let ’em loose.
• Not that the good Mr Barnes doesn’t know what it’s like herding cats; he did an admirable job keeping Webcomics 102: Finding Your Audience moving at a smart clip; large room (estimated 200 capacity, SRO), with a fans/want to make webcomics breakdown of about 25/175. There will have to be a fuller explanation later about what happens when you put R Stevens, Kris Straub, Scott Kurtz, Gabe, and Tycho on stage together, but for now, we’ll let Kurtz summarize it with one word: lesbians.
• I was unable to attend the Keenspot Spotlight on Awesomeness, but I understand that there was a screening of Meredith Gran’s Polar-oid (do a search in that little box over to the right). What was actually pretty “Keenspot awesome” that I did see was witnessing Jon Rosenberg talking to a nice young lady about her strong negative feelings on Keenspot, urging her to ever greater heights of verbal disdain while Darren “Gav” Bleuel was standing right behind her, finally introducing the two of them. Very funny, and Jon — you’re going to hell.
• Cool Thing of the Day: At the BLC panel, Dave Kellett on syndication vs. going it alone, quote, In this liminal state, where print is dying and webcomics are rising, I know of no syndicated cartoonist who has been syndicated since 2000, who doesn’t have a second job, unquote.

Right there, ladies and gentlemen, that’s why webcomics matter.

• Possibly Cooler Thing of the Day: You may have had some difficulty getting through to the site yesterday. That’s because Scott McCloud, in an interview with Wired.com, listed Fleen (along with Comixpedia and The Webcomics Examiner) as a good place to learn about this crazy medium we love. “Fleen’s become a good source,” he told me. For the record, I did not squee like a 13 year old fangirl, but that glow you see on the horizon is me in an incandescent state of joy.

Saturday Sessions of Note: How to Make Compelling Web Comics with Lee Marrs at 4:00 to 5:00 pm, Webcomics 103: Making Money at 6:00 to 7:00, and with Bill Barnes, Robert Khoo, Phillip Karlsson (Dumbrella Hosting), Howard Tayler, and Jennie Breeden. I’ve wanted to see webcomics business guys like Khoo and Karlsson on stage for a while so this one looks good.

Lessons from Thursday at San Diego Comic Con:

• The Lovely Ladies of Lulu are making the rounds. Given the growing prevalence of their company in producing webcomics collections, keep an eye open for them at future shows. Also, if you hold a panel on self-publishing solutions and say something like, “There’s no internet-driven solution for self publishing,” expect Annie and Leah to start some.
• Phil Foglio has copies of the latest Girl Genius collection! Review of Agatha Heterodyne and the Clockwork Princess sometime in the coming week. Additionally, Foglio’s Buck Godot stories will be coming to the web! Psmith will likely be dumped in all at once, to be followed by Zap Gun For Hire and a newly-colored Gallimaufry a page at a time, like Girl Genius. No immediate date, unfortunately.
• Also in the review queue: Paul Taylor’s Wapsi Square collection, Sparkling Diplomacy, The Retribution Index, Flight III, The History of Webcomics, and assuming Customs gets their shit together, Epic Legends of the Sword Kings.
  Update: Customs did not get their shit together, so purchase and review ASAP; on the plus side, I got to meet the PA Booth Babes (Brenna, Kara, and Theresa) as I repeatedly popped over to ask about the book, and they all rule.
• Check one more item off my list of things to do before I die: drink amazing single-malts with the greatest bartender in the world, Tycho, Scott McCloud, and Lore.
• Cool Thing of the Day: At Webcomics 101: Getting Started, SDCC session room volunteer Dan LaFever and I got to talking; Room 3 has a rated capacity of 150 people, and we were full up. In response to the question, “Are you here primarily because you like the work of somebody on the panel, or because you want to make a webcomic?”, the response was about 20 people for “fan” and 130 for “I want to make a webcomic”. Lots went on at this panel, and we’ll have a full debrief on it later.
• Possibly Cooler Thing of the Day: Alfred, God’s own bartender, on a particularly wonderful single-malt (and please bear in mind that I cannot properly reproduce his beautiful speech rhythms): “It was if angels were pissing on your tongue.”
  Update: Saturday night, Alfred continued his magic, culminating in the sharing of a small bottle of pure single-malt magic. “I want to kiss you square on the mouth,” I told him. He laughed heartily, as if he hears this sort of thing all the time. He probably does.

Friday Sessions of Note: Blank Label Comics at 10:30 to 11:30 am, Dumbrella at 2:30 to 3:30, and Webcomics 102: Finding Your Audience with Bill Barnes, Gabe & Tycho, R Stevens, Scott Kurtz, and Kristofer Straub.

Hey kids, got sporadic WiFi, so fast updates and no graphics until later; heck, probably won’t be able to keep up on regular webcomics trawls. Things that stuck out at Preview Night of San Diego Comic Con:

• Live photo updates (well, every five minutes or so) from the Dumbrella (our corporate master) booth may be found here.
• Liz Greenfield is super nice, and you need to see her three comics to appreciate how cool the CD-style packaging is. How nice? Write one review comparing her to John Cusack, and she will envelop you in affection.
• Check one more item off my list of things to do before I die: tell Scott McCloud in person that I’m the guy that liked The New Adventures of Abraham Lincoln. As he put it, “Oh, you’re the one.” Hopefully, there will be a chance to pick McCloud’s brain on webcomics business models over sophisticated adult beverages, as I have long since owed that guy a beer.
• Cool Thing of the Day: Jon Rosenberg and Andy Bell both had toys for sale, the culmination of a two-year ordeal involving capricious manufacteries, literal slow boats from China, and virgin vinyl stock (so named, I suspect, because it’s hand-made by craftsmen who roll it out on the thighs of Bolivian virgins). Congratulations to Rosenberg and Bell! And to the person who stole the Diablo sample off the table: this is why we’re not allowed to have nice things.
• Possibly Cooler Thing of the Day: R Stevens will have three dozen Red Robot toys in the booth Friday; no two-year ordeal here, just a bit of luck meeting the right guy at MoCCA. Okay, they’re wood and feature zero points of articulation, but as Stevens puts it, “Three goddamn weeks, I have toys.” Score one for a craftsman who doesn’t need Bolivian virgins, just supreme skill with a bandsaw and an appreciation of pixels.
• Lastly, keep your eyes on this site in the near future for news of a Very Special project devoted to a Very Special topic: HAM. Although be warned: say the word “ham” to Dave Kellett, and he hears “pig fisting”.

Thursday Sessions of Note: Webcomics 101: Getting Started at 6:00 to 7:00 pm. Webcomics-interest panels also at 6:00 – 7:00 pm — Fred Gallagher will be part of CMX: Mega Manga and Kazu Kibiushi will be part of Random House Publishing Group Graphic Novels.

Technical difficulties are preventing the awards presentation at the moment; hopefully they will be up at the main site before long. In the meantime, the list of winners may be found here.

And from the conspiracy desk, please note that Achewood was a) shut out of the Winners Circle; and b) unavailable for a good chunk of time yesterday. COINCIDENCE? Or proof of something SINISTER?

Okay, that’s all I got — time to hit the plane and haul out to San Diego; updates from the Nerd Prom as I’m able.

So it appears that Jeff Rowland is on-board (ha, ha) with the Snakes on a Plane panel at SDCC, along with with Samuel L. Jackson(!), David Ellis (director), and Jules Sylvester (the snake wrangler).

Rowland reports a 10:30am Friday panel time (same as the Blank Label panel — tough break, guys), but as of this writing the SDCC schedule lists what appears to be that session on Friday at 5:45pm. As always, check frequently for time revisions.

If my memory serves me correctly, it’s now the third year that SDCC has been bunching together the webcomics crowd into what Rich Stevens once dubbed the sexy lagoon. Check out the map: Dayfree all right next to Flight, with PA near Keenspot and Blank Label and Dumbrella; lobbing a grenade into this section of the convention center could destroy webcomics as we know it. But what’s that?

Right there in between Keenspot and BLC, where it says, Billy West? Sweet mother of Slurm, the voice of Dr Zoidberg is right in the center of the sexy lagoon! Billy West is going to spend his days staring across the aisle to where Jeff Rowland has a tattoo of a character he (West) voices inscribed on his (Rowland’s) body. Bets are now being accepted to determine precisely how cool this is.