Few more panels of note, y’all.

Saturday

12:30-1:30 Flight: A New Kind of Comics Anthology— The critically acclaimed Flight anthology has begun paving the way for a new vision in comics. Flight artists Kazu Kibuishi (Daisy Kutter), Phil Craven, Kean Soo (Jellaby), Jeff Smith (Bone), Steve Hamaker, and special guest Scott McCloud (Understanding Comics, Making Comics) talk about creating comics for a new generation of readers and artists. Room 9

4:00-5:00 How to Make Compelling Web Comics— Lee Marrs (Pudge, Girl Blimp, Indiana Jones) will present the most direct methods and pitfalls of creating both webcomics and interactive hypercomics, with demonstrations and examples. The direct-from-the-trenches “Marrs Hypercomics Recipe� will be shared by this Inkpot Award winner and Emmy Award–winning TV art director. Room 3

This appears to a usage of the word webcomics somewhat different than you and I are used to.

Sunday

10:30-11:30 History of Webcomics— Join writer T Campbell (Penny and Aggie, Fans, Rip and Teri) and some possible surprise guests to discuss 13 years of online comics, the challenges, conflicts and controversies of chronicling them, and where the project goes from here. Room 9

Unfortunately, gonna miss this one — my flight home is Sunday morning. Anybody want to do some feet-on-the-street reportage? Click the contact link.

The SDCC panel schedule is getting close to finalized, and two more items of note have popped up. In addition to the previously-Fleened Dumbrella and Webcomics 102 panels, we have:

10:30-11:30 Blank Label Comics — The groundbreaking independent comics co-op offers a look at its unique recipe for success and explains why “webcomics” are dead. Moderated by the hosts of the popular Blank Label Comics podcast, Dave Kellett (Sheldon) and Kristofer Straub (Starslip Crisis), the panel will include David Willis (Shortpacked!), Paul Taylor (Wapsi Square), Howard Tayler (Schlock Mercenary), Steve Troop (Melonpool), and Brad Guigar (Evil Inc.). Room 1A

and

6:00-7:00 Keenspot 2006: Spotlight on Awesomeness — The world-renowned Internet powerhouse that makes webcomics history with every new pixel returns to Comic-Con for its 6th annual panel discussion! Keenspot creators who may very well appear (assuming no cool Star Trek panels overlap with this one) include Dan Shive (El Goonish Shive), Jennie Breeden (The Devil’s Panties), Aeire (Queen of Wands), R. Smith (Funny Farm), and Darren Bleuel (Nukees). The panei will be moderated by Keencast hosts Chris Daily (Striptease) and John Troutman (Flint Again), who will be podcasting this panel. Hear Keenspot’s late-breaking big announcements and preview their newest comics and animation projects before anyone else! Free Keenspot giveaways for everyone who attends. Room 9

That makes at least three collectives that will have the soapbox to tell us what they’re up to these days. Will we see the Twin Towers holding forth on behalf of Dayfree Press? Or some announcements about what’s happening at Graphic Smash and Modern Tales? There’s still a lot of hours across four days that don’t have webcomics events, so get cracking, collective people!

Also, it’s starting to look like my schedule will prevent me from attending the “Spotlight on Awesomeness” (you really sorta have to respect somebody that can come up with a line like that with a straight face), so if anybody wants to do the stringer thing for us and grab some dirt, feel free to click the contact link up there.

Adding to our previous list of webcomics panels at SDCC:

DUMBRELLA
FRIDAY, JULY 21
2:30-3:30PM
ROOM 7B

Artists from Dumbrella, one of the most popular online comic collectives, discuss webcomics, independent publishing and subverting popular culture. Feel free to quiz Andrew Bell (the Creatures in my Head), Sam Brown (explodingdog), Steven Cloud (B.O.a.S.a.S.), Jon Rosenberg (Goats), and Richard Stevens III (Diesel Sweeties) about anything your inter-net heart desires.

Bonus points and a one American dollar cash money to the first person to ask the panel, “What is the collective noun for members of Dumbrella?”*
(more…)

New banner headline:
William G, Joey Manley, Scott Kurtz, and Chris Crosby all agree on a substatantive issue; world fails to fall off axis.

And in other news, the Nerd Prom is listing some webcomics panels for next month; list courtesy of Kristofer Straub, as the SDCC site doesn’t seem to have this year’s programming info up yet. Check it:

THURSDAY, JULY 20
6:00-7:00pm Webcomics 101: Getting Started – It’s easy to make a webcomic, but hard to do it well. Bill Barnes (Unshelved) asks fellow web cartoonists Dave Kellett (Sheldon), Jon Rosenberg (Goats), Brian Fies (Mom’s Cancer), Phil Foglio (Girl Genius) why they went online, and what artistic, business, and technological choices they made. Room 3.

FRIDAY, JULY 21
4:30-5:30pm Webcomics 102: Finding Your Audience – When will your genius get the adulation it deserves? Bill Barnes (Unshelved) asks fellow web cartoonists Jerry “Tycho” Holkins & Mike “Gabe” Krahulik (Penny Arcade), Scott Kurtz (PVP), R. Stevens (Diesel Sweeties), and Kristofer Straub (Starslip Crisis) how they attract crowds online. Room 1B

SATURDAY, JULY 22
6:00-7:00pm Webcomics 103: Making Money – Can you really make a living posting comics to the web? Bill Barnes (Unshelved) leads fellow webcomic businessfolk Robert Khoo (Penny Arcade), Howard Tayler (Schlock Mercenary), Phillip Karlsson (Dumbrella Hosting), Jennie Breeden (The Devil’s Panties) in a discussion on how they turn bits into bucks. Room 3

That last one looks particularly interesting; I’ve been wanting to see non-creator types like Khoo and Karlsson talk about their perspectives of what makes for success in this crazy world. Fleen will do its best to ensure full coverage of these sessions, and any others that appear on the schedule.

Mostly photos this time ’round, and that will wrap up our discussion of MoCCA for the year. Before we get to the pics, profound apologies to both Tyler Page and Ryan Sias.

Page put together the best take-aways to promote a webcomic I’ve ever seen: a brochure for the fictional college that is the story setting, and student IDs for the main characters. Great idea, wonderful execution, couldn’t get a decent photo of them.

I had only about two minutes to talk with Sias, which was not nearly enough time to discuss Silent Kimbly, his work as an animator, and being a Ryan. As soon as we at Fleen have the opportunity to talk with him further, we’ll be sure to share with you.

In the meantime, please enjoy visuals of Ian Jones-Quartey’s ‘frohawk, T-Rex in all his majesty (Ladies, please! One at a time!), the free-est and fun-est eagle in the world, Ryan North gettin’ down, and webcomicdom’s fiercest thug mug. Andy Runton is about to learn to his detriment that you do not screw with Kean Soo. Lastly, this man is more of a ninja that you will ever be. In fact, he is such a master of disguise that he doesn’t even look like that.

David Hellman has never been bought a burger by this page. This oversight will have to be corrected in the future.

John Allison is awash with successes — he sold out of his books and paintings, and wound up selling ideas (What if there were ferret record producers? What if the mighty American bald eagle was just a working Joe with a briefcase?) at the bargain price of $2.00 each. With little stock (and no voice) left after Day 1, he posted a sign apologizing for his lack of witty repartee, which somebody promptly bought. New full-color sketches drawn on the spot were snapped up continuously on Day 2. Even his ScaryGoRound Idol contest was a massive success, resulting in 92 entries of such high quality that instead of showing five days worth, he had to expand to seven (so be sure to check out the entries from Saturday and Sunday).

You get the feeling that Jeph Jacques kind of just wanted to draw comics, and never imagined he’d end up running a small business/ cottage industry. Like many creators, Jacques reports the business end of things (order fulfillment, looking for publishers, figuring out where PayPal dropped orders) to be significantly less fun than drawin’, so if you’re a college student that feels like making well over minimum wage, and you aren’t going to flake out on showing up for work today just because you’ve got a hangover, the man’s got t-shirts that need shipping. Also, he said some significantly nice things about this page and our new writers, and really felt bad about your dropped order, Sommer.

Kean Soo is counting days — days until Flight 3 comes out (look for it at San Diego), days until he delivers pages to his publisher. Hyperion will be publishing two Jellaby books, with the pages that have appeared online so far forming the initial chapters of the ongoing story. Noting that Hyperion is a Disney company, there is also the possibility of Jellaby stories appearing in Disney Adventures, which has previously run such creator-owned works as Jeff Smith’s Bone.

And, for those of you wanting to know what the absolute must-see part of the show was, no less an authority than The Toronto Man-Mountain declared it to be these guys. Now you know.

Finally, if you ever wondered what to buy r stevens for his birthday, the answer is: noodles and ice. Trust me on this one.

If it seems a bit quiet in the world of webcomics today, it’s because all the creators are sleeping off their time at MoCCA ’06, and we at Fleen were there to report on all the happenings.

Ryan North is poised to take over the world. The man has ideas, ideas which are crafty, and which make webcomics cooler. The new idea — which will have an impact on the ability of creators to control parts of webcomics-as-business (shhhh, it’s a secret so far) — is one of those things that have the potential to redo all the rules of webcomics. He is also very tall, and was a gentleman towards my wife.

The Toronto contingent, upon driving across the George Washington Bridge, was confronted with the sight of a naked man masturbating in front of a homeless guy. It is possible that this was part of a financial transaction, and that one or the other was paying to watch/be watched. Welcome to New York, Canadians!

(speaking of New York, ask John Allison to do his Mayor Bloomberg impersonation sometime)

Big News! Ian Jones-Quartey dropped by with DVD copies of his thesis film, Unfair, which has been accepted into several festivals, including Animation Block Party and the Super Shorts Festival. Additionally, he informs us that his days as an intern at Noodle Soup (working on season 2 of The Venture Brothers) has come to an end … because he’s now working for them as a director. We’re talking 26 episodes of half-hour animated goodness, folks! Everybody congratulate Ian!

Jeff Rowland does not want dressing on his sandwich. Any kind of meat, cheese, or vegetable is fine, though.

Jon Rosenberg was seen selling stickers bearing the URL www.teamforcealpha.com on them, stickers that featured a skull with an eyepatch. With his studio nest partly empty (so to speak) now that megaGAMERZ has left us, could this augur a new project? Only time will tell!

Be sure to come back tomorrow for more on MoCCA ’06! There may even be pictures!

All fans of webcomickry in the general New York area are invited to come check out the Museum of Comics and Cartoon Art’s annual arts fest at the Puck Building in Manhattan next Saturday. For a measly eight bucks (ten for both days!) you get access to a lot of neat people.

Webcomic creator types expected in attendance (from the MoCCA Exhibitor List) include Sam Brown, Steven Cloud, John Allison, R Stevens, Jeff Rowland, Andy Bell, Hope Larson, Kean Soo, Bryan Lee O’Malley, Ryan North, Rob Coughler & Ramon Perez, Jeph Jacques, David Hellman, Kent Earle, Ryan Sias, Raina Telgemeier and Jennie Breeden. Chris Hastings will be reportedly walking the floor, and I’ll be doing the CBLDF thing.

Plus, if current trends continue, you can ask Jon Rosenberg if anybody survives Deathrumble 6000. So bring a sketchbook, some cash for cool swag, and small bottle of booze (the traditional thank you gift for a webcomics creator), and enjoy.

The summer convention season kicks into gear this weekend with the Applegeeks guys heading up to Anime Boston; if you drop by, say ‘hi’ and remember not to take home any stray catgirls. The fun continues in a few weeks at the MoCCA Art Festival (Jun 10 – 11, Puck Building in New York), where historically you find a heavy contingent from webcomics. Ever felt like stalking a Dayfreer or Bald Lemur?

Looking a bit further into the summer, Brian Wilson from Hookie Dookie Panic informs us that at Connecticon, the webcomics will be representin’ large:

I think your readers would be interested to know about our uber webcomic panel. We are the largest webcomic convention in the east coast, and all of our guests climb up on stage for two hours for the single largest webcomic panel in the world. For more information, the connecticon website features some writeups on a few of the guests that will be attending, and can be found [here].

He’s the director of main events at Connecticon, so he’d know. And within two weeks, you’re looking at the Nerd Prom, which has frequently offered quality webcomics artists and panels (although the programmers are probably still reeling from last year’s space dildos). Fleen (in the person of me) will be at MoCCA and San Diego, so keep an eye out for news, interviews, and reviews.

So I was talking with a guy at the Andy Bell opening because he was wearing a Great Outdoor Fight shirt. “Nice shirt,” I said. “Thanks,” he replied, “What do you think is going to happen next?”

In truth, I told him, I had no idea. Everything we know, the entire storied legend of the Great Outdoor Fight, has been revealed in little pieces since Mrs Smuckles let slip a choice tidbit over Rib-eye and Chablis less than two months ago. And it’s always dangerous to predict what Chris Onstad is thinking; the only prediction I would make is that he would take the story in a completely unexpected direction. Ergo: The Jeeps. Like every other aspect of the Great Outdoor Fight (too big a fight to be constrained by acronym or abbreviation), this is new to us, but not to Roast Beef.

Ray, in his ignorance, is more than willing to face The Jeeps … or is that the real reason at all? Does he not appreciate the dangers that they face? Hard to believe, since Beef has filled him in; could he possibly be sincere in his defiant bellow:

Man, fuck those guys! The hell they’re gonna say how this Fight is won! BRING ON THE JEEPS, GOD DAMN YOU!

Ray, of all people, is trying to rebel against the system instead of gaming it or weaseling for advantage. He’s taking something like a principled stand here, maybe only because he doesn’t realize the import of The Jeeps. Beef, of all people, might be pushed by sheer terror to putting a major beatdown on Ray rather than face The Jeeps (and to save Ray’s life, but will he recognize that?). Or, given that it’s Achewood and death is malleable (especially where Beef is concerned), and the fact that keys are being passed around, maybe we see two more grave markers southeast of the Acres.

“Why should the Fight get to say how the Fight is won or lost! Become the ruling body, dude!” is no less impressive than “Give me Liberty or give me Death!” “Beat your best friend since small times ’til he can’t crawl, see or cry … or Death” doesn’t have quite the same ring, but it looks like Hobson had nothing on Beef’s Choice.