Few final thoughts on this year’s iteration before we wrap up the coverage.

• Funniest and most heartwarming thing: during the annual NEWW Awards ceremony (which wrapped up the weekend), showrunner Meredith Gran announced that the fine folks at Squishables had provided a number of their enormous stuffed animals as giveaways, but wasn’t certain how to determine recipients. A suggestion from the crowd resulted in a half-dozen arm-wrestling matches for honor and prizes (a distant view of which can be seen in the bottom row of photos, immediately to the left of the bemused Jeff Rowland). During the goodbyes, many of the champion arm-wrestlers were seen to be giving their prizes to other attendees who had kids. Awwww! Also, do not ever challenge Abby Lehrke to arm-wrestle, as she will school you like Stallone.
• Documentary evidence of the weekend continues to issue forth, of the illustrative and photographic varieties.
• Best webcomic recommendation coming out of NEWW, via Spike: Ectopiary. Dang, this thing is pretty.
• Not NEWW: via webcomics überfan (seriously, his reading list puts mine to shame by an order of magnitude) Michael Kinyon comes a pointer to a series of strips building up to today’s Remembrance/Veteran’s Day: Crowbar Benson depicting actual letters home from The Great War, letters of some impact.

But before we get started, let me point out that Jeph Jacques is doing his level best to displace John Allison as the reigning King of Fan-Fiction. Okay, so Jacques did his in-strip, but you can’t tell me that he didn’t enjoy writing this:

Also Hermione and Ginny were both 25 years old and NOT married to Ron and Harry because the epilogue at the end of the last book is STUPID and NEVER HAPPENED.

Which eventually leads to:

So they totally had sex, and it was the most amazing sex in the history of wizarding or muggles or even Space Wizards (who had a lot of sex but it was really bad sex because they were all evil).

• Speaking of Jeph Jacques, I have now a copy of Questionable Content Volume 1, which came with the news that Jacques plans to do a similarly-sized book every nine months or so until he’s caught up. Look for Volume 2 around San Diego time.
• Speaking of John Allison, I picked up his newest book at NEWW — the very limited, convention-only A Feral Flag Will Fly. I enjoy Bad Machinëry to the extent that, although we are presently getting a five-days-a-week Esther story (and Esther is my absolute favorite SGR character), I find myself counting the days until BM and those mystery-solving youths return. AFFWF has soothed my soul until the wait is done.
• Completing the book-buying trifecta, I now also have a copy of Howard Tayler’s sixth Schlock Mercenary collection, Resident Mad Scientist. Much like AFFWF and QCv1, RSM features an oversize trim, a good “in the hand” feel, and a story that is richer, funnier, and more enjoyable for being presented in large chunks. Excellent reads, all three.
• Not full books, but still from NEWW: I purchased David McGuire‘s latest mini, Marty’s Big Day (no link, sorry), the story of a cat having the best first day as cat ever — fifteen minutes in, he’s on furniture scratching duty and they think they’ll move him up to shedding and hairballs within a week! Lots of fun, and an excellent use of McGuire’s clean, heavy-lined, angry-eyed style.

  Also on the mini front, Sophie Goldstein was kind enough to give me copies of her two minis (again, no link), one a collection of hourlies from her time teaching English in Korea (dated 2009-2010), and one a pair of stories about her father (dated 2006).

  The art styles are obviously different (you have to go simple on hourlies), but each fits the tone of the book. The father stories are particularly strong, recounting a visit to Goldstein’s Alzheimer’s-afflicted grandmother and a terrifying dream of monsters (with her balding, bespectacled, utterly badass father to the rescue). Very different from her work on Darwin Carmichel, very moving work.

• Recurring theme at NEWW: Garies. There exists somewhere a picture of Evan Dahm in the Garies shirt, standing next to me for the absolute maximum amount of Garies. The only thing that could have increased the Gary-count would be if I had been wearing the GARY shirt, but as we all know, that may well have resulted in a Gary singularity.
• Speaking of singularities, Mr Dahm was on a panel with Mr Diaz, Ms Spike, Ms Baillie, and Mr Riley on the topic of worldbuilding; an audio recording of said panel is now available, which saves me the trouble of typing up my notes.

  But be sure to particularly pay attention about halfway through when the topic turned to the nature of comics itself, and particularly the ability of comics to present background information and foreground information simultaneously and in appropriate weightings, something all but impossible in prose. Heady stuff from people who have clearly thought about comics.

• Finally, some of the discussion I had with David Malki ! regarding Machine of Death is now public: agreements have been agreed, and MoD is due in bookstores across the US in the next three weeks.

If you’ve been paying attention to the Twitterfeed of one Mr David Kellett (“The David stands for Dave”), you may have noticed a trend over the last several weeks: tweet after tweet after tweet after tweet of screencaps from a mysterious documentary, often in proximity to the mysterious (and beautiful) Fred Schroeder (tiny piano optional).

During NEWW I sat down with Mr Kellett and Mr Schroeder to find out about this documentary. Be warned, on the topic of this project, the two of them speak almost as one voice, starting and finishing thoughts for each other, like a hive mind that decided two brains was sufficient and why bother with the rest. Thus, except for a brief bit near the end, it is not clear who said what exactly, nor does it really matter.

Bottom line: Dave and Fred like comics, think this is an important point in the history of comics, and want to produce a record of what these times are like. What started as (potentially) a look at one cartoonist (Kellett), his studio and methods, and how he approaches the business end of his craft, has become a fairly broad look as the state of cartooning as a technological shift undoes a century’s worth of business model.

We think this is a really interesting time, not just casually, but in relation to how the business models are changing, the technology to create comics is changing, and also changing the way people read comics.

Other media have had turning points like this, but they weren’t captured at the time. It could be viewed as a scary time, but we see it as fascinating.

Comics have had at least five different business models in their history; they’ve gone from a patronage/subscription system to portfolios and pamphlets to printmaking to today’s comic magazine/strip format. This is just the latest of changes the artform has gone through, but it survives because it’s so powerful, and so flexible.

It’s also interesting to talk to creators, see their process, see their studios, learn how they approach things. When I was starting out, I’d have killed for a peek inside that curtain.
— Freddave Kellett-Schroeder, except for that last bit which is probably more the Dave half of the collective intelligence

They’ve spoken to established masters, some upcoming geniuses, and, weirdly, at least one hack webcomics pseduo-journalist. On this score, they are perhaps a third of the way through their interviews, with at least 75 sessions to be completed before that portion of production is complete. Asked for a list of dream interviews, they mentioned names like Trudeau, Groening (who agreed to sit with them while at the OSU Festival of Cartoon Art, as soon as schedules allow), Breathed, Adams, Rall, Spiegelman, and Munroe. Commenting on such an ambitious list of names, they noted that everybody they’ve spoken to has been enthusiastic and supportive of the process once they’ve seen the level of care that Schroeder and Kellett are bringing to the table:

Thankfully, people have been very generous, very open, 99% of the time it’s been just a matter of timing and logistics. From a filmmaking standpoint, it’s heartening to see how supportive cartoonists are of each other. It’s nice to see the snowballing effect of cartoonists recognizing that we love the medium, and want to explore it in depth.

Jeff Keane was a little wary at first, but during the interview he saw what we were doing. We got to the end of our time and he said, “I’ve got an appointment, but I can give you another half-hour.” He wanted to know what he could do to contribute to the process. — Freddave Kellett-Schroeder

It’s worth noting that Schroeder and Kellett were particularly productive with interviews at the OSU conference and a recent trip to SCAD; this is not a coincidence, given their view of where cartooning is headed:

We’re also at a new place in terms of how cartooning is accepted in academia; it’s achieved a legitimacy and even a sense of equality (with respect to literature, film, music) is building (but not yet achieved). Ohio State is out there, finally putting a stamp down to say “We need to preserve and save this work.” SCAD, RISD, SVA are saying it’s worth teaching the techniques and skills so that each generation doesn’t have to relearn the art from scratch. And not only worth teaching, but teaching at the university scope, and not merely as a skill for trade schools. — Freddave Kellett-Schroeder

Just in case there wasn’t enough to address in the film (which doesn’t yet have a name — not an unusual occurrence in the world of documentaries, I gather), there’s the nature of how current society itself is changing:

[The movie] also gives us the chance to use the microcosm of comics to explore the macrocosm of the shift from analog to digital. That’s the fundamental shift of the present century, and it hasn’t been explored in a fun way yet.

Interviews are projected to continue through the spring, then the serious business of editing can take place. In addition to a feature-length cut of 90 minutes or so (hopefully by next October to hit the film festival submission dates), Kellett and Schroeder are promising supplemental material (possibly to be released online, possibly as DVD extras). These could include full unedited interviews, or alternate cuts of the interviews on given themes or topics. They acknowledge that such niche material might not appeal to a large audience, but see it as service to those that are interested. Kellett compared it to how the Eisner lectures or Wally Wood’s 22 panels are still passed around by comics artists because of their value. As for the width of distribution:

SCAD has asked us to their film festival in the fall, but we’re not certain yet what form the film would be in. We’d love to put it in theatres, but it might be on public television, or it could just go around the festivals. Our other option is to follow the webcomics model and distribute it online ourselves. Most likely, it’ll be two or three of these methods. — Freddave Kellett-Schroeder

Naturally, all of this will depend on financing; at the moment, Schroeder and Kellett are footing the bills themselves, but hoping to get some third-party support soon. There are grant-making foundations that might contribute, or it’s possible that a promo trailer could prompt PBS to supply funding to finish it (in which case it could take the form of a multipart series). Individuals might choose to invest in the film, and Kickstarter remains a possibility. Once done with the interviews, the long process of sound mixing, color timing, creation of infographics, transitions, and editing remain, but both Schroeder and Kellet describe it as a passion project — that they will find a way to get it made. Expanding on the issue of money and potential market:

And with that, I think we have a title for the film; look for Hot Pen On Paper COMIXXX Action in late 2011.

Okay, it’s been a long day of going through notes recollections of the immediate past weekend, whilst simultaneously trying to get back to regular life (boo). One of the things about NEWW that stuck with me was an offhand comment (and I’m sorry, I didn’t note who observed this bit of truth) that this wasn’t the show where you’d see a lot of big announcements. I think that’s partly because it’s at the very end of the con season, partly because any such announcements will be possibly more effective next week as the end-of-year merch sales pick up, and partly because it’s not a commerce-centric show.

Make no mistake, there was plenty of merchandise, with creator after creator selling and taking commissions at their tables (along with two merchandise rooms for collective business groups), but it was a lot more about recognizing the creators, the fans, and the peculiar bond between them. So much of what’s below weren’t announcements, but just things that came up because that’s where the conversation (and the booze) took us.

• During setup (some Friday evening, some Saturday morning), Erika Moen was omnipresent. And that pile of Squishable T-Rexes and Yelling Birds? I flung myself on it like it was a leaf pile and bounced. Less than 15 minutes after show opening on Saturday, it was all but invisible.
• The Eastworks building is dog-friendly. In addition to two of the three most famous webcomicker dogs (alas, Commissioner James Gordon couldn’t make it this year), there were numerous people from the area that walked their dogs through the building. The whippets I met on Saturday morning were especially adorable.
• Ongoing debate for the weekend — is Aaron “Latin Artthrob” Diaz dapper, or tweedy? I’m tending towards the former. Regardless, his new print is gorgeous in person; monitor resolution, no matter how high, does not do it justice.
• Evan Dahm (foreground, with the disembodied headwear of Ananth Panagariya and Yuko Ota behind him) tells us that Order of Tales book 3 will be released soon, and even more excitingly, there will be a one-volume edition next year, with a foreword by Jeff Smith. Speaking of Yuko and Ananth, everybody agreed that Yuko’s artwork for the VIP show sketchbooks (with wonderfully thick paper that didn’t let Sharpies bleed through) was a marvel. Also, George Rohac agreed with me that Yuko and Ananth should make up giant “George’s smile” masks, if only so that he can wear one at shows.
• Frank Gibson and Becky Dreistadt (Gibson’s hands visible behind Karl Kerschl, followed by Dreistadt, then Scott Yoshinaga and Audra Furuichi) are working on a graphic novel for ______ and getting ready to put together a ______ for ______! Wow! Okay, yeah, they can’t talk about all of their stuff now, but trust me — it was amazing. Speaking of Kerschl, he wins Best Business Card In The History Of Business Cards, thanks to a printer’s overrun: the two-sided, four-page gatefold from the back of the Charles Christopher book, with it’s full cast illustration? That was his business card.
• David Malki ! (no photo, he was a blur of motion all weekend) has weeks and months related to Machine of Death in the immediate future, but did manage to slow down long enough to give us a hard number: 5000 copies sold on Day One; even more impressive: you will eventually hear about the numbers after Day One.
• Magnolia Porter (seen waaaay back in both this photo — behind Chris Hallbeck, Randy Milholland, and Spike — and this one — behind Angela Melick, Tyson Hesse, David McGuire, and Kel McDonald) is working on a graphic novel that may become a Xeric contender. She will also be collaborating with McDonald on “Cocksuckers”, a period vampire story. Also, her Ben Bailey print is going to be a gift to my wife, who loves Cash Cab; shhh, nobody tell her.
• Here’s a better photo of Angela Melick’s “Red” — the highly personalized jacket of an engineering student at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. Ms Melick, by the by, is even as we speak winging her way with her husband on a delayed honeymoon to Thailand, and was relieved to see that her copy of Machine of Death did not come with a slip that said PLANE CRASH, THAI POLITICAL UNREST RIOT or HIDEOUS TROPICAL DISEASE. Come back safe, Jam.
• Team Topatoco honcho Kaliis Smith (seen here giving the volunteers their pre-show briefing, including a bit on the importance of high reflectivity) gave us the low-down on what “sold out” meant for NEWW on Saturday: 1000 tickets sold (plus weekend and VIP passes). On that note, the volunteers were awesome (one of the most common sights during the weekend was watching one of them wheel a cart of snacks and water to the exhibitors) and thanks to the greater exhibit space and compelling programming, meant that the floor felt less crowded than last year, despite at least 25% more attendees.
• Speaking of the programming, this is the Best. Panel room. EVER. Everything from in-depth discussions of world-building to all-out Jean-Luc Picard lovefests took place on these couches, under the gaze of Socrates.
• Also on those couches (and elsewhere in Eastworks), Dave Kellett (with David and Maggie Willis in the background) used the set as interview space for a documentary film he is currently working on — more about which tomorrow.
• Jorge Cham has the most amazing hair in webcomics. Howard Tayler (my nemesis and evil twin) does not. Emily Vasseur was the second-most impressive cosplayer at the show, outshone only by the duo of Reginald and Beartato (I later saw the gentleman in the Reginald costume remove his headpiece and while I felt it would have been disrespectful to snap a photo of him half-clad, I will note that he had a prodigious moustache — respect, my brother). I also hear that Reginald and Beartato may be making an appearance in Reprographics soon.
• Danielle Corsetto (with Jenn Jordan and Sophie Goldstein in the background) had so many people lining up at her table, she was declared a fire hazard and moved closer the the exits on Sunday. She also let us know that GWS book five will drop in time for Christmas, and that there are other big announcements between now and the end of the month.
• Best merch of the show? Either the new Baffler! by Chris Yates line of puzzles, or the do it yourself Dinosaur Comics whiteboard.

NEWW rocked. More later.

By the time you read this, I will be on my way to the Pioneer Valley, and the Great Gathering of Webcomics therein. Since I know that you’re probably already thinking about what else could be coming up in the Wide World o’ Webcomics, how about an advanced notice?

SPX dates have been announced for 2011, and it’s basically the same weekend that it was this year: Saturday and Sunday, September 10 and 11. Applications for tables open 1 January at the SPX website, which would be the same time that table prices go up for next year’s MoCCA Festival.

Okay, that’s it. See you at the pub crawl tonight, and at Eastworks tomorrow.

While we’re all waiting for NEWW, let’s focus on some things that are new, or at least offer vague rhymes with “new”.

• From the Infrastructure Desk, word that Storenvy (a user-customizable storefront service/social network) has added a webcomics-specific section, The Webcomics Market. B Root of The Dawn Chapel calls it a Topatoco for everyone else (which seems like the best descriptor — a single point of purchase for multiple creators, but without the editoral/curatorial aspect):
  

  • It doesn’t cost anything; Storenvy’s business model is built around their merch printing service, Threadbird, which you are not obligated to use
  • It handles a bunch of standard storefront functions: inventory management, shipping groups, item variants, and other stuff
  • You can directly edit the layout using Liquid tags or HTML
  • It’s preconfigured to work with Google Analytics so your sales stats will show up

  Those of you without a storefront may want to investigate, and at the moment you’ll get in on the ground floor of the Webcomics Market, as it appears at the moment there are only three other webcomics that have colonized the neighborhood.

• Not new, but rhymes with: Yehuda Moon and the Kickstand Cyclery was first mentioned in these pages back in the halcyon days of Aught-Eight, and it’s only gotten more fun since then. Worth a look-see and an archive trawl.
• New, and sorta rhymes: Twit Troo of the Moon; the first two iterations are each only a few strips long, but the latest — Comets Are Curious — tells a full story over a few dozen strips. Alternately B&W and color (seemingly based on how much time creator AD Finke has), the chief appeal for me was space critters that look like the best of Spaceman Spiff‘s nemeses.
• Totally new and still rhyming: Blue Yonder. All I can tell you so far is that it’s superhero oriented, and of the so-far unnamed characters, these two appear to be the protagonists. Oh, also that they have a more “Zan and Jana” vibe than “Reed and Sue”. With the prologue still in progress, that’s all we know so far about the story, but superhero fans may find something similar to SideChicks — full page updates once a week, and hopefully an avoidance of the hyper-decompressed, splashpage-heavy approach of capes stories in print.
• Not rhyming, not new, but dang I like it already: Edmund Finney’s Quest to Find the Meaning of Life. Here’s what you need to know: Edmund has a prodigious nose, he wanders from place to place trying to achieve insight, and roughly every 5-7 strips the tableau shifts to new environs. The story is thus short-arc based, never dragging on, but as Edmund is on a journey, the moving on feels natural, unforced, and never abrupt. Oh, and it’s very pretty, and creator Dan Long feels free to bust out the big strips if that’s what it takes to get to the right mix of absurdity, profundity, and punchline.

  This is going to sound out-of-left-field, but it reminds me of nothing so much as that moment of anticipation I always felt when watching The Muppet Show, and The Great Gonzo was explaining his latest stunt; you knew it was going to end up somewhere unpredictable and ridiculous, but with a strange sense of internal logic. Highly recommended.

Also created for NEWW2VIP attendees: a custom sketchbook, with design work by Yuko Ota of Johnny Wander.

• It might seem like last week’s news, but there’s more Machine of Death happenings, as the free, downloadable PDF (including illustrations!) makes it way into existence, and the first audio recording of a MoD story hits the new MoD podcast page. That would be NOT WAVING BUT DROWNING, written and read by Erin McKean, available for streaming or download, as well as subscribing via iTunes.
• In case you missed it, MoCCA Festival 2011 tables are now available. As in past years, there’s a sliding scale on table fees, depending on whether you’re a member or not, a student or not, getting a full table or not, and get your application in by 31 December or not:
  

  MoCCA Member Full Table: $360
  General Full Table: $399
  MoCCA Member 1/2 Table: $210
  General 1/2 Table: $250
  Student Full Table: $295
  Student 1/2 Table: $177

  Students must submit ID with the application, and prices go up 1 January. Application forms [PDF] accepted by mail, email (exhibitors@moccany.org), in person, and for those of you that still have one, by fax (212-254-3590).

• So for a number of years, there were the Web Cartoonists’ Choice Awards, which have gone away; things like this often live or die by the efforts of a small group (sometimes as few as one or two) of people. Popping up to fill the void last year was a new slate of awards by The Webcomic List, to recognise the best that online comics have to offer and nominations are open to everyone involved in the creation, promotion or distribution of comics. Big difference between the WCCAs and the WCLAs is that the latter have a juried component, rather than purely open voting.

  Time will tell if this leads to viable, credible awards over the long term, but some of the names involved in this year’s organization and judging process would tend to give one hope. If nothing else, we won’t be waiting until summer 2011 to find out about good work from calendar year 2010. Anyway, nominations open on 8 November and run for six weeks, with the awards being announced on 31 January. Rules can be found here, and the categories covered in the awards are:

  • Best Comic
  • Best New Comic — for webcomics launched on or after the first of November 2009
  • Best Colour Art
  • Best Black and White Art
  • Best Non-traditional Art — covering all artistic techniques other than conventional drawn images, such as photography, pixel art and 3D art
  • Best Writing
  • Best Character
  • Best Gag-a-day Comic
  • Best Longform Comic

  Nominations will run from the 8th of November until the 20th of December after which the comics with the highest nominations will be handed to a panel of judges who will pick the winners in each category to be announced in an online illustrated ceremony on the 31st of January next year.

Name-Is-Ed, approximately 25 years of age, died killing a god and a demon. Survivors include the hyena tribe that disowned him, the wombat that befriended him, and some underground critters that love purple dye.

• In much cheerier news, I’ve had a sneak peek at NEWW programming (it may even be live by the time this goes up), and there’s some real gems on the list; please enjoy this smattering of topics:
  

  Main Panel Room
  Comics and Worldbuilding
  Saturday 1:30 – 2:30 PM
  Join creators of elaborate fantasy worlds as they discuss what goes into their creative process.

  Chris Hastings Interviews John Allison
  Sunday 1:30 – 2:30 PM
  Dr. McNinja writer and artist Chris Hasting interviews Bad Machinery/Scary Go Round visionary John Allison. It will be magic.

  Chamber of Mystery Room
  Tweet Me Harder Livecast
  Saturday 1:30 – 2:30 PM
  Join David Malki ! live in the studio, and Kris Straub via screencast, for an inevitably hilarious episode of Tweet Me Harder!

  Strange Tales From the Internet
  Sunday 3:00 – 4:00 PM
  Join a cast of creators as they discuss some of their unexpected hits, misses and out-of-left-field moments on the internet this year.

  There’s a dozen more events planned, and plenty of mystery guests slated to appear on the panels, so be ready for fun.

• In my haste to congratulate Kate Beaton on her Lulu Award yesterday, I completely overlooked Diana Nock’s win of the Leah Adezio Award for Best Kid-Friendly Work for The Intrepid Girlbot. This is because I had a heapin’ bowl of Stupid Flakes for breakfast. Many thanks to Webcomics Uberfan Michael Kinyon for the catch, and many apologies to Ms Nock for the oversight.
• New PBF! And along with it, links to the animated shorts that were shown at SDCC this summer. Check them out!

NEWW2 (Electric Boogaloo) is nearly upon us! Glee! Also, you have approximately 43.5 hours as of this writing to pre-order your badge, after which it’s first-come, first-serve.

• Ryan Pequin: nascent moustache guy. Mr Pequin is growing out the facial hair for charity during the month of November (although not reekin’ of tainted CO-LOG-NUM). Which just kind of begs the question — wouldn’t a November-based moustachery effort call for The Zappa? I’m telling you nice peoples, The Zappa always gets overlooked, even when moustaches get the love (photo courtesy David Willis).
• Spread far and wide via twittering over Halloween weekend: His Face All Red by Emily Carroll. Moody, spooky, gorgeously illustrated, and subject to multiple interpretations. This is incredibly good work and if you’re the one person that statistically hasn’t seen it yet, let me add my voice to the chorus that you really ought to.
• The possibly-annual-again Friends of Lulu Awards were held over the weekend at the Long Beach Comic Con, and the Lulu of the Year award (“For the creator, book or other entity whose work best exemplifies Friends of Lulu’s mission statement”) went to Kate Beaton. Since Ms Beaton is ridiculously talented, and is becoming more and more widely recognized with each passing day, this seems only meet and proper. Everybody be happy for Kate!
• If you’ve been over to the (recently rebuilt) site of Christopher Wright’s long-running (and recently back from hiatus) Help Desk, you may have noticed a series of posts regarding some technical aspects of running independent websites. Something about “encrypted cookies” and “signed certificates” and my head hurts, ouch (that last part was me, not Wright). Fortunately, he broke the issue into short sentences in an email:
  

  So here’s the deal. A lot of us who run our own sites don’t really have a really technical background or any deep knowledge of the finer points in securing a website. Unfortunately, the plugin I’m talking about in my post potentially hurts us and our readers more than your average web administrator because we don’t know these things, and it’s something we’re going to have to start thinking about.

  Larger sites are probably more at risk because they have users who are more likely to register accounts, but at the same time they probably have more resources (and tech-savvy assistance) to work around the problem. The rest of us either have to take the time to learn how to adapt, or to get used to driving down a back road at 150mph in a car without seatbelts that can swerve off the road without warning.

  The plugin that Wright mentioned is for Firefox, and it’s called Firesheep; in a nutshell, it allows somebody to piggyback onto the logged-in sessions of others (primarily over WiFi) by sniffing cookies out of the air. There’s a very good primer on what it all means over at El Reg, and the aforementioned series of posts (which really won’t hurt your head) detail Wright’s attempts to secure his site against the threat that Firesheep represents. The last one is pretty close to a step-by-step guide, so make sure you read it carefully even if you just skim the others.

  Bottom line (and Wright is to be commended for both recognizing the threat, and wanting to spread the word in the webcomics community), if you run your own site and have accounts, you need to re-think your processes. If you don’t run your own site and have accounts, you need to get the people that run it for you to re-think your processes. Do it now before you get compromised.