The Very Special Episode of webcomics known as Machine of Death week wraps up the only way it could, with a moral:

And then, the #1 book — TODAY, at least — is Machine of Death. And it’s a — collected stories about, you know, people who know how they’re gonna die. Haowww!

So you have DEATH — I know it’s called Life, but what a life it is, really! It’s a culture of death! OR, “How do we restore ourselves?”

These are the — this is the left, I think, speaking. This is the left. You want to talk about where we’re headed? We’re headed towards a culture of death. A culture that, um, celebrates the things that have destroyed us.

Whoops! That’s the opposite of a moral; that’s a somehow-embittered multi-millionaire crabbin’. But hey, since I voluntarily listened to three minutes of Glenn Beck (first and last time), you get to read a portion of the transcript. You’re welcome. Here’s the moral:

A young entrepreneur, the son of a self-made immigrant small-business owner (a God-fearing Protestant who’d married a girl from a family of missionaries), had a crazy pie-in-the-sky idea. Having learned the rudiments of business by working since he was small in the family store, he struck out after his goal, investing himself into something he really believed in, inspiring both colleagues and strangers to join his cause even as “big business” slammed door after door in his face. For years he toiled long into the night, gradually growing his own small business by being as honest, kind and creative as he could manage. Ultimately, in a tremendous Rudy-like moment, he and his ragtag band of reg’lar folks — for one glorious day — accidentally made the twelfth book by the multimillionaire host of “the third-most-listened-to show in all of America” debut at #3 on one single bookseller’s list, rather than at #1.

This couldn’t be any more heartwarming if it came from Dad Brady himself. But even better than heartwarming (and this is where Malki !, North, et. al., catapult themselves into the pantheon of heroes) is what could be happening next:

We also realized that we had an opportunity here to gain a level. We could have struck a deal with a publisher, potentially even a lucrative one, that would have been nice in the short term and could probably have led to interesting places. But we have larger goals than just signing a book deal, and we realized we could play the long game here, not just for our benefit — but for the benefit of our friends and colleagues in webcomics as well.

And so in the last few days, using resources offered to us that previously would have been absolutely inconceivable, we have laid the groundwork for a complex but amazing publishing/distribution structure that, in the future, should hopefully allow us to get not just Machine of Death, but also all TopatoCo-published and TopatoCo-partnered books into regular bookstore/retail channels, both in the U.S. and abroad.

That right there is the game-changer, and I have no doubt that what we hear next will be worth all the Beck-grousing in the world. If you contributed to Machine of Death, I’m buying you a beer.
Edit to avoid confusion: The “I’m buying you a beer” bit applies to those whose work in included in Machine of Death, not the 5000 of you that bought it.

• The last word on Machine of Death and Glenn Beck (whose producers were hittin’ up Malki ! for free copies).
• Via Randy Milholland: Squishable (makers of Red Robot, T-Rex, and Yelling Bird) have a webcomic now!
• Even more Top Ten lists, this time about The Future of Art. Coming soon: Top Ten Top Ten Lists of ___ in Comics.
• Baffler! commercial staring this guy (see 0:50), formerly seen in the commercial for the Poop Sign.
• Everybody booze up and riot!

• Machine of Death spent a good portion of today still #1 at Amazon, and presently is #3 behind Keef and Glenn Beck (who apparently pitched a hissy fit about not being #1 on day-of-release and exhorted his followers to leave their apocalypse bunkers long enough to beat those scraggly death-adorers). Conclusion: AWESOME.
• Via yesterday’s comments: a response to Shaenon Garrity’s manifesto by Larry “El Santo” Cruz, in the form of Ten Things To Know About The Future Of Webcomics.
• Speaking of Ms Garrity, her Lil’ Mell is back! Woo, Wednesday fun!

Okay, hungry now.

Firstly, a quick note: work will take me to a no-internet zone for the next couple of days; any updates that occur during the day will be tapped out a character at a time over cell tethering, or very late. Please adjust your brains accordingly.

Secondly, everybody remembers that it’s Machine of Death Day, right? As of this writing, it’s #2 on the Amazon sales charts in the category “books” (as well as #1 in “science fiction anthologies”, and #3 in “literature & fiction”), and you can help push it over the edge to #1 right here.

Thirdly, today is the 40th anniversary of Doonesbury, which would under normal circumstances immediately qualify it as dead wood on the comics page, except most newspapers run it in the Op/Ed section these days, and but for the fact that it’s not being written/drawn by ghosts or the no-talent [grand]children of the originator. Garry Trudeau continues to bang out the strip and comment on the state of the country (and the world), and occasionally opine on comics themselves:

Slate: Where is the comic strip headed in the post-daily-print-newspaper age? Is the medium healthy?

Trudeau: No, we’re all in free-fall together. And Web comics don’t seem to be an alternative, unless you’re uninterested in making a living. There are so many entertainment alternatives to comics now, I’m not sure they’ll be much missed. In their heyday, comics were a dominant force in popular culture, but that’s over.

There’s not much future in being a strip artist now. That’s quite a turnaround in fortunes, because presiding over an established syndicated comic strip used to be the closest thing to tenure that popular culture offered. If I were starting out now, I’d probably continue on the graphic design trajectory I was on before I got sidetracked with comics. Colbert-like TV would be OK, too, except you have to be brilliant. I advise young cartoonists now to get into graphic novels—or head for Pixar. [emphasis mine]

When I read that bit that I’ve helpfully bolded for you, my first thought was a paraphrase of something the inimitable Rich Stevens (speaking of whom — massive close-out sale on the only pop-culture t-shirt measured in radians) said at SPLAT! back in 2008 which boils down to Think you can’t make a living at webcomics? Good! Less competition for me.

The people who are going to make a living at webcomics are already making a living at webcomics. Scott Kurtz had the best take on it, though, and you should go read what he had to say:

[W]e need not get angered by his comments until we’ve decided which you’re he’s talking about.

Personally, I take his comments to mean that Webcomics are not an alternative for he and his colleagues. And he’s correct. It’s not a viable alternative for them at this point. [emphasis original]

Even better was Kurtz’s take on something a bit further down in Trudeau’s comments:

Honestly, if anything in this interview upset me it was the following sentence:

“…presiding over an established syndicated comic strip used to be the closest thing to tenure that popular culture offered.”

Boy, isn’t that the truth? And isn’t that the real reason that syndicates are getting less and less for their features every year? Because presiding over an established syndicated comic strip is tenure for both the creator and their syndicate partner. Just put it on auto-pilot until the artist dies, then get a new artist and put the auto-pilot back on.

In this interview, Garry discusses his friends Gary Larsen and Bill Watterson, both who felt the time had come to retire from cartooning. And having read interviews with both of those cartoonists, they seem like creators very uncomfortable with the idea of “tenure.” But again, how feasible is it for a cartoonist with 20 plus years under his belt to re-invent what they do or start from scratch?

Bravo, Mr Kurtz, bravo. That would have qualified as the best comics-related bit of thought that saw print yesterday, but for the inconvenient fact that Ms Shaenon Garrity (Funk Queen of the Pacific Time Zone and surrounding domains) busted out a manifesto of things to know about the future of comics (formulated while “occasionally sober”). Her item #1 (Newspaper comics are dead) ties nicely to the points above, but don’t miss out on the rest. While lots of people have (rightly) been talking about #8 (The line between fans and creators is razor-thin), #9 (They are mostly girls) and #10 (They are very good at making comics) and her cautions to publishers to make ready, I was most struck by:

5. But there is a canon. As best I can determine, the majority of comics-loving people under 30 have at least a passing familiarity with the following:

Calvin & Hobbes

Bone

Naruto

Death Note

Watchmen

…and a handful of webcomics, but the latest big thing in webcomics shifts so frequently that I can’t even add titans like Penny Arcade and xkcd to the list with any confidence.

Is this the canon I would have chosen to lead the next generation into the great big beautiful tomorrow of comics? Probably not, but it’s not bad. Definitely better than the canon I cut my teeth on, which contained far more Batman than was healthy for the nerds of Generation X.

Verrrrry interesting.

Time-dependent notice for those of you in the Savannha, GA region — Dave Kellett‘s down SCAD-way for some presentations to the sequential arts students, and tonight’s talk is open to the public. 6:00pm, at The Pirate’s House (next door to the SeqArts building, and apparently one of the ten oldest drinking spots in the US). First 150 people there get to attend; afterwards, there just might be fun times and ice cream at Leopold’s (not one of the ten oldest drink spots in the US, but man, they seem to scoop ’em big so who cares?).

• On the heels of the Adventure Time tribute, Kate Beaton continues to be honored by creative people, this time by the Bethesda Softworks, developers of Fallout: New Vegas. Regard: the Tesla-Beaton prototype, because when you think “weird, dark humor“, there’s only one conception of Nikola Tesla to consider, really.
• Worth a quick archive trawl: Brandon B. has been drawing some widely varied, surreal, occasionally disturbing serialized stories (the longest about 10 pages long) at Brandon Draws Internet Comics. His friends KC Green and Ryan Pequin have had encouraging words, which makes sense, since there are Greenish and Pequinian influences throughout. Speaking of Pequin and Green, the latest Three Word Phrase and Gunshow updates are nearly perfect representations of their respective bodies of work.
• Recently crossing the 50-update mark I set as a threshold for storyline comics: Smooth ‘n’ Natural (general warning: any particular update of S’n’N may contain nakedness), yet another comic from the frighteningly talented creators of Transmission-X, this one by Brian McLachlan. For those of us that remember the ’70s, the parallel world where funk never faded will bring back memories, and for those of you too young to recall, this is a precise documentary of those times.

  Luthor and Lucas Love, twin brothers from another mother (link warning: boobs), fight ungroovy thugs pushing drugs on children and fight sexy twinjas. Or at least “fight until it becomes sexytimes with twinjas” (that link is safe, but you might not want to click on “Next” while at work). Put on some bass-heavy funk, fire up the mood lamps, and enjoy the retro good times.

From Steve Lieber, re: Underground getting scanned at 4chan:

Pictures help us learn.

Those Etsy sales mentioned in Lieber’s graphic? They’re fulfilled by Hurricane Erika, who is even now working her fingers to the bone to get you your orders. If you ask extra nicely, maybe she’ll give your copy a hug!

• Missed it, tipped off by Lesley Davidson: Webcomic Alliance member/1977 The Comic creator Byron Wilkins regularly contributes to the Two Guys Talking Webcomics podcast (also a Webcomics Alliance member site), which is part of Kurt Sasso’s TGT Media. Together, they’re spearheading a reasonably unique project — Webcomics: What’s Cooking?
  

  … is [a] cookbook that will feature dozens and dozens of recipes from popular webcomic creators showcasing a variety of recipes from Breakfast to Dinner and a few things in between!

  The cookbook will feature a full page, custom created comic from each participating artist along side a favorite dish or beverage. From Alien Cupcakes to Alamo Queso to Chicago style Deep Dish Pizza, you are sure to find a dish that will satisfy your hunger. The concept behind the cookbook is “Feed Your Family, Feed the World”. You purchase the cookbook and receive all these wonderful recipes to create for your family or friends and the proceeds from the project go to Canadian and American National Food Banks to help feed those in need.

  Orders available starting 30 October at the TGT Media site, with delivery in time for the (US) Thanksgiving season; while you’re waiting for next Saturday to come around, feel free to peruse the list of contributing webcomickers.

Know what’s a good age? Twelve. Kids have a bit of rationality and ability to hold a conversation, and haven’t quite hit the full depths of their teen (or ‘snotty’) years. It’s possible that twelve is the last time you’ll be able to tolerate a kid for a half-decade or more. Also? Krishna Sadasivam’s PC Weenies have been around in one form or another for twelve years now. That’s like 328 in internet years.

• Krishna, unfortunately, won’t be able to make it to New England Webcomics Weekend 2 (Electric Boogaloo) in a couple of weeks (having previously committed to Up!Fair the following week), but if you’re going to be at NEWW2 (EB), your life just got a little easier:
  

  Thanks to you folks buying tickets, we’ve found a small budget to run a hotel shuttle to Eastworks from the Clarion Hotel in Northampton. You should please use the shuttle if you can rather than drive over to help cut down on traffic and parking at the show.

  Rather than waste money on a real driver, you’re getting a cartoonist. R Stevens of Diesel Sweeties is a local and has volunteered to ride the bus. The “R” stands for “Richard” and you can look for this jacket:

  The NEWW Shuttlecraft will run from approximately 9:30AM-12:00 noon both Saturday and Sunday of the show.

  There will also be a return shuttle directly after the show. We’ll work those hours out at the event in case things run late.

  I can vouch for Mr Stevens; aside from being the sexiest man in webcomics (narrowly edging out The Toronto Man-Mountain and El Beardo), I’ve ridden in vehicles piloted by him, and he’s a safe and courteous driver. All aboard the sexy bus.

• Word comes via Twitter that Jeph Jacques has made a couple zillion readers (including, perhaps the odd college-age cute girl) very happy, with his announcement of A Very Special Book:
  

  QC VOLUME 1 GOES ON SALE SOME TIME TOMORROW AT TOPATOCO.

  This would be the book covering the early days of QC (with a fair amount of re-drawery), which means that volumes 2 through whatever still have a good six years of strips to catch up on, so plenty of pages still to go, y’all. TopatoCo haven’t posted the info yet (as of this writing), but when they do, odds are good it’ll be here.

• Update to the somewhat recent Machine of Death update: the book is now available via Amazon (and in future, other outlets), but the compilers request that you not buy it until Tuesday, October 26th. Let’s let Mr Malki ! do the explaining:
  Here is the significance of October 26 specifically:

  It only takes a few hundred sales in a short time to become a Number One bestseller on Amazon.com.

  So even though the book is available for purchase now, we want to concentrate all the attention onto October 26. Blog about it, tweet about it, invite your friends to the Facebook event — just spread the word that October 26 is the day to buy Machine of Death on Amazon.

  The simple truth is that we probably can’t compete on the shelves at Barnes & Noble alongside every other book in the world. The agents and the publishers are right; it might not work for a mass market. That’s okay. We don’t need to sell it to everyone. We don’t need to sell 100,000 copies; we don’t have the rent on a New York office to pay for.

  We only need to sell it to you.

  On October 26, we want to send a message that a little project dragged kicking and screaming from “crazy idea” past “it’ll never work” all the way to “By God, they actually did it” can make a big splash. We’re internet people; you are too. We want to prove to all the people who said “this will never sell” that internet people make things happen. [emphasis original]

  Hell, I’ve waiting four years, I can wait another five days to place the order. See you all at Amazon on Tuesday.

Today, in various corners of Her Majesty’s Commonwealth, John Allison and Ryan North are united in the knowledge that today is the most special of days, the anniversary of their births 34 and 30 (respectively) years ago. Welcome to the primes of your lives, webcomics dudes.

• Making the rounds — Steve Lieber is a comic book writer and artist (primarily working out of Portland’s Periscope Studios, home of more than one webcomicky type), perhaps best known for his work on Whiteout (the very good comic, not the middling movie). That’s thing A.

  This past Sunday over at the 4chan board devoted to comics, a poster put up scans of all five issues of Underground, a recent miniseries by Lieber and writer Jeff Parker. Underground has been well-received critically, but has not seen sales figures commensurate with its overall quality; the original poster wanted more people to see it. That’s thing B.

  When these two things meet, ugly outcomes are usually the result — creators have (rightly) an interest in people paying for their work, and having the entire damn thing spread around for free (particularly on a niche title selling not too many copies) can have a measurable impact on the rent and groceries fund this month. But when a work is not widely known, making it more widely available can entice people who wouldn’t have found it otherwise to discover both work and creator, and may (let’s emphasize that may) lead to sales down the line; indeed, this is the entire model that webcomics (as we use the term in these parts) is predicated on.

  Key thought, though — it’s a model that creators opt into, rather than having their work distributed outside their control. There have been public internet poo-flings over such events in the past, (often for the posting of only selected excerpts of comics instead of complete stories), accompanied by legal notices and DMCA takedown requests. So Thing A + Thing B couldn’t possible end well when Lieber virtually wandered into the 4chan discussion.

  Except that it did. Lieber engaged with the original poster and other commenters, an unusually civil (downright pleasant and respectful, even) discussion ensued (remember, we’re talking about a comment thread on the internet here, and outside of The AV Club, any right-thinking person’s rule should be Never read the comments), and all went away happy. Then it took a turn for the surreal. Yesterday Lieber posted about his experience at 4chan and for a kicker, included the full content of Underground for free download. As he put it:

  I just participated in a genuinely fascinating discussion, and I think it’s old dog, new tricks time.

  After much discussion and email, we’re going to try to offer the book in a proper digital format via Comixology. Til then you’re stuck with pdfs.

  Give it a read! If you decide you’d like a hard copy, the best thing you can do is order one through your local store. If you’d prefer mail, try our friends at TFAW, or just get it directly from our us:
  Periscope Studio Etsy store.
  (The book has been selling out really quickly, so if it’s not there, bug us and we’ll restock ASAP.) [emphasis mine]

  Two thoughts came to me as I watched this one play out. Firstly, I find the timing of Lieber’s reaction to be interesting, given the talk at last week’s Festival of Cartoon Art and the Dave Kellett talk therein. From Alan Gardner’s livetweeting of Kellett’s presentation:

  • comics are a slow building relationship with readers. Paywalls and paid apps make that relationship harder.
  • how to be a successful cartoonist: be accessible, be entertaining, be kind.

  I don’t mean to imply that Lieber took Kellett’s talk as guide or direct inspiration, but I found Lieber’s self-assessment, it’s old dog, new tricks time, to be revealing. Lieber isn’t a grown-up-with-the-internet (or grown-up-with-a-computer, or likely even grown-up-with-my-own-electronics-before-high-school) type. He’s about my age, north of 40, but in a field of sometimes significantly younger colleagues who did grow-up-with-x. I’m guessing that he’s at the low end of the age cohort that Kellett was aiming his talk at, the end that most likely to be able to make the transition to new business models in artistic endeavours.

  The second thing that struck me? I’ve seen more than one reference to the Lieber/4chan interaction described as “Lieber wins”. And I thought Isn’t it funny that “wins” has two very different connotations? In one sense, “winning” means that somebody else loses, and the encounter was fundamentally adversarial.

  But in another sense (and the sense that I think applies here), there’s “winning over” the other party, making somebody else not a defeated adversary, but an ally. With a bit of logical flexibility (and perhaps artistic jiu jitsu), Lieber’s turned a situation that has historically meant confrontation into one where he’s been rewarded with new readers, perhaps new sales, and gets to experience personally the effects of a new business model.

  Maybe he stays with it. Maybe he doesn’t. But he’s seen alternatives to traditional business and recognized the value in exploring them. I’d call that a win-win.

• In other news, Andy Bell sounds as if he’s braced for a fresh round of fan hatred and loathing, as a new Android variant goes up for very limited order on Halloween Day at 2:00pm EDT. Looks appropriately spook-tacular, which pretty much guarantees a sellout and disappointed would-be buyers. Thems the breaks, and good luck to all who want to grab the creepy little guy. I’ll be right there with you trying to get my order in, so do me a favor and ignore the FAQ that Bell put together to make the purchasing process more likely to succeed? Thanks.

So here’s the deal — somebody out there needs to contract a terminal disease, and then on Tuesdays they hang out with me, I learn all kinds of life lessons, and then when they die, I write a bestselling book that Oprah loves and get rich. While waiting to be contacted by volunteers, I have some few things to commend to your attention.

• Everybody saw the new episode of Adventure Time ‘tother night, with the visual reference to Kate Beaton‘s funniest creation, the fat pony? If not, the fine folks at The AV Club have got a recap for you.
• New resource site for webcomics creators: Webcomic Alliance blurs the line between “site providing information and help to creators” (as in Webcomics Dot Com or Webcomics Community) and “collective of creators with common interests”. Some interesting things to be found at WA, which were enough to overcome my innate aversion to talking about anything where the press release is PDF and thus not easily copy/paste quote-mineable. Remember, kids: [hack webcomics pseduo-] journalists are a lazy people, and you want to make it as easy as possible for them to pimp your project. Also, PDFs are the Devil’s handiwork.
• From reader Simon Cadaver:
  

  Was just wondering if there’s been many webcomics that have been turned into video games? I noticed that the Blade Kitten webcomic has been turned into a video game that came out a week or two ago on Xbox, PS3 etc.

  I guess Penny Arcade hold the honor of being the first … but it’s still a great trend I’d love to see more of! Axecop videogame would be amazing if the Blade Kitten team did it. CHOP

  Slightly tortured syntax aside, Simon’s got a point; I can’t think of too many fans of Los Bros. Nicolle that wouldn’t find it entirely worthwhile to chop their way through crime via the home console. Heck, making unicorn horns powerups and try-outs the game tutorial sounds like a winner.

• Not webcomics, but too damn bad: The ToonSeum in Pittsburgh will be running an exhibit of the art of Carroll Spinney from 6 November to 30 January. If that name sounds familiar but you just can’t quite place it, it’s because Mr Spinney owns your childhood memories, being the performer of Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch. Admit it — the thought of meeting him puts a smile of wonder on your face. Spinney will be at the ToonSeum on the evening of 6 November in conjunction with the annual Ka-Blam! The Return of Saturday Mornings fundraiser.
• The new (and very pretty) rendition of the Schlock Mercenary site is up, minus one formerly-key feature:
  

  Of the valid complaints about the new site, the one that affected the most people was the sudden absence of the linked list of comics.

  If you’re looking for comics recommendations, if you’re passionate about sequential art and want to get the latest news and views on the matter, nobody is better qualified than Gary “three Rs, two Ls” Tyrrell over at Fleen. And he’s got a long, long list of comics in the sidebar, every one of which has strong points that recommend it to the discerning reader.

  Aw, thanks, Howard. I’ll do my best to treat your readers correctly. What’s that? There’s more?

  (Okay, he’s missing Atland, which is still one of my favorites, but other than that he’s spot on. Unless he’s missed another of my current favorites, in which case he sucks rocks.)

  Rocks? Rocks, Howard? That’s it, we’re not evil twins anymore.¹

_______________
¹ Oh, who am I kidding? Like I could remain angry with you. We’re totally still evil twins.

Hey look at that — Despot Killroy makes a return in the pages of Wonderella, we find out what Dark Esther’s been up to in the Scary Go Round miniseries, Giant Days, and parties get scientifically quantified thanks to T-Rex. Cool stuff, but let’s talk about the printed page for a bit, shall we?

I recently came into the possession of a book and some minis thanks to the kind indulgence of a pair of webcomics creators — usual deal with review copies — I will make an effort to read them, no guarantee of a good review (or even a review, period), but in this case I’m happy to say that both of them grabbed me.

• The first of them, Misery Loves Sherman by Chris Eliopolous, was no surprise, because everybody that reads MLS’s daily updates already knows it’s the most Calvinesque strip out there today. By that, I don’t mean that Eliopolous is copying Watterson’s work, just that the joyous, anything-goes feel of Calvin & Hobbes comes through clearly. Instead of a stuffed tiger that responds to his wishes, young Sherman has actual aliens, a vivified action figure, and the literal embodiment of Death hanging out with him (in most cases, he’d rather that they didn’t). Mom and Dad are aware of this, and mostly take it in stride.

  It’s fun, it’s well done, and it’s clear that Eliopolous (one of the foremost letterers in comics, and busy writing all-ages semicontinuity books for Marvel) also has the chops to work within the four-panel world. It’s not an easy thing to go from having double-page spreads to having to make everything clear (and yet not hopelessly minimal) in just a few side-by-side boxes.

  And, like just about every major-publisher artist/writer that works on webcomics, it’s clear that Eliopolous has a love for characters that he’s created himself. Much fun, and much appreciated, especially given that if Eliopolous ever had too much work, it’s Sherman — which surely qualifies as a labor of love — would be the most logical item to be cut in order to free up time. As long as he has the time and inclination to mess with Sherman, give him your eyeballs.

• Less familiar to me was the work of Michael Jonathan; I’d done fast reads of his Eros, Inc. (which, despite the name, it completely and totally safe for work — honest!), but hadn’t previously seen his other comics work. Starting off, three diary-style minis of Michael Jonathan is Jewish, detail a trip that the author took to Israel with a group of artists in Dec 2009 — Jan 2010.

  Done poorly, a diary comic of this type could be little more than being forced to look through a casual acquaintance’s vacation slides, but Jonathan does a good job keeping the story rolling, bringing in enough of his own questioning, doubts, and ultimate rejection of the religious part of his Jewishness (while finding even more to enjoy in the cultural part) to keep the narrative brisk and compelling. The most recent (third) volume of MJIJ brings the trip up to approximately the halfway point, and I’m eager to find out what else Jonathan has to relate of the story.

  Along with the autobio comics, Jonathan sent along two minis related to the aforementioned Eros, Inc. (a company of cupids, doing the work of Love and getting people together). Not having been a close reader of the parent story, I could get hints of the character & backstory provided by The Greatest Road Trip of All Time, but I’m fairly certain I’m missing story beats I would otherwise be picking up.

  By contrast, The Afternoon Before Chanukah requires no knowledge of plot or characters and drops the reader into a beautifully crafted (to look antique & distressed) rendition of Clement Moore’s famous poem, culturally & temporally shifted. Kudos to Joanathan’s long-time friend from back home, Brian Carroll of Instant Classic, who had a hand in the design of TABC.

  Rounding out the package o’ fun is a one-shot mini, mixing indie rock/folk/fantasy/kung fu in the story of a bard looking for the most kick-ass instrument of all time, so that she may become the most kick-ass musician of all time; preview here. Jonathan notes that this may be the first entry in a short series, and I’m witholding final judgement until this one has more context. Right now, it seems a little … isolated. The broader framing story of E,I served TABH and TGROAT 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.

  Finally, I would be remiss if I didn’t note that Michael Jonathan knows how to do brand identity. The “I Am Michael Jonathan and These Are My Comics” construction shows up on his website header, linking buttons (“… And This Goes To My Website”), his business card (“… And This Is My Business Card”), even his personal stationary¹ (“… And This Is My Letterhead”). ; it’s eyecatching, it’s consistent, and it’s adaptable to lots of different presentations. “I’m Michael Jonathan And …” is something you’ll likely be seeing in the future, so go give his work a good look now.

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¹ Super-duper bonus points to Jonathan for including a cover letter with his comics, providing me with a list of included comics and handy directions where to find the rest of his work — the easier you make it for reviewers, the more likely they will write about your stuff)