First off, did everybody see this? Thanks to the generosity of various sponsors (large and small), Child’s Play 2009 started out of the gate with $260,000. Please note that this is not an excuse to not give, figuring that Google‘s got your contribution all taken care of.

Speaking of charitable efforts, there’s something that you really need to see: Starthrower in Haiti is a new, twice-a-week webcomic that exists solely to raise money for the Starthrower Foundation, which sponsors young Haitian adults who wish to complete their education and/or apprenticeship.

It’s created by Daniel Lafrance, a Canadian storyboard artist, and it’s absolutely gorgeous. There’s a soft, pencil-ish quality to the colors, mixed in with a masterful sense of character design that’s neither too fussy nor too simple; think Herge’s ligne claire¹ and you’ve got a pretty good idea what it looks like. Check out what’s likely the only charity-dedicated webcomic since the now-folded Guest Strip Project.

• It’s November, and that means it’s National Novel Writing Month; you probably know somebody that’s giving it a go, and in case you don’t, head over to Help Desk and check out the widgets showing word count progress. Alternately, check out Later by Darcie Frederick; the webcomic’s been doing weekly updates for about a year now, but now it kicks into high gear as Frederick’s decided to tackle NaNoWriMo by doing 30 comics in 30 days. She’s, uh, actually a couple days behind right now, but I’m pretty confident she’ll catch up.

  Oh, did I mention that Later is the most trope-busting post-apocalypse webcomic you’re ever likely to see? No gangs fighting over the remains of civilization, no zombies, no widespread destruction. Just very few people, a lot of melancholy, and a cat named Simon. I like Simon.

• Did somebody say webcomics iPhone app? I know, I know, you can’t spit these days without coming across some RSS scraper or other, but there are two you might be interested in. Howard Tayler (my evil twin — or am I his?) has a call out for those interested in beta testing the Schlock Mercenary iPhone app.

  And Onezmui & Harknell, the creator/techie couple behind Stupid & Insane Defenders Against Chaos and My Annoying Life have released an iPhone app to aggregate all their various content (multiple strips, blogs, and podcasts) with a twist:

  We’re also making a (Stupid and Insane) offer to other webcomics–get your own version of our app for your comic for free! We’ve always tried to give back to the community and this is our biggest offer so far. More info on the service is here.

  Short version: it’s a service to allow creators build their own iPhone apps and get ’em in the iTunes store. Right now it’s based off the “Central” app (cf: “Chaos Central”, about 5cm up the screen), which is a consolidator of whatever kinds of content you put out that can be accessed via RSS or XML. I got to play around with Chaos Central a few weeks ago, and it’s pretty slick.

  Of course, as the owner of a G1 and not an iPhone, I can only hope that the collective nerdgasms last week over the new Motorola Droid means that there will be more interest in developing such apps in the future for the Android O/S. Until then, I guess all us Android users will have to eat lunch over here and someday ours will be the cool table. So there.

_______________
¹ If anybody out there has the family name “Ligne”, I will pay you ten dollars American cash money to name any daughter you might have “Claire”.

Via Mighty God King. Just because it’s the greatest non sequitur since Moustache, that’s why.

• More things happening next weekend, this time north of the border in Montréal, as Least I Could Do and Looking For Group bossguy Ryan Sohmer opens up his very own comic book store. Okay, The 4th Wall (should that be Le Quatrième Mur?) has been open for a few weeks now, and Shopkeep Sohmer now has enough of a handle on things to throw the Grand Opening (ouverture grande) on the 14th of November (le 14ème novembre). It’s listed on the Facebook event page as Party – Erotic Party, which just sorta makes the kind of sense that isn’t. Anyhoo, 940 St Jean in Pointe-Claire, out by the airport.
• Also on the calendar, not webcomics per se, but likley of interest to anybody that does them — the Cartoon Art Museum is presenting a talk & signing around a new book that chronicles the creation of the first animated Christmas special, Mister Magoo’s Christmas Carol:
  

  Mr. Magoo and Charles Dickens may have seemed like an odd match at the time but Americans of a certain age will remember that the pairing resulted in bit of pure magic. Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol was the first-ever animated Christmas special, and is now the subject of a splendid new book by Darrell Van Citters.

  With a sterling cast, whimsical animation and Broadway-caliber score all wrapped around Dickens’ timeless tale, Magoo became a fixture of the holiday season in the 1960s, but today is all but forgotten.

  I guess that means that I’m “of a certain age”, since I haven’t forgotten it. I’ll wager that more than one person significantly younger than me also remembers Razzleberry Dressing, right? Right?

  Dang. I’m old. If you’re old (or just want to get in touch with a bit of prime early-60s weirdness, which probably subconsciously influenced a webcomicker or two), Darrell Van Citters will be speaking at the museum on Tuesday, December 8, 2009 from 7:30 to 9:00pm, signing to follow.

• Okay, so I’m old (not to unduly alarm anybody, but I’ll be turning 42 in three weeks), but one thing I’m not is balding. That’s why you should be aware that I am definitely not featured in this. Pretty damn funny (thought possibly NSFW, depending on where you W) and depressingly accurate; you should see the PR stuff that I get and don’t run. Anybody sees Josh Lesnick around, give him a high-five for me.
• Finally, heads up for everybody who likes things that rule: The Slightly Askew Adventures of Inspector Ham & Eggs has made the transition from webcomic to paper issues, and now its first trade reprint book is up for pre-order. As is often the case, creators Lauren Monardo and Stephen Lindsay are self-publishing, and so need as many pre-orders as possible so they can afford to print the damn thing. Head on over, check out the previews and guest strips, and support ’em if you like ’em. Hint: You’re going to like ’em.

Thursdays are always the slow news days.

I mean, sure, there’s the open letter that Scott Kurtz wrote to Megan Fox Tits Wolverine magazine’s con-booking guy, that was amusing, but it broke nearly 24 hours ago and everybody’s already seen & discussed it. And actually, the most amusing part there was the number of people that took Kurtz seriously when he described himself as “pioneer” and “tastemaker”; here’s a big hint to everybody: whatever Kurtz says that gets you all het up under the collar (and my grandmother used to say), his tongue is lodged so firmly in-cheek, if you saw it, you’d think that the Alien was gonna leap out of his face.

That still leaves us with not too much going on today, so we’ll have to go with some pre-news (that is, things that aren’t news yet, but will be shortly). For example, Joe Chiappetta has finished drawing his 500th Silly Daddy comic, although we don’t get to see it until Monday. But in the meantime, you can enjoy his Five Reasons You Should Care, which include:

3) Many of these webcomics (74) were created entirely on a mobile phone. Chiappetta is the first cartoonist to pioneer this field of phone-made webcomics, calling it “telephomics.”

… and:

4) The Silly Daddy website is one of the few cartoonist sites wherein all the comics are fully accessible to people who are blind or have low vision. Every webcomic posted has a described narrative that assistive technology software (such as JAWS or ZoomText) can read to the viewer.

Honestly, I don’t think that “telephomics” is going to catch on … it just sounds like you don’t know how to pronounce the word that you meant to say. But the transcription bit? That’s something I think we’re going to see more of in future (lots of comics have some form of transcription available, but often only by shifting over to Oh No Robot or using an on-page search field). Chiappetta does his as a narrative, David Morgan-Mar does his as a transcript, and … that’s about it. Okay, there’s the takeaway for today, kids — just because you can’t see (or can’t see anymore) doesn’t mean you don’t enjoy the webcomics. Keep that in mind for your next site redesign.

Well, that was quick. From start to finish (with a break in the middle for video games), it took a bit less than 12 hours for Amy Kim Ganter & Kazu Kibuishi‘s first child to arrive. Oh, yeah, plus the whole almost ten months pregnant thing, and their entire lives together before that; to paraphrase Carl Sagan, if you want to make Juni from scratch, you first must invent Scott McCloud to officiate at your wedding. Coincidentally, young Juni started the active part of arriving a mere two hours after dad laid out the last rough pages of Amulet 3. Good timing, Juni!

• Speaking of brave new beginnings, the pseudonymous Gene Ambaum, actual librarian half of the librarian-themed Unshelved, is no longer. I don’t mean he’s no longer Gene (a good pseudonym isn’t something you just give up), no longer part of Unshelved, or simply no longer (that would be more of an ending than a beginning). No, he’s no longer a day-job librarian:
  

  I’ve been a librarian for 9 awesome years — first in teen services/reference then in staff development — and I’ve loved every minute of it. But for the last 7 years I’ve led a double life as Gene Ambaum during nights, weekends, and vacations. There were a lot of things I couldn’t help Bill [Barnes, the not-librarian half of Unshelved] with (thanks Bill!), and even more ideas I couldn’t start because I didn’t have the time.

  So I gave notice. Last week was my last as a full-time librarian. I’ll still occasionally work the reference desk as a sub, but it’s time to concentrate my efforts on Unshelved, writing projects, and other things that are important to me.

  So that would be another person quitting the day job and jumping into cartooning as main source of income. Nicely done, “Gene”, and enjoy the adventure.

• Know what else makes for an awesome beginning? The start of an art show. There’s an energy in the air at the opening that you don’t have for the rest of the run — excitement at seeing the pieces, the sense of being at something new, the nervous tension from the creator, wondering if everything is perfect or not. The fact that there’s usually booze doesn’t hurt. Even if you’ve done lots of shows, that first night remains special, and there’s one coming up in about ten days.

  Those of you that don’t want to awkwardly stare at some webcomickers in Massachusetts on a Saturday can instead meet the double-fine Scott Campbell (fresh off the release of Brütal Legend) and Leontine Greenberg at the debut of their two-person show, Adrift. Fun starts Friday the 13th (dun dun DUUUNNNN), 6:00 to 9:00pm at My Plastic Heart in New York City.

  I’m gonna do my best to make it to Adrift, so maybe I’ll see you there. Actually, I guess you could also go stare awkwardly if you wanted to, make a weekend of it, but try not to overextend yourself. You know I worry about you.

• Finally, Chris Watkins has now spent a few days in a new state — not a physical location, but one that’s more philosophical. He can now call himself a 100+ updates-with-no-misses webcomicker, which (given the large number of abandoned webcomics out there) is probably the new basic qualification for proving you’re serious about webcoimcking. Nicely done, and please check out Odori Park when you get the chance. And heck, we told you to check out the strip what? Four months ago? Somebody’s slipping on this whole I tell you to do things and you do them deal we have, internet. Better work on that.

A damn good interview with Erika Moen went up the other day, and you should watch it (part 1, part 2) because she (that would be Moen) tells a story that needed to be told. It’s a story about a printing company (which she graciously does not name, but is not Transcontinental, about which Moen has nothing to say but good things) that screwed her (again, Moen) sideways on the first printing of her book.

This leads to certain questions that you should ask your printer, including, After accepting my book, will individual employees that decide they don’t like my content be able to veto actually printing the damn thing? and If you have to shift this to a Canadian plant so that I can make deadline, and it costs more because of your actions, will you be holding my books hostage until I pay more than we originally contracted for? The whole thing is good, but that section (near the end of part one) is crucial.

• What’s that you say? Tiny Kitten Teeth wants to do a book about Tigerbuttah in the style of a Golden Book? And they need your help over at Kickstarter to make it happen? Get goin’ people. Disclaimer 1: I have a personal relationship with Becky and Frank, as they went to college with my niece (and are rockin’ awesome people). Disclaimer 2: I have pledged to this project and have a vested interest in other people supporting it so I can get some damn cool stuff out of it. Antidisclaimer: It’s a freakin’ GOLDEN BOOK. What in hell are you waiting for?
• Tweet Me Harder goes live on stage, for free, on November 14th in Holllllywood (like Bullwinkle always said, you have to pronounce that word like it’s got four or five “L”s). Kris Straub! David Malki !! Special guests! I live on the wrong coast! Crap!
• Aw, poo. Looks like I missed something for a few weeks now. See, the “fold” of the Planet Karen website falls right below the comic (on my monitor, at least), so I hadn’t seen the newspost that falls below the fold. Seems like the long-awaited first PK book is now available, and I hadn’t known, so I am very late in sharing this news with you. Sorry. You can go here to buy it (warning: the store uses scary monetary units called “pounds sterling”, which are totally not dollars at all; don’t be nervous, you can still buy the book).

No reason, just felt like getting that out there.

• For those of you that keep track of such things, Child’s Play gears up for another year (that woud be the seventh) of giving and good deeds. Last year’s giving (coming on the heels of the global economic meltdown’s start) was $1,434,377 (US). Let’s see if this year (coming at the end of a full year-plus of global economic crapitude) we can do as well. There’s already more than half a dozen IRL and virtual events for the cause, and more on the way.
• The last one was a success, so the fine (for certain values of “fine) people (for certain values of “people”) at TopatoCo are bringing out Open House/Sales Event Mark II.0 a week from Saturday (that would be November 14th), from noon to 6:00pm local time (that would be Eastern Standard). This time they’ve added that Awkward Stare-Fest aspect to the event, and I will pay one dollar American Cash Money to the first person that stares at any TopatoCoian enough that it becomes awkward for all involved. But for your own safety, I advise you keep such tactics to the cartoonists and not to TopatoCo VP Holly Post — rumor has it she bites when provoked.
• It’s a good day in webcomicdom when something completely unexpected hits my frontal lobes. When it happens twice (at opposite ends of the day’s trawl list), it’s extra good with creamy nougat in the center. In case you hadn’t seen it, Achewood gets the Tony Millionaire treatment (lacking only the magic words, Dook Dook Dook) and XKCD borrows a page from Edward Tufte (lacking only sufficient resolution on most monitors; click here to embiggen). Oh, and before any of you start the righteous nerdfury about Elrond meeting the Fellowship after the departure from Rivendell, please note that the comic clearly states it’s for the movie version. Thank you.
• Continuing a tradition that goes back to Garry Trudeau‘s pioneering work (started in the late 70s), Chris Yates engages in a little investigative cartooning today. Lest you think that the scandal he’s unearthed is invented for the sake of a gag, allow me to point you empirical proof: The Survey Is A Lie. He will get to the truth!

Let’s make this quick so I can start stalking the cosplayers with my camera. I expect a full report (with pictures) from all of you by Monday of any webcomics-related costumery you observe. Bonus points for anybody that captures the elusive Slutty Dromiceiomimus or Slutty Guy With Hat on film.

• Written up by my erudite (if erstwhile) collaborator two years ago, and just getting more interesting in the meantime: Ordinary Things takes the “construction” aspects we spoke about yesterday to new heights as whatever happens to be at hand becomes a mixed-media journal-type maybe-webcomic-maybe-not. Many thanks to creator Ozge Samanci for dropping a little note to say hi; I’ve been compulsively clicking through the archive ever since.
• Also back on my radar: the until-recently-hiatused God™¹ from Eisner nominee (for Speak No Evil: Melancholy of a Space Mexican) Elan’ Rodger Trinidad. Since we last checked in with God™ about five months back (right when the RoboMormons were transforming into bicycles), the story’s just gotten more savage in its satire, and it is well recommended to you. Just be careful about approaching Trinidad’s new random stuff found on the internet blog-project, as there is serious time-suck potential there. You have been warned.

That’s all. Go get overdosed on candy.

_______________
¹ Or, to give the full name, “God™ © 2XX8 *** ***** ****** ******* Incorporated. All rights reserved. God and all related characters, titles, names and documents are trademarks of *** ***** ****** ******* Incorporated. No similarity between any of the names, characters, persons and/or institutions in this deity with those of any living or dead person or institutions is intended and any such similarity which may exist is purely coincidental.”

Are you the one person that didn’t know that Octopus Pie updated last night? If so, my good deed for the day is done. Read, enjoy, and for the sake of all that’s good and holy, avoid unicyclists.

• What the hell, England? Jorge Cham, Doctor of Engineering and well-known world-wide lecturer to graduate students, comes to your fair shores on a speaking tour and you detain him at the border because he’s not a “real doctor”, and thus sentence him to deportation? The first comic went up the day he was due to begin speaking in England, and the story isn’t done yet … but seriously?
• On the non-sucking side of England, there is a new Freakangels trade in my hands after yesterday’s trip to the comics shop — the third of the series, released pretty much like clockwork, and appearing mere weeks after the last page of the book updated online. Okay, granted, Warren Ellis has a publisher taking care of many of the fiddly little bits inherent in publishing, but damn — that’s impressive. Twenty-four (mostly weekly) six-page updates and call it a book. My hat’s off to you, angry drunken sir.
• Reminder: just over two weeks until the Dallas Webcomics Expo takes place in Plano, TX. Taking a cue from New England Webcomics Weekend back in March, Texas-area webcomickers will be getting together and seeing what kind of fun they can have. Speaking of NEWW, it will be returning in 2010, but sources say it will be moving from the very busy Spring con season to Fall. More on exact dates when that information is available.
• Episode 12, and the end of the first “season” of SMASH by Chris and Kyle Bolton, released this week. Know what I call that? A good opportunity to either get all caught up or to read a big chunk of story (just shy of 150 pages worth) before the new season starts. You play end-of-season catch-up all the time with Mad Men or Breaking Bad; just this time it’s got a 10 year old superkid and not morally bankrupt early-60s ad execs or meth-cooking high school chemistry teachers.
• Speaking of milestones, here’s one that’s worth mentioning. Webcomicker get to draw whatever they need to into their scenes, and that makes the most fantastical vistas possible. Slightly more difficult are photo comics, where you have to stage the scenes (or write around your latest random snapshots). Even more difficult would be photo comics where you have to build the settings and scenes, but what about where you had to construct the mise en scène not out of interchangeable components, but from traditional handicrafts? Ladies and gentlemen, Amu’s World:
  

  Amu’s World has reached its first year of updates [28 October]. It’s a photo-based comic featuring hand-crocheted amigurumi characters created by my wife. I know a year isn’t a particularly long time for a webcomic, especially a weekly, but I’m very proud do have never missed an update or been late with a comic.

  Also, we’re celebrating our first year with a Fan Art contest. The prize is a hand-crocheted Amu’s World amigurumi doll and a large print of one of my photos I post every Friday. The winner chooses which one they get.

  Let’s be clear — if creator B. Casimir Slaski wants to do a comic with a ninja, the Prince of All Cosmos, or a villainous gang of bunnies with eyepatches, he first has to convince his wife to craft such a thing. It kind of limits how much he can wake up at 3:00 am with a brilliant — brilliant, I tell you!! — idea to take the strip in a new, exciting, hilarious direction because the lead time on a crochet Yog-Sothoth (is it weird that’s the first thing that popped into my head?) is probably pretty long. For creating under such constraints, we at Fleen salute Amu’s World.

Holy crap, look at what the Amadora Festival has done for T-Xers Karl Kerschl and Cameron Stewart — whole galleries decked out in their signature styles. Along with Ramón Pérez, the three continue to take Europe (in today’s case, Portugal) by storm, unleashing a festival-only book that must be mine. Please explain to me why I’m in rainy New York instead of sunny Portugal?

• Holy crap, check out the gallery show that Eric Monster Millikin‘s got opening tomorrow night. Between Giger, Manson, and Millikin (who looks positively cheery compared to his fellow exhibitors), somebody is gonna have nightmares after viewing The Damned II at Tangent Gallery in Detroit.
• Holy crap, this is some beautiful work. One Nate Simpson [edit to fix link; thanks Matt from the comments!] has written that he’s taking a year off from making art for video games and to take a whack at producing comics. Doesn’t look like he intends for the web to be his primary vehicle for distribution, but as long has he’s channeling a cross between Moebius and Final Fantasy X, I don’t care. I’ll take what I can get.
• Speaking of beautiful work, have you seen the brand new (like, two-pages-new) serialized-to-the-web graphic novel Spain & Morocco? Holy crap, that looks like it took some time draw. There’s a bit of Eric Drooker in the color palette, methinks, and a bit of Sin Titulo in the character designs, and Sin Titulo’s by Cameron Stewart who’s going to be passing through Spain on the way to France, so it all ties back to the beginning.

  In conclusion: Holy crap, I love comics via internet.

So last night, Internet Jesus tweeted about a particularly egregious assualt on an artist’s work. John T Unger doesn’t work in webcomics, or even comics in general; he makes outdoor fire-containment kettles (think “fireplace you can plop anywhere in your back yard”). He’s known for the distinctive look and feel of his work, and has registered copyright on his designs.

An imitator¹ (no link, he gets no publicity from me) has been selling knock-offs; Unger contacted him and provided proof of copyright, and asked said imitator to please work only with original designs. Imitator responded by filing a lawsuit seeking to overturn Unger’s copyrights so that he doesn’t have to stop. And now the punchline: because the imitator sued first, Unger must defend the suit or it’s automatically decided in favor of the plaintiff. It’s a naked attempt to force Unger to deplete his resources (he’s spent more than $50,000 so far) in an attempt to say, Hey, you’re not allowed to steal my stuff and have a court validate you.

As creators of Intellectual Property (those of you that are) and/or fans of those that create said IP, you should be appalled. Copyright and trademark require “vigorous defense” to show that you haven’t let them lapse, but I cannot believe that the intent of such a requirement was to permit naked thievery. If you’re ready to act on that anger, Unger’s using Kickstarter to fund his legal expenses; rather than just ask for donations, he’s created a new line of tabletop sculpture available for certain pledge amounts (and other rewards at lower levels). This situation is pissing me off, and I’m asking you that if you can’t kick in any money, at least read Unger’s account and talk about this. The glare of publicity is probably the best weapon available in this fight.

• Whoa, two updates from E. B-White? No, not Websnark updates (c’mon, guy’s been sick), but updates to the long-dormant (like three years dormant) photobased webcomic The Adventures of Bridadier General John Stark. Exciting! Bold prediction: General Stark discovers Mayan calendar prophecies (after all, there is a precedent for such in webcomics) just in time for either a third update, or for time to end in 2012, whichever comes first. C’mon, Eric — prove me wrong!
• Looks like WOWIO payments for Q2 2008 are still going out; just got an email from a creator that he was just paid. It would be caddish of me to point out that we’re now in Q4 of 2009, but hey — at least people are getting their money.
• If you’ve noticed a dread, palpable chill in the air, if the very atmosphere over New York City seems somehow befouled and borderline evil, there’s a reason. All that is unholy celebrates the unbirth of the darkest creature yet to tear its way into our reality, one that spews forth the very nightmares that will rend the world piece from piece, leaving all who encounter it gibbering pools of tears and sorrow. Also, there is probably cake.

  Happy Birthday, Andy.

_______________
¹ Feel free to substitute alternate descriptors for this individual; suggestions include “–––––––”, “––––––– –––––––”, “–––––––” and “How Do You Live With Yourself?” Redactions because Unger has specifically asked that derogatory language not be used.