I’ve been combing through the lists of panels and events at SDCC, which is a pretty monumental task, so please correct me if I’ve missed out anything important.

Some of these are obviously and directly related to webcomics; some of these are of interest because they deal with issues that creators of any stripe (web or otherwise) ought to be familiar with; and some are with creators who don’t do webcomics, but have a long history of self-publishing and ownership of their creations. No way I’m gonna be able to see all of these, so if anybody’s interested in taking notes at some, let me know.

Thursday

• 11:30-12:30 Episodic Games and Comics: Made for Each Other — includes the forthcoming Penny Arcade game. Room 1AB.
• 3:00-4:00 Comic-Con Talkback 1 — talk to the organizers, let them know that (in the words of Mike Krahulik) “that webcomics are kind of a big deal now.” Room 4.
• 3:30-5:00 Spotlight on Scott Kurtz — join Kurtz, Straub, and Ryan Sohmer as they talk about PvP and the animated series. Room 1AB.
• 5:00-6:00 Random House: Flight/Postcards — some of the most beautiful work in webcomics has been done by the Flight alumni. Room 10
• 6:00-7:00 Dumbrella — Ask them what the collective noun for webcomickers is. Room 10.

Friday

• 10:30-12:00 Comic Book Law School® 101: Let’s Start at the Beginning — Planning on entering a future Comic Book Challenge or submitting to Zudacomics? This is mandatory reading. Room 30CDE.
• 12:30-1:30 Terry Moore: SIP RIP — Terry Moore‘s been self-publishing for going on a decade and a half; his successes and mistakes will be valuable learning for anybody that wants to make a living off webcomics. Room 3.
• 3:30-4:30 Business of Web Comics — The Kurtz & Khoo show continues from last year. The description says they will “create a brand-new webcomic, live on stage and show how the creative and business aspects of the property work (and don’t work) in parallel.” Want webcomics to be your business? Be here. Room 8.
• 5:30-6:30 Scott McCloud and Family — Because they‘re cool. Room 5AB.

Saturday

• 10:30-11:30 TOKYOPOP: Star Trek in Print: The New Golden Age — Wil Wheaton, webcomics icon. Room 2.
• 10:30-12:00 Comic Book Law School 102® — You protected your rights in session one, now look at how you negotiate transfers of some of them in exchange for things you want while keeping what’s yours. Room 30CDE.
• 12:30-1:30 The Comicbook Artists Guild: An Open Call for Members Nationwide — Any reason that webcomics creators shouldn’t be considered with their print counterparts? It’s just a different ditribution channel. Strength in numbers and all that. Room 24A.
• 2:30-4:00 Sergio & Mark: Groo’s 25th — Because nothing is cooler than Groo. Room 8.
• 3:30-4:30 Penny Arcade — I hear it’s a webcomic that some people read. Room 1AB.
• 4:00-5:00 Jeff Smith — Everything I said about Terry Moore also applies to Jeff Smith, plus he’s a hell of a nice guy and his wife? Geekier than me, and that’s saying something. Room 8.
• 5:30-6:30 Keenspot Unplugged 2007 — News, announcements, and free swag from The Big Green. Room 3.
• 9:00-11:00 Spotlight on Warren Ellis — Ellis is both friend and foe to webcomics. Room 6CDEF.

Sunday

• 1:00-2:00 What’s Happening in Kids’ Comics Today? — Includes Gene Yang, Kazu Kibuishi, and Dave Roman. Room 8.
• 3:00-4:00 Comic-Con Talkback II — Same deal as above. Room 4.

Many items to cover today; let’s tuck right in, shall we?

• From the Foob Desk: On the heels of Funky Cancercancer, we have total burnsauce.
• From the New Versions Desk: Congrats to Megatokyo, which will be produced for the Japanese market by Kodansha. And congrats to Fred & Sarah Gallagher, which will be producing a small human being for their household (no permanent link).
• From the Aniniversary Desk: Brink is one year old as of July 10 (thanks to Shishio for the tip; he’s rapidly becoming the Brad Guigar of IV Comics).
• From the Technology Is Your Friend Desk: Lots of new features and stability over at Help Desk, which given creator Christopher Wright’s battles with databases and blogging software, seems like a beautiful, beautiful dream. Comics are now tagged by storyline/keyword/character, and transcription search is coming soon. It’s not easy to retrofit features onto a site with such a huge archive, so well done Mr Wright.
• From the Emotionally Invested Readers Desk: Cool things will be done for your comic, even when on extended hiatus. Case in point: a 37-song fan soundtrack created for Alien Loves Predator.
• From the Here Be Dragons Desk: More people for your SDCC webcomics crawl — the redoubtable T Campbell will be at the Tokyopop booth (#3529) and Dan Goodsell of The World of Mr. Toast will be in booth #2648.

  To find Campbell, walk along the top of the Unshelved logo from right to left and keep going another 7 aisles after the map ends. To find Goodsell, on the map, start at the “S” in the Unshelved logo and go three aisles up (opposite the Wizard Entertainment booth; say hi to their web guys, they’re cool). Please note that you won’t actually see the Unshelved logo printed on the floor of the convention center; we’re working on that for next year.

• And from the Final Items Desk: The why of the explosive proliferation of webcomics review sites is something for others to remark upon. But let us remark on the latest entrant into the game (or at least, the latest to email me and say howdy) — Jack’s Webcomic Reviews. It’s got monkeys.

The latest iterations of two cool things are now available:

• Winterview #7: Kazu Kibuishi and Amy Kim Ganter (on their wedding day, no less).
• A non-ugly floor map for webcomics at SDCC. I give you: WebComiCon! While you’ll find representatives of literally dozens of webcomics in a tight grouping between aisles 1200 and 1400 (there may be hijinks), don’t overlook the others in the Small Press and Indy Press areas.

  This map is an evolving thing, and late-breaking additions will be noted here at Fleen. Case in point: Topher Davila of TomatoTV.net will be in Small Press booth P9, which would be about mid-way between The Devil’s Panties (with special guest Striptease) and Young American.

Editor’s note: This is a long one. You might want to settle in with a refreshing beverage before proceeding.

So I’ve spent some time since yesterday thinking about the Zudacomics announcement; it never pays to rush into these things too quickly. Much of my current train of thought is informed by the always-perceptive Dave Kellet’s posting on the matter, which you should read if you haven’t already. Go do that, I’ll be here.

As a preamble, I’ll note that I agree with Kellett about 100%; I particularly think his linking of Keen’s (ironic name, no?) Cult of the Amateur to the DC announcement reflects a lot of the logic that went through somebody’s head in an office on Broadway. I also find it endlessly amusing that people like Keen use the word amateur like it’s automatically a bad thing, and professional like it’s automatically a good thing.

The Latin root of amateur gives a meaning of somebody who does something out of love for it; that does not
preclude making a living at it. And I, for one, am glad that those who love comics are making them, in addition to corporations farming them. Because ultimately, the Zudacomics program has nothing to do with comics at all.
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The latest version of the SDCC webcomics map is now available; the very dreamy Mr R Stevens is busily revising to make it print-worthy so you can carry it with you. Map legend below the cut.

DC Comics apparently decided that Platinum is onto a good thing with the Comic Book Challenge, and has offered up their own version under the name (I wish I were kidding) Zudacomics. Check out the breathless announcement where they essentially claim to be inventing webcomics (and let the PTO please note that webcomics has been a common term of art for some years now, so no fair issuing a trademark to those wacky jokers at DC!).

Hey, anybody log into Steam over the weekend? Penny Arcade strips are now featured there on the home screen, providing exposure to (on average) more than 3 million unique pairs of eyeballs a month. Robert Khoo, business guru at PA described it to me as, “We were talking to [Valve] about a bunch of other stuff (and no, nothing to do with our game :), and were just brainstorming different ways to work together. This one just popped up.” I think it’s pretty indicative of the hard work that Khoo has put in over the years if this is the sort of thing that just pops up; for the good of webcomics, we must clone him.

And as a final note, I hereby declare Rich Burlew a stand-up guy (even when flat on his back in bed with various nasties in his system). Advance notice of an irregular schedule is always appreciated, but more so is his linking of charities that, were you considering contributing to his health costs (which Burlew reports are well-covered), could use a few bucks more than he can. Okay, that was a torturously-parsed setence, but if you just go read his announcement, it makes sense. Fleen wishes Burlew the best of luck with his condition.
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Get yer ass outside and enjoy the sunshine. Quick notes before you go:

• The webcomics presence in San Diego continues to grow; the map will be updated at the first opportunity but count Breeden, Daily & Co. in the Indie Island area, and Young American Comics in the Small Press Area.

  If you know of any webcomics creators who are going to be exhibiting at SDCC, email gary at this here website.

• On a related note, Greg Carter writes:
  

  While Nerd Prom is rightly betting headlines for all the webcomics there, don’t forget the week before is Otakon, where 20000+ anime fans who are very webcomic friendly will gather. Here’s the big list of webcomic creators who will be in the Artist Alley.

  Thanks for the heads-up, Greg. Gotta say, Otakon is making it easy to find our beloved creators.

• And in anniversary news, Joseph Hewitt’s Ataraxia Theatre has just cleared its first year as a webcomic. Prior to that, it was a minicomic, then on hiatus while Hewitt “got a real job”. Old issues went online, and new stuff got drawn, and it’s got weirdness o’ plenty across a wide range of genres.

Thanks to our correspondents, and have a heck of a weekend.

Today is the day that the progenitor of a great evil is finally punished. Everybody do the Dance of Joy.

• In other news, I think that Paul Southworth is onto something; raise your hand if you think a family of gun-toting Sasquatches roaming the post-Apocalyptic hellscape of 27th Century America is the coolest thing you’ve ever heard. Now write to Southworth and pledge to buy whatever product this idea may be realized in. Now, people!
• Updates on SDCC webcomics-related panels and exhibitor locations coming soon. In case you missed it the arguably twisted minds behind Filth Hole and Hate Song will be in the Small Press Area (and the next iteration of the map will reflect this).
• And in the milestones reached department, Station V3 hit 1500 strips yesterday, which has taken somewhat more than four years of daily updates. By contrast, I’m at a little more than 500 postings here at Fleen, so I’m duly impressed with the persistence of creator Tom Truszkowski.

While enjoying your Freedom Tacos (LOF #1), please consider this note from France (LOF #2), courtesy of Jean-Paul Follain:

Hi there. It would be nice to take a quick look over my website (readers are invited to submit photos of themselves to be incorporated into the story).

“The Story”, in French or English, invites you (yes, you) to submit a photo and become part of the ongoing tale. There’s insanity there, armed fashionistas, violations of the laws of physics, ikebana, raptors, and I’m not sure I want to know what she’s planning on doing with that lightbulb. Me, I just want to know where to find that giant briard.

Regarding yesterday’s posting of the map to the Webcomics Ghetto o’ Fun, Bill Barnes writes:

Our part will be pretty awesome too. For the second year running we’ll be in the front of the Independent Publisher’s Pavilion in booth 2300, catching folks as soon as they walk in the front door. And I bet there are some other, totally awesome webcomics folks scattered around the hall too. Let’s make a bigger map?

Excellent thought, Bill. So, webcomics creators — send me your booth address, and I’ll see what kind of map we can work up that’s as inclusive as possible. And speaking of Mr Barnes, rumor has it he’ll be doing the webcomics panel moderation thang again this year, which is always a treat.

And, in case you missed it (I did too): interstate print media (okay, an alt-weekly with editions in Boston, Providence, and Portland, Maine) is spreading the word about some of the quirkier kids in the webcomics sandbox. Nice overview, good read.

The awesomest part of SDCC, in convenient map form.