Any day that starts with an email from Scott McCloud (philosophical question: if McCloud ever gets a postage stamp, do you prefer Young Scott or Slightly Less Young Scott?) is probably gonna be pretty good. Let’s hear what the guy has to say:

MCCLOUD/MAKING COMICS 50 STATE TOUR UPDATE:
DATES FOR MAY & JUNE

31 states down, 19 to go! Starting May 1, The Making Comics Fifty State Tour moves into into its last third with stops in eight northern states and two Canadian cities.

Spanning thousands of miles, the long-anticipated “northern leg” is certain to be the biggest challenge yet faced by comics’ most adventurous family. The trip to and through Alaska in June will be over a thousand miles of driving alone!

Stops include lectures in Toronto ON, Sioux Falls SD, Portland OR, and Juneau AK; seminars in Portland and Alaska; and store signings and other events in Toronto ON, Detroit MI, Iowa City IO, Missoula MT, Moscow ID, Seattle WA, Vancouver BC and Portland OR.

Scott McCloud and his family continue to make waves at every stop, commanding strong attendance and, in some cases, standing-room only crowds. In the last eight weeks alone, four lectures (in Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio and Illinois) were packed to capacity and beyond. In one case, three overflow simulcast rooms were set up when the main hall was filled. In another, dozens of fans sat in the aisles or on the floor to hear McCloud.

Next stop, Free Comic Book Day at Green Brain Comics in Detroit (May 5) and Toronto for a lecture and store appearance at The Beguiling (May 6 and 7). Details at the Making Comics Tour Page.

If you haven’t had the chance to see the McCloud & Co. roadshow, definitely do so. And for God’s sake, look at that map — slip the family a couple of donuts for the ride or something.

In other news: Digger. 400 strips. Still my favorite wombat-themed comic, with unforetold levels of awesome every Tuesday and Thursday.

Finally, There are unconfirmed reports that the borders of Wheatonia are expanding. Citizens are urged to stay calm, and seek shelter behind plastic sheeting and duct tape.

Even though, what with all the drafts, discards, and such, it’s only the 753rd one published. Now we’ll see who actually reads down here, and who just scans the headlines. For those readers among you, a few notes:

• More webcomics need Hey-O! as a punchine; click that link for fine workplace humor from Paul Southworth.
• Speaking of the workplace, is anybody hiring? Experienced webcomic creator (and guy who can take a lot of crap without going postal) needs a job. Please send gifts of booze, money, or firearms directly to Mr Boyd.
• We are still waiting on the promised update from Dave Kelly on the Todd Goldman happenings, but one would be remiss not to note that it’s been eleven (11) days since we received our C&D, ten (10) days since our lawyer asked for details as to what content was annoying to Mr Goldman, with zero (0) specifics yet received.

  We have, however, seen our typical monthly server traffic go up by a factor of six (6) as a result of people — at last count, one hundred twenty-on (121) of you — coming by to post angrily about Goldman’s various behaviors, so that’s all right.

Film at eleven.

Hey, anybody notice the extra verbage when mousing over an Achewood strip in the past couple of days? Give that sucker a click, and there’s a new feature to rate the strip on a scale of 1 (funnier than anything the newspapers) to 5 (brilliant like a million exploding suns).

There’s also handy code to embed the strip on your own site, and the archives now show thumbnails of the strips instead of merely the titles, along with summary statistics (rating and vote count). Looks like most strips only have about 30 votes, so get crackin’ people. I demand to know if my assessment of the Greatest Achewood Strips Ever matches the wisdom of the crowds.

The entire thing is run by a company called Assetbar, is called Acheworld, and features the greatest Terms of Service ever:

From the desk of Chris Onstad

Hi, this is Chris. I fixed everything, and I want to explain how.

We’ve all seen it, and we’ve all been confused. The world is changing so quickly that only nine year-old boys with “Wiisâ€? in both pockets actually know what is true any more. I’m 31, and most days, I care so little about what “del.icio.us” is that I can barely get out of bed. But this is different.

This is Achewood’s answer to that confusing glut of inscrutable text messages, video game blogs about RSS feed ringtones, and pictures of a kitten saying “IM ON UR HOTDOG EATING UR MUSTARD.â€? In only a few months’ time, this paragraph will mean nothing. There has never been a better time to put your money on information decay. Or to hedge against properly structured English-language paragraphs.

Come deeper into Achewood. Talk amongst yourselves. See a picture of a cute girl from Nova Scotia, or a boy named Hellos4Hubert. Send messages to one another. For almost six years we’ve been flat, but now there’s a basement. I want you to go there, and I want you to have an information party. Because that’s what the Internet was supposed to be, before money and Paris Hilton fucked the whole thing up.

In short, come in and enjoy Achewood in a slightly new, slightly different way. The old way is still there, but this way has more girls. (Girls, I’m counting on you.)

The Finest Things to us All,

Chris Onstad

PS: Yes, we are actively developing new features, and requesting your feedback. Here’s what’s in store:

* ALT tags for strips will be included in Acheworld.

* The Achewood blogs will be incorporated into the interactive content, so you can say what you think about what Ray thinks.

* Much, much more.

Okay, that’s not the really ToS, but that’s what you get when you click the link on the registration page. The actual Terms of Use are your usual legal doublespeak and if you can make sense of them, congratulations. Me, I’m just glad to know that the Greatest Achewood Strip Ever is the one where Ray Gets Sort Of Stoned. I personally prefer Let’s Say Good Stuff About Ray’s Dick, but I can live with the crowds on this one.

And considering that Achewood is often ahead of the curve on a lot of things, one can only wonder if other webcomics will be looking to provide compatible services. Watch this space for updates.

Edit to add: Yes, Achewood and Dr McNinja have both had alt-text for a long time. It’s what’s new in the Achewood alt-text that’s importatnt: links to Acheworld.

Still catching up on back correspondence, so please consider the following:

• Nerdgod Randall Munroe has been invited to speak at MIT; they do seem to have a liking for webcomics there, don’t they?
• 44 Union Avenue is a webcomic by Mike Witmer that I was not previously familiar with. Witmer’s a member of the Hyena Comics collective been self-syndicating to a few newspapers, and Witmer recently informed us that 44UA has been picked up by GoComics, in one of the web-syndication deals that we’ve seen a lot of lately. Wtimer reports that this deal allows him to do exactly as he’s been doing with respect to characters, archive (I’ve still got a year and a half’s worth to plow through at Witmer’s site) and merch; the only thing he can’t do is sell the strips to another online site without referring them to GoComics. Interesting deal, maybe a stepping stone to print syndication, and we’re going to keep our eye on it.
• New Webcomic That Looks Interesting: Lunarboy by Jarrett Williams. I couldn’t say exactly why, but it puts me in mind of Scott Pilgrim, and that’s never a bad thing.
• Continuing the Lunar Theme: Dan Scannell is putting out a minicomic, The Man On The Moon, to promote his webcomic. For two bucks (US), you really can’t go wrong.
• Irregularly updated and only five installments so far, but Shallow Betties is apparently taking the University of Puerto Rico by storm. The interesting part here? Word about the comic is spreading mostly via Facebook, which opens up new questions in that discussion of social networking sites we had a little bit ago.

Our server logs show we’re running about ten times our normal pageviews thanks to the wanging we received; we haven’t had any server troubles, but if you have difficulty getting the site to load, do let us know. Also, apologies to any who’ve sent in items that would have appeared here, but were bumped due to the recent unpleasantness — if they aren’t time-dependent, we’ll do our best to run them. Now, we make with the links, you make with the clicks:

• Cloudy did a soft launch at comics.com on Monday, but today he’s launched all official-like.
• Ryan Sias is one of the nicest, goofiest guys I’ve met in webcomics (’cause hey — Ryan), and he’s been running some really nice guest strips this week at Silent Kimbly. Check ’em out.
• If Mr T be for me, who can be against me?
• Greg Carter has rebooted Abandon:
  

  Less than 10 pages of the current version are up at the moment. After creating almost 200 pages over the last three years, most of which will never again see the light of day, I decided practice time was over and now it’s the real thing. The kinks are worked out of the new ComicPress software so updates should even be on time now. And yes, my pretties, there will be printed collections. Floppy-style no less. Then annual(ish) graphic novel collections.

  Gutsy move with the archives, Greg; but you know what? I love that “practice time is over”. That’s the sort of declaration that tells me interesting things are gonna happen with this comic. And need I note that this is a perfect time for new readers to hop on board?

• It’s an ill wind indeed that blows nobody any good, as the last great webcomics shitstorm and the current great webcomics shitstorm converge. Xuanwu writes:
  

  Thought you might like the news — In a rare moment of sense, Wikipedia has brought back the Purple Pussy article, thanks to the attention it got from the plagiarism.

  Of course, noted anti-webcomic deletionist Dragonfiend (she’s the one who attempted to get Checkerboard Nightmare and Girly deleted) tried to oppose the whole thing, but she was thoroughly smacked down when people reminded her that multiple coverage means notability, even in the strictest sense.

  So, thanks to Todd, Wiki’s webcomic coverage has been improved slightly and a noted deletionist idjit got her head handed to her. Not a bad silver lining!

Lightning Round, GO!

• Nick Perkins!
  

  The author of Gothy McGee has a neato webcomic review blog, and I consented to be his first interviewee about my comic, Cooties. Check out the interview here. Thanks!

• Dina Kelberman!
  

  look, i made them.

• Al B. Moore!
  

  So am I allowed to just ask you to check out my web site? Specifically my comic Bug & Worm. This isn’t really a press release, but it is shameless…

A hearty welcome to any new readers directed here by Boing Boing (edit: and Penny Arcade); the stuff you’re looking for is thataway ↓.

From yesterday’s entry of the blog of the McCloud Family Intercontinental Vagabondage, courtesy of Ivy McCloud:

He signed and doodled on the copy of the book that Sky is having everyone sign for the CBLDF auction. He was Winterviewed (though, as always, Scott and I did not see any of it), we hung out with Lorraine while they were Winterviewing. He played us music on his cell phone.

For the record, “he” would be Neil Gaiman. This will be the first Winterview we’ve seen in some time, so here’s hoping that Sky’s laptop holds up to life on the road and that she can get it mixed down soon; I’ve got a feeling this is gonna be a good one.

In general tour news, this week’s stops in Illinois and Wisconsin will make 32 states + three countries visited since things kicked off back in September; 7½ months and untold miles on the odometer don’t seem to have any adverse effects on the Bravest Family in [web]Comics, so if you see ’em at one of the upcoming events, shake their hands for me.

It appears that The Great Goldman Debacle of Aught-Seven has had the unexpectedly positive side-effect of spurring creativity in the outraged masses. Witness: Huzzah! Goods (motto: “Yes, it’s another damned T-shirt site”) would like you to consider their entry into the fray, with all profits going to Boston Arts Academy.

I think that everything I might have said about our current situation has been said by at least one of you; thanks for your support. Rest assured that words are being crafted with fine precision, honed to a razor’s edge, waiting only for the moment that they may be unleashed in a maelstrom of righteous justice.

In the meantime, the most sincere of thanks to all of you for your support, and please enjoy some happy fun webcomics!

• Apparently taking the suggestion to mirror our content to heart, Jon Rosenberg has done so for at least one posting in teeny-weeny eyestrain-o-vision. The sentiment is appreciated.
• Y’know, as long as I’ve been doing the webcomics hanger-on thing, I’ve never actually met the fabled Sam Brown, and am all but convinced that he doesn’t actually exist. But his talent and disembodied voice are available for your listening/viewing pleasure in pursuit of a good cause. Click to launch, dude.
• Speaking of listening pleasure, check out Dave Kellett’s audio tour of Sheldon (scroll down jes’ a little); okay, it’s just him showing you ’round the features of his site, but for those of us that miss his regular Blank Label podcast, it’s nice to hear him again. Actually, I’d been kind of wondering which creator would get the idea to do something like this first, since recording quick podcasts is easy enough.

  The next logical step is DVD commentary-style tracks. I’ll throw out a suggestion: Kellett and the Unshelved guys should team up and give us the dirt on the now-famed Coffeelid Challenge. Gentlemens, let’s start quibbling.

• Forthcoming merch sighting: Shortpacked announces pre-orders for the first book of David Willis’s toy-related strips. I’m hoping that the back cover contains at least one of the following quotes:
  1. I did your mom.
  2. I’m Batman.
  3. Whores whores whores whores.

Edit to add: From some of the comments below, it appears that I was not sufficiently clear. Mr Felix does represent Todd Goldman. The communication cited is legitimate.

Slightly more than 24 hours ago, the “authors” email (the one at the Contact Us link up there to the right) received the following:

from Andrew.P.Felix@[redacted]
to authors
date Apr 19, 2007 6:10 PM
subject Todd Goldman

Andrew P. Felix, Esq. wrote:
Dear Sir or Madam:

This firm represents Mr. Todd Goldman. I write on behalf of Mr. Goldman regarding certain comments and disparaging remarks that are posted and housed on your website (www.fleen.com).

We have acquired articles posted on your website which contain defaming, derogatory and malicious statements about Mr. Goldman. Therefore, we request that you immediately remove these article from your website, as well as any subsequent articles and/or URL links of this nature regarding Mr. Goldman. Further, the hosting of such statements and/or URL links about Mr. Goldman is actionable defamation and libel that has caused irreversible damage to his character.

Unless we receive written assurance that you have removed these article, as well as any subsequent articles and/or URL links of this nature regarding Mr. Goldman, from your website by the close of business on Friday, April 20, 2007, we will have no other alternative but to take action to seek injunctive and monetary relief against you pursuant to Florida law. Please be advised that we will also seek to recover attorneys’ fees and costs associated with this matter. As time is of the essence, this action must be taken immediately.

This letter is not, nor should it be construed to be, a waiver of any rights or remedies available to Mr. Goldman under federal or state law, whether now existing or hereafter accruing.

PLEASE GOVERN YOURSELF ACCORDINGLY.

Sincerely,
SHUTTS & BOWEN LLP

/s/Andrew P. Felix

We at Fleen have consulted with attorneys, and they are in contact with Mr Felix to determine specifics as to what material Goldman objects to. We also understand that other websites that have hosted material regarding the Kelly/Goldman affair have received similar letters.

More information as the situation warrants.