From Brad Guigar:

The Blank Label Comics Fund-Raiser for Paul Taylor has officially ended. Including BLC auctions, direct donations to Taylor, and non-BLC-affiliated auctions, over $10,770 in funds for the Taylor family.

In August, Paul’s first child was born prematurely with serious health problems. The baby spent his first month in the world in a hospital. He’s home now, but that means the bills are soon to follow. This money will put a dent in those bills.

Blank Label extends a heartfelt thank you to everyone who participated.

It’s not too late to help. Go to Paul’s site and make a donation directly to Paul through his PayPal donation button which appears under the comic on the left-hand side of the screen (look for Monica wearing a “SUPPORT WAPSI” T-shirt).

Coincidentally, today is the day that Waspi Square returns with all-new strips; if you haven’t read it before, now’s a great time to jump in.

Some days, it’s easy to figure out what you’re going to write about. I noticed a bit of bad news over the weekend, catching up on my trawls (and then several of you emailed me about it, as well). Since the Spring, we at Fleen have been big fans of The Kea’s Nest, which is sadly shutting its metaphorical doors. We first became aware of The Kea back in April, when he considered going for one of the open writer slots here at Fleen, but he decided that daily was more than he wanted to write.

So he started his own webcomics blog, and it kicked ass. As the author of more than one lackluster piece of writing, I can’t express how tough it is to bring that level of wordcrafting to fruition every single time. But even the greatest gift of expression takes time to shape properly, leading The Kea to tell us:

But the internet is encroaching on my real life in bad ways. My wife isn’t part of the web and a wedge is growing between us. So I won’t be coming back to The Kea’s Nest unfortunately.

To which I say: Good choice! There’s things that are really important in life, and then there’s blogging about webcomics. I loved reading your stuff, TK, and I’m going to miss it, especially with the decline in webcomics commentary that’s going on these days. Lots of writers have found that Life interferes with what we’d rather be doing — Eric‘s run ragged by his job; Joe‘s got other stuff on his plate for the immediate future; I’d be on hiatus myself right now (because I’m in a class that’s consuming most of my free hours) if not for my wife generously stepping up to do stuff that I should be doing around our home. (Aside: if you like reading my stuff, drop her a little note of thanks in the comments … except for you, Ryan North! Stay the hell away from my wife!).

But the things we love aren’t as important as the people we love, and you’re making the right choice for you and your family. We’re going to keep you on the blogroll over there to the right for as long as the pages return, because even as a too-small archive there’s some great writing there. And if you ever get the urge to do an occasional piece about webcomickry that won’t put a strain on the other parts of your life, there will be space for you here.

A number of people have been thinking about success in webcomics lately. First up, Jennie Breeden of The Devil’s Panties — if you saw her on stage at SDCC, you could tell that she’s thought a lot about how to make it in [web]comics, and I don’t think I enjoyed meeting anybody as much as her. She’s put a lot of her ideas down in a new FAQ, and if she lets me, I’m going to excerpt her excellent advice when I get around to making the Webcomics School recaps into something more permanent.

But even with all this methodical planning, is she still evil enough to go after guys in kilts with a leaf blower? And should you listen to her?

Yes, she is, and yes, you should.

Next up is Andy Bell, who did a presentation on making it in webcomics for Parsons/The New School; the talk fleshed out a lot of these points, but there’s a hidden message on the last slide, so be sure to go through the entire thing. Since many people know Parson primarily through TV’s Project Runway, I’d like to invite Bravo to consider Project: Webcomic; I think that T Campbell’s blog said he’s looking for a gig, so we can have him host it. I’m serious, this could be cool.

From Owen Dunne, guy with the Fox option, success means changes:

Sept 27

Sorry the YDK updates have been so sporadic.

As you may be aware, I’ve been working on a YDK pilot script, and that’s been taking quite a bit of my time. It’s not that easy, because it’s writing for Hollywood, and that’s different than just writing. The whole thing about YDK, the comic, is to take a life story, edit it down to four panels and illustrate it. Scriptwriting, on the other hand, requires that I take that same four panel story and stretch it out to forty pages. Which isn’t to say that it’s hard, it’s not. But doing it so the powers that be think it’s funny enough is.

So it’s a learning process, but a fun one. I’ve met some incredibly talented people who have been more than kind with their expertise and knowledge of the business.

One of these days I’m going to write a long piece about this process. Until then, I appreciate your patience.

The common thread we’ve got here is that if you want to be an overnight success, you’re going to have to work really hard at it for a long time in semi-obscurity. But the possibility is out there, and it’s in your hands alone. Go do good work, and show us what you got.

In case anybody wants to see Scott McCloud at Princeton next week, the main university website is kind of useless. I did a bit of digging, and there’s better information found here. Some details (like when the tour started) are wrong, but at least it lists the time (4:30pm on Thursday, October 5) and location (Jimmy Stewart Theater on Nassau Street).

No info on tickets or pricing (if any), but another page says that “All members of the Princeton community are invited to attend”, which sounds like an open door policy to me.

I literally had tears in my eyes after reading yesterday’s Dr. McNinja. It’s not even so much the thought of an enraged Benjamin Franklin driving a speeding Honda Accord over two ninjas while flipping them off; it’s the text that appeared when placing the mouse over the image. Allow me to quote:

You don’t grow up thinking one day you’ll draw a picture that has both a pissed off gorilla AND a pissed off Ben Franklin on it. Not to mention a dinosaur coughing up a hot dog.

In my personal webcomics quote file, that one goes right next to Stop salting ham! And I, for one, am very glad that although he didn’t grow up thinking it, Chris Hastings did draw such a picture, and that Kent Archer inked it, and that I get to see it. Good job, guys.

Between travelling all over the northeastern tier of the continent and getting yelled at by Customs (man, that takes me back), and laptop troubles, it’s pretty impressive to note that Winterview #1 has been posted.

“Winterviews”, for those of you just joining in, are a series of video interviews being conducted by Winter McCloud and edited by her sister Sky, as they meet people on the year-long book-promotion death march jaunt known as the Making Comics 50 State Tour. Less than three weeks in, working in hotel rooms at the back seat of a minivan, producing a series of videocasts with subjects like Raina Telgemeier and Dave Roman? Did I mention that Winter and Sky are 11 and 13, respectively? Or that Sky is presenting at places like MIT about the tour?

To my jaded eye, Scott can be even prouder of his daughters than of Making Comics. And if anybody knows Customs agents on the Niagara crossing, find the guy that yelled at Scott and let him know that he’s a jerk.

Next up for Clan McCloud: Chapter 5½ hits soon, and talks in Princeton, Barcelona (not open to the public), SPX, and DC. Fleen invites reports from the field from any who are able to attend these goings-on.

So, the New York Times has discovered webcomics (sorta), as described here, here, and elsewhere; one wonders if between DJ Coffman and Drunk Duck, Platinum Studios will actually publish a comic book one day.

Ironically, the Times coverage of webcomics appears about the same time as some other media outlets. First up, over at the web version of Wizard, an interview with evil genius Jon Rosenberg. I don’t read Wizard, but I gather that a number of people are finding their web content much better than their print content. Rosenberg, who seems to be conquering the media these days, will also be the subject of a print article in Business 2.0 (estimated for December’s issue); the thrust of the article is likely to be about merchandising and how small merchants (like webcomics) can use the ‘net to accomplish their goals.

What this media blitz is really saying to me is, once again, collectives matter. Wizard ran their interview with Rich Stevens not long ago; in numerous interviews since his syndication deal, Stevens has been talking up his Dumbrella-mates. Following the B2.0 piece on Rosenberg, who knows what kinds of interest might be drummed up in Messers Rowland, Allison, Cloud, Brown, and Bell (some of whom appear as background elements in the photos taken to accompany the story). Heck, in the Wizard piece, Rosenberg also pushed Dayfree and Blank Label — even if yours is a strip in either of those collectives that Rosenberg didn’t mean to pimp, it got pimped anyway by association. That’s a powerful incentive for an ambitious webcomicker to a) join/form a collective; b) not suck; and c) make sure your fellow creators don’t suck, either.

Speaking of Blank Label, Paul Taylor has announced October 2nd as the target return date for Wapsi Square. Speaking purely for myself, Taylor should take as long as he needs to take care of his family; I’ll be waiting when he’s ready to get back to us. In the meantime, check out the photo of his son; that is one powerfully adorable picture right there. If you haven’t done so yet, consider dropping a few bucks into his donation link.

Update: The boys at PA have their way with the Platinum Studios announcement. Would-be exploiters of webcomics, ignore them at your peril.

Where to start, where to start? How about …

Item! Webcomics Merch Sighting! VH1‘s Best Week Ever continues the love of Dumbrellawear with a Hooray for Diversity t-shirt. In celebration of the fact that Goats has now followed the trail blazed by Overcompensating, the HfD shirt is on sale today only. If you ever wanted a shirt based on the ruminations of a corn lesbian, hop to it.

Item! Speaking of Overcompensating, Jeff Rowland got hit with a pretty nasty DDOS attack; things are now back up due in no small measure to Dumbrella Hosting principal (and Fleen publisher) Phillip Karlsson. You can get the whole story from Rowland at his Livejournal. With the Karlsson-engineered shift away from wigu.com/overcompensating to overcompensating.com, there’s every possibility that all bookmarks and links to Rowland’s strips (including those on Fleen) are now bad. Let us know if you find any.

Item! Brad Guigar reports that the Paul Taylor fundraiser is now up over $3000; good job, and keep up the good work.

Item! Honorary Fleen Field Reporter Scott Marshall writes:

My girlfriend and I attended the Halifax edition of the Word on the Street festival yesterday and met a bunch of great cartoonists, including Hope Larson, Joey Comeau, and Ryan North. I have a blog entry about it here.

Thanks for the field report, Scott; if you want to be an Honorary Fleen Field Reporter, just let us know what you encounter out there in the world o’ webcomics.

Item! Speaking of Hope Larson, Journalista points us to Heidi MacDonald who points us to Larson’s Livejournal that Diamond Distributors have decided to carry House of Sugar after all. Hooray for overturned bad decisions!

And from the hipster capital of the world, Item! Gary Kohler informs us that Married To The Sea got mentioned in New York magazine’s Approval Matrix. Check it out in the lower-right corner here.

So small Erin Winters was in a good mood, and then she drank the wrong digestion tonic in Shelley’s room, and now she’s enormous. But wait! Erin was worried that The Boy likes Esther because she’s blossomed, and now she’s got the aforementioned hair, gun show, and bazongas. John Allison, reaching his 1000th Scary Go Round strip, has left us with one hell of a cliffhanger; were it only until Monday before we saw more it would be a cruel wait, but he’s promised us:

In the tradition that you have come to expect – nay, DEMAND, I am setting up a cliffhanger that won’t be resolved for months. Sorry.

Cheeky devil. Worse, over much drink last night at The Pub, Allison dropped no hints whatsoever of what he was planning to do to us. Discreet cheeky devil. Still and all, having produced comics on the web for fully a third of his lifetime, Allison knows that we’ll wait on tenterhooks for the cliffhanger to resolve, because between these stories and forbidden t-shirts, we’re all his bitch.

In other news, Jeff Lowrey, formerly of this page, pointed us towards an exploration of Mystery In Comics. I’m intrigued, and as I mentioned yesterday, I’m curious as to whether or not there are similar legends that lend an air of mystery and myth to webcomics. So if you’ve heard a scurrilous rumor that’s been around long enough and spread wide enough to have elevated itself to the realm of Webcomics Urban Legend, toss ’em to me, and I’ll try to track down the real scoop. Could be disastrous interesting. Very, very interesting..

On account a’ you’ve been sending a lot of items to us for announcin’. Very well, then, let’s get to it.

Item! David Malki ! reminds us of the seven-way signing tomorrow at Meltdown Comics; any of you Angelenos near Hollywood should check it out if you like people named Cham, Ganter, Kellett, Kibiushi, Malki !, Straub, or Troop. And hell, if you don’t like at least one of them, why are you even here?

Item! With Talk Like A Pirate Day now firmly in the past for another year, you can now catch up on the past several days of pirate-themed comics at Savage Chickens. Thanks to Janet for the info.

Item! Gabe Strine has released Bodinki’s Blog, a printed collection of his popular online journal comic strip. Pick ‘er up at Lulu for $12.95, and you’ll even get some new strips.

That’ll take care of us for now; come back tomorrow when we delve into the darkest depths of Webcomics Mystery.