Okay, no more of that. I’m tried and cranky as hell, so here’s what to expect over the next couple of days:

1. Postings about SDCC (including this one) will be edited to include links and graphics, as well as some corrections prompted by comments from you. Thanks to everybody who supplied details when I was unable to.
2. A full writeup of sessions will be the next priority. Bill Barnes, moderator of the Webcomics 101|102|103 series, has directed people here for summaries of the sessions. In time, I hope to make this a permanent part of the site, maybe call it “Class Notes” or something.
3. Book reviews. Got everything I wanted except for the new Penny Arcade volume, so I’ll pick that up (hopefully) this week.

Lastly, congrats to Eisner winner Scott Kurtz, for the category (Best Digital Comic) that most closely resembles “webcomics”.

Update: I’m sure that Aaron Renier is a nice person and I like just about everything that Top Shelf does, but fie! Fie on the Eisner voters for overlooking Ursula Vernon as “Talent Deserving of Wider Recognition”. To right this grievous wrong, I’m telling you all to go read through Digger if you haven’t already. Buy the book, too.

Update: He may not work in webcomics, but he’s a great friend of the medium and a hell of a nice guy, so congratulations also to Eisner winner Andy Runton, who clearly produces the “Best Publication for a Younger Audience”.

Update: Speaking of Graphic Smash, I was unable to attend Mr. T‘s session on Sunday regarding the History of Webcomics, wherein I understand there were to be announcements regarding the changes at GS. T, if you’re reading, point us to the info.

Update: I was also unable to attend the Lee Marrs “Hypercomics” session; if anybody can give us a rundown, the contact link is just over there to the right.

Links and graphics to be added to these reports later. But hey: Saturday update! Here are the haps from Friday at San Diego Comic Con:

• The Lovely Lads of (Blank) Label have a plan for domination; these gentlemen do not merely constitute a group of like-minded talents, but the cogs of a finely-tuned Webcomics Engine that seeks to operate with maximum purpose and efficiency. If you meet Paul Taylor, speak up, as I fear his hearing has been damaged a bit from sitting between the very loud shirts worn by David Willis and Howard Tayler.
• The Dangerous Dudes of Dumbrella, by contrast, do not have a plan any more elaborate than “have fun with friends” and “make sure the booth has exactly what the fans want” (and that includes not merely merchandise and the ability to pay with plastic; it also means access to creators who are accessible and truly appreciative of their visitors). Sadly, nobody took me up on the $1 Challenge, and so the world does not know what the collective noun for members of Dumbrella is.
  Update: There have been multiple guesses in the comments and let me say, you’re all so far away from the real answer, it’s not even funny. Hint #1: The answer is in the form a “____ of ____”. Hint #2: No variation of the world “Dumbrella” appears in the answer.
• I have a new found respect for Bill Barnes, Kris Straub, and Dave Kellett with their mad moderation skills. A snap invite and hasty acceptance led to me standing at a podium and microphone to “run” the Dumbrella panel. Really, it’s an easy job, since all you have to do with Messers Bell, Cloud, Rosenberg, Rowland, and Stevens is to wind ’em up and let ’em loose.
• Not that the good Mr Barnes doesn’t know what it’s like herding cats; he did an admirable job keeping Webcomics 102: Finding Your Audience moving at a smart clip; large room (estimated 200 capacity, SRO), with a fans/want to make webcomics breakdown of about 25/175. There will have to be a fuller explanation later about what happens when you put R Stevens, Kris Straub, Scott Kurtz, Gabe, and Tycho on stage together, but for now, we’ll let Kurtz summarize it with one word: lesbians.
• I was unable to attend the Keenspot Spotlight on Awesomeness, but I understand that there was a screening of Meredith Gran’s Polar-oid (do a search in that little box over to the right). What was actually pretty “Keenspot awesome” that I did see was witnessing Jon Rosenberg talking to a nice young lady about her strong negative feelings on Keenspot, urging her to ever greater heights of verbal disdain while Darren “Gav” Bleuel was standing right behind her, finally introducing the two of them. Very funny, and Jon — you’re going to hell.
• Cool Thing of the Day: At the BLC panel, Dave Kellett on syndication vs. going it alone, quote, In this liminal state, where print is dying and webcomics are rising, I know of no syndicated cartoonist who has been syndicated since 2000, who doesn’t have a second job, unquote.

Right there, ladies and gentlemen, that’s why webcomics matter.

• Possibly Cooler Thing of the Day: You may have had some difficulty getting through to the site yesterday. That’s because Scott McCloud, in an interview with Wired.com, listed Fleen (along with Comixpedia and The Webcomics Examiner) as a good place to learn about this crazy medium we love. “Fleen’s become a good source,” he told me. For the record, I did not squee like a 13 year old fangirl, but that glow you see on the horizon is me in an incandescent state of joy.

Saturday Sessions of Note: How to Make Compelling Web Comics with Lee Marrs at 4:00 to 5:00 pm, Webcomics 103: Making Money at 6:00 to 7:00, and with Bill Barnes, Robert Khoo, Phillip Karlsson (Dumbrella Hosting), Howard Tayler, and Jennie Breeden. I’ve wanted to see webcomics business guys like Khoo and Karlsson on stage for a while so this one looks good.

Lessons from Thursday at San Diego Comic Con:

• The Lovely Ladies of Lulu are making the rounds. Given the growing prevalence of their company in producing webcomics collections, keep an eye open for them at future shows. Also, if you hold a panel on self-publishing solutions and say something like, “There’s no internet-driven solution for self publishing,” expect Annie and Leah to start some.
• Phil Foglio has copies of the latest Girl Genius collection! Review of Agatha Heterodyne and the Clockwork Princess sometime in the coming week. Additionally, Foglio’s Buck Godot stories will be coming to the web! Psmith will likely be dumped in all at once, to be followed by Zap Gun For Hire and a newly-colored Gallimaufry a page at a time, like Girl Genius. No immediate date, unfortunately.
• Also in the review queue: Paul Taylor’s Wapsi Square collection, Sparkling Diplomacy, The Retribution Index, Flight III, The History of Webcomics, and assuming Customs gets their shit together, Epic Legends of the Sword Kings.
  Update: Customs did not get their shit together, so purchase and review ASAP; on the plus side, I got to meet the PA Booth Babes (Brenna, Kara, and Theresa) as I repeatedly popped over to ask about the book, and they all rule.
• Check one more item off my list of things to do before I die: drink amazing single-malts with the greatest bartender in the world, Tycho, Scott McCloud, and Lore.
• Cool Thing of the Day: At Webcomics 101: Getting Started, SDCC session room volunteer Dan LaFever and I got to talking; Room 3 has a rated capacity of 150 people, and we were full up. In response to the question, “Are you here primarily because you like the work of somebody on the panel, or because you want to make a webcomic?”, the response was about 20 people for “fan” and 130 for “I want to make a webcomic”. Lots went on at this panel, and we’ll have a full debrief on it later.
• Possibly Cooler Thing of the Day: Alfred, God’s own bartender, on a particularly wonderful single-malt (and please bear in mind that I cannot properly reproduce his beautiful speech rhythms): “It was if angels were pissing on your tongue.”
  Update: Saturday night, Alfred continued his magic, culminating in the sharing of a small bottle of pure single-malt magic. “I want to kiss you square on the mouth,” I told him. He laughed heartily, as if he hears this sort of thing all the time. He probably does.

Friday Sessions of Note: Blank Label Comics at 10:30 to 11:30 am, Dumbrella at 2:30 to 3:30, and Webcomics 102: Finding Your Audience with Bill Barnes, Gabe & Tycho, R Stevens, Scott Kurtz, and Kristofer Straub.

Hey kids, got sporadic WiFi, so fast updates and no graphics until later; heck, probably won’t be able to keep up on regular webcomics trawls. Things that stuck out at Preview Night of San Diego Comic Con:

• Live photo updates (well, every five minutes or so) from the Dumbrella (our corporate master) booth may be found here.
• Liz Greenfield is super nice, and you need to see her three comics to appreciate how cool the CD-style packaging is. How nice? Write one review comparing her to John Cusack, and she will envelop you in affection.
• Check one more item off my list of things to do before I die: tell Scott McCloud in person that I’m the guy that liked The New Adventures of Abraham Lincoln. As he put it, “Oh, you’re the one.” Hopefully, there will be a chance to pick McCloud’s brain on webcomics business models over sophisticated adult beverages, as I have long since owed that guy a beer.
• Cool Thing of the Day: Jon Rosenberg and Andy Bell both had toys for sale, the culmination of a two-year ordeal involving capricious manufacteries, literal slow boats from China, and virgin vinyl stock (so named, I suspect, because it’s hand-made by craftsmen who roll it out on the thighs of Bolivian virgins). Congratulations to Rosenberg and Bell! And to the person who stole the Diablo sample off the table: this is why we’re not allowed to have nice things.
• Possibly Cooler Thing of the Day: R Stevens will have three dozen Red Robot toys in the booth Friday; no two-year ordeal here, just a bit of luck meeting the right guy at MoCCA. Okay, they’re wood and feature zero points of articulation, but as Stevens puts it, “Three goddamn weeks, I have toys.” Score one for a craftsman who doesn’t need Bolivian virgins, just supreme skill with a bandsaw and an appreciation of pixels.
• Lastly, keep your eyes on this site in the near future for news of a Very Special project devoted to a Very Special topic: HAM. Although be warned: say the word “ham” to Dave Kellett, and he hears “pig fisting”.

Thursday Sessions of Note: Webcomics 101: Getting Started at 6:00 to 7:00 pm. Webcomics-interest panels also at 6:00 – 7:00 pm — Fred Gallagher will be part of CMX: Mega Manga and Kazu Kibiushi will be part of Random House Publishing Group Graphic Novels.

Technical difficulties are preventing the awards presentation at the moment; hopefully they will be up at the main site before long. In the meantime, the list of winners may be found here.

And from the conspiracy desk, please note that Achewood was a) shut out of the Winners Circle; and b) unavailable for a good chunk of time yesterday. COINCIDENCE? Or proof of something SINISTER?

Okay, that’s all I got — time to hit the plane and haul out to San Diego; updates from the Nerd Prom as I’m able.

So it appears that Jeff Rowland is on-board (ha, ha) with the Snakes on a Plane panel at SDCC, along with with Samuel L. Jackson(!), David Ellis (director), and Jules Sylvester (the snake wrangler).

Rowland reports a 10:30am Friday panel time (same as the Blank Label panel — tough break, guys), but as of this writing the SDCC schedule lists what appears to be that session on Friday at 5:45pm. As always, check frequently for time revisions.

I was all set to write about the continuation of videogame themes and the purest form of intimacy on display at Diesel Sweeties, but then I came across Modern Tales and The Big Announcement from Colonel Joey Manley. Key excerpts:

Putting aside the question of business models, the most unique aspect of Modern Tales is that it operates as an edited filtered, high-quality collection of work … Yes, it’s a great thing that anybody can publish anything at any time. Yes, many great webcomics that would never have made it past an editor are big hits, earning money and acclaim for their creators. If there were only edited portals, that would be a bad, bad thing indeed — webcomics would be no more interesting, or exciting, than traditional media. I am completely in agreement with that line of thinking. But, given that webcomics is dominated by non-edited, self-published media, as great as that is for the vitality of the medium, there’s room for at least one site, maybe a small handful, that are run along more traditional magazine-style lines. An edited portal provides a point of reference for new webcomics readers, who aren’t already familiar with the scene, as well as for big-time webcomics fans who are always looking for more great stuff to add to their extensive bookmarks. It allows all readers to dive into webcomics that they’re likely to enjoy, without having to read through 4,000 duds first.

and

As you may have heard, we’ve decided to open up the vast majority of the site to non-paying readers, and to recruit even more webcomics to join us on a free basis, while maintaining our tightly-focused editorial mission. You’ll see those new free strips roll out in the coming weeks and months. The new editor for the free section of our site, who will be posting here soon, will have more to say on that subject.

The new editor referenced, as you may recall, is a one Mr Eric Alfred Burns I, Esq., BA (Snark), whose work one may find here-ish. What with the propitiousness of the week and all, we at Fleen expect to hear from Burns at MT shortly; it’s been a long road since Manley and Burns announced the forthcoming changes at MT, and I think we all hope that the time was well spent. Congrats to Manley and Burns, and here’s to the new Modern Tales.

First, compelling new wallpaper from Owen Dunne of You Damn Kid and The Beevnicks. Could an announcement about the FOX option on YDK be forthcoming at SDCC?

Second, Sinfest drops a Sunday-style strip, which (to my recollection) is a new thing for Tastsuya Ishida. Could this be the first of many?

So, Ian Jones-Quartey, boy genius behind RPG World, since moved on to other things, gave me the go-ahead last night to point y’all to his movie. We’ve mentioned UNFAIR previously, but Ian was keepin’ things kind of close, waiting for his film to appear in some festivals before he unleashed it on an unsuspecting world.

But with a couple of screenings under his belt (seriously, he needs to put some of those curly-olive-branch logos on his poster), he’s shifted thoroughly into distribution mode. So as not to completely swamp his bandwidth, he’s released a Flash port here; it’s probably better when larger, but there’s plenty there to love.

We at Fleen expect great things from Jones-Quartey, including a long and glorious career animating, so now’s the time to check his best work to date and be able to say, “Yeah, I followed that guy from when he was right out of school.” And some day, when he’s on some con panel doing publicity for his fourth feature film, be sure to ask him, “When are you going to finish RPG World?” He’ll love that.

Some few items you may have missed …

Over at Something*Positive, it’s question time as Randy Milholland looks for seven reader questions that he can answer in-strip (as seen previously here). If you have something that’s been burning a hole in your brain about S*P, drop him a line. As an added bonus, Milholland has added links for the previous five installments, which helps to keep storylines accessible.

Christopher B. Wright is overcoming recent Job-like travails that have beset him to kick said travails square in the ‘nads. Or at lest, update Help Desk regularly, which is almost as good.

John Allison is making me fall in love with Scary Go Round all over again today. You have a clash of good vs. evil, a girlfight, Scott Pilgrim-esque videogame visual shorthand (similarly seen in PvP recently), and a punch that’s a total justification for why Esther is my new favorite character. PLUS a panty shot! It’s like fan service just for me.

And if that weren’t more fun than humans should be allowed to have (and my goodness, don’t you think it should be?), Allison informs us that although he will not be in attendance at SDCC next week, copies of SGR Book 4, The Retribution Index, will. Note to self: bring another $20 to Comic Con.