So it seems that there’s a newspaper comic out there called Unfit by a guy named Mike Belkin; don’t feel bad — I hadn’t heard of it either. Anyway, it seems that Belkin is looking to reduce his role and have somebody else take over the art. What’s interesting about this is how the artist search is being conducted: Scott Adams of Dilbert fame posted an open call in his blog, and got about 80 serious entries. Those got posted, and from votes and comments in the blog, the list has been cut to 15 finalists.

One of them is Dave “Alyson Hannigan’s favorite cartoonist” Kellet (no, we’re not ever going to stop linking that story; did you not see that photo?). Says Kellet:

… opportunities are increasingly rare in the land of syndication, so I thought I’d draw up two quick samples. In any case, those two quick samples made it to the final round of “voting”… so I thought I’d spread the word. Folks can vote by commenting on Adams’ blog [at the bottom of this page].

PS: By no means whatsoever would this mean the end of Sheldon … it’s just a new project that I’d be taking on.

Now I’d be more than happy to point you all to Kellet’s entries (which are currently ranked below some much less quality work), just based on the fact that he does some great webcomics work, but two other things are motivating me today. First is that Kellet added:

Please ask that folks avoid ballot stuffing, etc. That kind of shit gets really old on web voting. I’d really like their vote only if it’s genuinely the one they’d pick.

That’s a stand-up guy right there. Dave Kellet is like the Thomas Edison of having integrity. The second is that if Kellet wins this gig, I’m going to hit him up for an interview about what syndication is really like, and follow up with him at regular intervals to see how having a boss meets (or doesn’t) his expectations. Heck, I’ll be talking with him anyway about the siren song of syndication, what he would want from it, and how it fits in his plans to conquer the world from the comics page. Check out the contenders, vote for Kellet if you like his work best, and watch this space for more information.

John Allison asked about a month ago if he should reprint his first Scary Go Round collection, Looks, Brains and Everything, and the audiences of the inernets said, “Yes, please”. Well, he’s a man of his word. If you don’t own the first SGR collection, now’s your chance to order it and reinforce John’s faith in humanity. If you asked for it and don’t order it, you’re an evil bastard and you’re going to hell. Come on, people! Zombie Shelley! New cover art! Unruly charges! This is cooler than the way-hot art chick I saw wearing the Eggbert shirt at the MoMA Pixar exhibit!

Also on this fine Monday, what will probably be the final word on Child’s Play 2005: the long-awaited $20,000 guest appearance is finally here. As Tycho remarks in today’s newspost:

Many stories about the man who donated that money bubbled to the surface that night. Was he a friend to young people, fashioned from transient living snow? Ex-game developer, perhaps. Possible vampire, dispensing a hoard of ancestral wealth over lonely centuries. I even heard (actually, for real heard it) that he was the luminous counterpart to Jack Thompson: a lawyer who used his powers for good, not evil.

Truth is, his name is Christian Boggs, and he deserves your praise and thanks. Thank you, Christian Boggs.

First of all, Jephy McJacquespants got snippy with us the other day — mocking, even — and so we’re not going to give him the satisfaction of a full writeup of Dr McNinja, no matter how much he pimps it. We’re just going to quietly enjoy it ourselves.

Secondly, Achewood appears to have settled once and for all who the cooler character is: Roast Beef or Ray. Sure, the focus these days shifts between them about equally (probably favoring Ray), and they’re both cats of high comedic accomplishment; they straight-up think the deep thoughts like, if an atom bomb goes off, you should check Yahoo News. And plus I have been wanting to drink beer. Truly, lessons for life.

But what tips things permanently in favor of Beef is his reaction today when he realized that Ray comes from a noble lineage:

Serious dude in the 1973 Fight your dad pioneered some of the rawest moves in modern brawling ! He was like the Thomas Edison of handing a dude his ass !

First off: Beef used punctuation. He hardly ever does that, generally only when his is truly delighted and at his most polite; you gotta get some truly deep-down Beef emotions for punctuation to appear.

Secondly, today saw the birth of what history will surely record as the Very Finest Roast Beefism Ever: the Thomas Edison of handing a dude his ass. I predict generic form of x is like the Thomas Edison of y will be the next nerd-culture meme, even displacing the venerable Step 3: Profit! and Needs more cowbell. But what did you expect? Chris Onstad is like the Thomas Edison of amazing dialogue.

So Chris Baldwin over at Little Dee pointed us (and by “us”, I mean, “the population of the intarweb”) at a promising new strip called Pirate and Alien. It’s still relatively new, so hop over and take a look at the archive, then we’ll talk. It’s cool. We’ll wait.

Okay, first things: creator Tyson Smith is typically the art half of a brother act that has several comic/music/movie projects under its belt. Normally his brother Ian does the words, so it’s encouraging that Smith seems to have an ear for dialogue, and a strong enough sense of character that the titular Pirate (Filthy Jerome to you) and Alien (not yet named) feel like different people. He even left enough character over for the Pirate’s parrot, Bartholomew. The art has a loose, scribbly feel, like Tom Hart’s Hutch Owen with a more controlled line. Smith’s use of color in broad swaths is also pretty Hartesque, which isn’t surprising given the indy comic work that the Smith brothers have produced.

That link to Emily is important about now, because it’s got a hint of J. Otto Siebold in it, which you want to keep your eye on. It’s the common element between Smith’s work here, and the rest of his portfolio, which has a J. Otto-meets-John A. feel to it. It’s impressive that Smith is able to shift between such different styles, as most illustrators using the, uh, Illustrator style come off as highly derivative of Stephen Silver or those Esurance commercials (which themselves are more than a little derivative of everybody’s favorite Girl Spy; call your solicitor, Mr A!).

Where were we? Right: good characterization, art that evokes (but doesn’t mimic) some standouts in various fields, and booty. And thus far, Smith has avoided the cliches of ninjas and monkeys, so bonus points for originality! Oh, and Baldwin? Dee better be safe, or we’re going to have words.

From Penny Arcade, a message from an insider on the world of viral marketing:

I actually hired a company called Hype Council…. Their technique is quite insidious. Let’s say they were hired to pump up PA (not like you need the buzz, but whatever…). Using one of the hundreds of shill accounts they have across the net, they post a new thread that says something like “hey guys, I’ve been looking for some new web comics to read. Anybody have any recommendations?” This is non-threatening, and gets the community engaged. They then wait a couple days and post again, this time with “Well, I asked some friends and they suggested I check out Penny Arcade (insert link). I thought it was pretty funny, although I didn’t like all the cuss words. What do you guys think?” Again, seeking engagement, they now have stealthily inserted the client’s link, thereby encouraging trial.

It’s all very insidious and, I’m sure, widespread. So much so that I don’t trust anything I read. Unless it’s a board where I “know” the posters, I always assume everyone on the board is a shill.

Fortunately, most webcomics types appear to be poor to the point of starving, so you need not worry that your favorite forums are the province of paid shills. OR DO YOU? The drunken Burnsian lament about us making fun of him (2 taps on the Page Dn should do it) and the followup comments name-checking us? Clever product-placement dollars at work, my friend.

On a cheerier note, the “Comics of Note” feature at The Onion AV Club has a brief review of On the Origin of PCs, the new book from The Order of the Stick. Highlights:

It takes a fairly geeky mind to properly appreciate all the gags in Rich Burlew’s thrice-weekly webcomic “The Order Of The Stick,” which follows a band of Dungeons & Dragons-style warriors on a series of quests, complete with occasional references to die rolls, skill points, and the fourth wall. But while the jokes are occasionally insular and the art is simple, the increasingly intricate and cleverly scripted adventures should appeal to a much wider audience….With its black-and-white art and character-introducing storyline, it’s really a fans-only release, but there’s never been a better time to become a fan.

Congrats to Rich Burlew for cracking the mainstreamish press, and if you’re a creator with a collection coming out? Throw a copy in an envelope to the press and/or Alyson Hannigan. Can’t hurt.

So the theory is that people go through stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Dunno if you buy it or not, but I got to thinking about it today because of what’s been going on over at Something Positive for the last couple of days. It started, of course, when Faye died in her sleep and the reality of it hit Fred. It’s hard to tell how much time goes by between panels 6 and 12, but it doesn’t look like much. And Randy Milholland has always portrayed Fred as ultimately a realist (sarcastic, slightly evil, explosive, and grouchy, but ultimately a realist), so it’s not surprising that he seems to skip at least denial and anger.

Today, he’s seemingly even further into acceptance. Mind you, I’m not a clinical shrink of any sort, but while his very soul seems to be slump-shouldered, he honestly seems happy for what he had and fully mindful of what he lost. Of course, he’s not really one given to bargaining, is he?

Naturally, the initial shock of his loss may be masking a long-term journey to dealing with Faye’s demise. We haven’t really seen this done at length in webcomics before, but it has been handled (from a different perspective) on the newspaper comic page. Over in Doonesbury, BD lost a leg in Iraq and also skipped a stage, but has spent much of the past two years wildly careening back and forth in a state of emotional imbalance. Hopefully, Milholland’s ear for his characters will match Trudeau’s, and we’ll see a journey that’s portrayed intelligently, sensitively, and with humor.

Okay, so it’s not Monday morning anymore. Bite me.

Sylvan Migdal got really scary in Ascent today (quick shot here of the last panel in case you don’t have a Graphic Smash subscription). For those who lived through the 80s, a Diff’rent Strokes reference is bad enough, but to bring up The Nancinator from the Very Special Episode about Drugs? Scary.

Second, if you haven’t seen the discussion about how Jeph Jacques threatens every webcomic and person you love, go read it quick. And thanks to Tropylium for informing us that there is a fairly comprehensive list of crossovers that can be easily referenced. When I wrote the crossover piece, I was actually thinking that we need something like that, but graphical (spurred, no doubt by Nic’s suggestion along the lines of the music map). And much like Nic, it should not be done by me, as I am a lazy, lazy man.

So, one of you talented programmers should get in touch with L.P. Hogan of the Crossover & Cameo Archive, mine through the data, and build a graphical display that shows crossovers between strips. Once that’s done, we’ll have a contest. First person to come up with a webcomic that existed with at least x (to be determined) number of strips on date y (ditto) that wouldn’t be affected by the QC/OCalypse gets a Fleen t-shirt.

(Contest void where prohibited by law, which probably includes wherever you are. Chances of winning highly dependent on there someday being Fleen shirts, but I wouldn’t hold your breath if I were you.)

Jeph Jacques continues his quest to feature cameos from every webcomic in existence. Helen and Dave appear in the background of panel 1 in yesterday’s Questionable Content. This is an incredibly dangerous trend … stick with me here.

QC is fast becoming the Kevin Bacon of webcomics; if Dwayne McDuffie’s theory of TV crossovers applies to webcomics as well, this means webcomcis as we know them don’t really exist. Counting cameos and explicit crossovers, you can play Six Degrees of Marten and Faye with Punks and Nerds, Something Positive, Midnight Macabre, New Gold Dreams, Queen of Wands, Bobbin, Scandal Sheet, Scary Go Round, Bobbins, Goats, Worlds of Peril (subscription needed, links through Fineas), megaGAMERZ 3133T, The Creatures In My Head, Nukees (which gives us Schlock Mercenary), Mystic for Hire, Buzzboy, Narbonic, Lil’ Mel, Picture Story Theatre, Fans (subscription needed, links through Dr Narbon), College Roomies From Hell, Roomies/It’s Walky/Joyce and Walky, Shortpacked, Melonpool (iteration 1), Cool Cat Studio (reference in Fans to Evil Mike), Lethal Doses, Winter, Mac Hall, Megatokyo, Applegeeks, Angry Zen Master, Little Gamers, Ctrl-Alt-Delete, Waiting for Bob, User Friendly, When I Grow Up, Wigu, Magical Adventures in Space, The TV Network Channel, Overcompensating, PvP, Penny Arcade, Diesel Sweeties, and Sluggy Freelance all sharing a reality.

If the guest strips from when Pete Abram’s daughter was born are considered canon, you can work in Bruno the Bandit, Kevin and Kell and GPF (which leads to Newshounds, Help Desk and Kernel Panic). Actually, allowing guest strips is probably a bad idea, as it permits the Jacques/Logan rivalry further space to spread its poison. Finally, if you consider content not explicitly designed for the web, you can even link in Calvin and Hobbes and Garfield! And that’s just off the top of my head. Now considering that Melonpool rebooted, and Jeff Rowland has a tendency to delete universes, this means that Jacques may have managed to invalidate the existence of most of webcomics.

For the love of God, Jeph … stop hurting webcomics.

Object of geek affection Alyson Hannigan was seen sporting a copy of Dave Kellet’s Pure Ducky Goodness (first print collection from Sheldon). It’s probably overstating the case to assume that Hannigan is a fan of Sheldon or any of the other Blank Label Comics (although, maybe she picked up some tendencies from well-known geek Seth Green during their time on Buffy). More than likely it was a set dresser or prop monkey that provided the book, but it’s entirely possible that Ms Hannigan is a fan of our prefered artform.

However cool this is, Howard Tayler may have jumped the gun in declaring his collective as the first to get a webcomic on TV. Depending on how you stretch your terms, that honor may go to Dumbrella, thanks to one of Jeff Rowland’s Topatoco shirts appearing on VH1 (and previously in Overcompensating). But there’s no disputing that having Alyson Hannigan touch your product is the cooler of the two events, and if I were Kellet, I’d be claiming a close personal friendship with the flame-haired goddess about now.

Edit: Consensus is emerging that Alyson Hannigan is indeed a fan of Sheldon. It is now incumbent upon Dave Kellet to use this situation for the good of all. And by that, I mean influencing Ms Hannigan to read, love, and publicly promote many other webcomics and uh, webcomics blog contributors.

So Panda Express is a year old. It’s a story being told from multiple perspectives that involves a missing father, a possibly megalomanical goat, ninjas, an American roller-disco afficinado, a girl, and her (possibly nuclear-powered) panda. We’re not going to talk about it today.

We are going to talk about [Insert Title Here]; with PX reaching its first birthday and nearly 100 installments (click on “read the comic” to get the pop-up), the creators have decided to start a second strip, written entirely by their readers. As long as you adhere to the guidelines, you can contribute to this undertaking. So far, there are two pages up — the first sets an odd stage, with potential story hooks everywhere. The second (same page, just scroll down a little) was written by somebody named “Gore of Gorilla”, and has caromed off into even more random territory. The third will be up sometime after the next round of submissions closes, which will be the end of the day tomorrow.

This is an oddly interactive approach for creators, letting the audience have full collaborative rights (and it’ll cause lit-crit types to go even crazier than usual on the topic of authorial intent). Maybe not so weird, considering that [ITH] doesn’t let readers anywhere near the ongoing PX story or characters, but still … it’s hard to imagine an experiment like this being even possible (much less succeeding) in just about any other medium. The update schedule will necessarily be a bit random, and it’s going to be tough to evaluate or review the comic itself, with so many different hands in the effort. But for sheer, ballsy, let’s see what works effort? Hard to beat.

Edit: The creators don’t name themselves on the PX website, so I emailed asking who should be getting the credit and praise here. They replied that they keep their names to themselves so as not to overshadow the work, so all of us should be directing our love towards the individuals sometimes known as Art Monkey and Grammar Cowboy. Good job, guys!