So what happens when you throw somebody functional in among the dysfunctional? Pure comedy gold, my friends.

Meredith Gran has dropped her latest Octopus Pie update (14 pages worth of awesome), and we’re given a 14 page tale of a magical awesome guy, told in media res. Who is the mysterious, handsomely mustachioed individual sleeping on the couch, and why does Eve smile at him so sweetly around her yogurt spoon? Why do Marek, Hanna, and even Manuel find him so comfortable to be around? And why, oh why does the coffee get served by sock puppets?

You want answers to these questions? The answers are inside you. Except for the one about the sock puppets. I have no idea what that’s about. And I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that Gran has knocked herself out with facial expressions in this update (warning: that last link has the SUPRISE TWIST ENDING, so don’t read it early); her characters always have had a certain transformability that mere mortals lack, but this time, it’s grounded in a way that’s both cartoony and restrained (bonus points for the feline anatomical study which so beautifully expressed frenetic action in static images). Bravo.

• Not webcomics, but close enough: Eloise makes stuff in the UK, mostly prints with a strong fairy-tale component. Paperchase are a stationery store chain in the UK. They have also apparently taken elements of one of Eloise’s prints and traced it badly onto a tote bag (scroll down) and possibly an album. Good news: they’ve apparently taken the offending album down from Amazon.uk, but they’re stonewalling Eloise’s attempts to get them to agree to not sell this stuff.

  We’ve been through this nonsense plenty of times with webcomickers, and it’s always the same thing that needs to be done: contact the offender and let them know that they’ve got to do better than issue a statement that says, “Not our fault”. Since that statement just happens to end up on a page that would let one contact Paperchase, well gosh — it could hardly be more convenient to let them know (politely, please) what you think of the situation. Go forth, my minions, and protect the interests of the independent creator.

• New funding mechanism for said independent creator, and Eric Snark-White has some thoughts on it. I’ll admit I didn’t get what Flattr was trying to achieve until Eric identified it as the busker model — you can’t possible get money unless you’ve already given away the product. Not likely to be a huge amount, but free money is free money. Expect to see Flattr links (and hopefully, a new name for the service, because that one’s just stupid) on webcomic sites in the immediate future.

Readers of this page know that I love me some Abominable Charles Christopher (no link, as will become clear momentarily); Karl Kerschl’s artwork is sublime, and the story is by turns heartbreaking, poignant, hilarious, and intriguing.

It’s also dangerous right now.

It’s Wednesday, so during a quick break I browsed over to the ACC site to get my chuckle on (successfully, I might note), and after reading the comic, noticed a blogpost from Kerschl that the site had been hacked earlier in the day. Then I noticed a pop-up warning from my virus scanner. Then I pulled the network cable and started researching.

These things change so quickly, it’s impossible to say if Kerschl’s site was seeded with just one variant of nasty, but at least in my case, I got a drive-by infection with what some call “Netsky Spyware Alert” or “Fake Worm”. Did a bit of research (thank you HijackThis) some repair (thank you, LSPFix), and some cleanup (thank you, Malwarebytes), with invaluable reference info from people who hate badware even more than I do. And this is on a machine that uses Opera instead of Internet Explorer, as well as resident rogue blockers.

Anyway, as of this writing, Kerschl is working on cleaning things up with the able assistance of Official Smart Dude and ComicPress creator Tyler Martin. Karl will let us know when it’s safe to go back in the water, and in the meantime, I need your help. I have promised Kerschl my assistance in beating the snot out of the lowlifes that targeted him in this fashion, and I’ll possibly need bail money at some point in the future; you don’t have to send anything now, just if you have a spare five bucks that could go to the cause, we’ll let you know.

Also, please take this opportunity to double-check your own security arrangements, both on your personal machine and any sites that you may have. We will always have those that seek to do us harm, whether for jollies or for padding their own pockets. We will take hits from time to time. But we don’t have to make it easy for them.

Okay, onto the non-suck:

• Achewood in the real world sighting (thanks to longtime buddy/Best Boy at my wedding Brett g Porter for the heads-up): from the NPR jazz blog (“A Blog Supreme”), Patrick Jarenwattananon notes the eerie similarity between Terence Blanchard and Ray Smuckles.
• Andy (I always assumed it was short for “Andrew”, but perhaps it’s for “Android”?) Bell ups the stakes regarding his Android figures, adding the first of the variant profiles, pricing info ($7.25 a pop, with case discounts) and a sale date (Feb 10 online from Dead Zebra, presumably here).
• You may have heard that Heidi MacDonald had announced that her bloggery would be moving from its Publishers Weekly-sponsored home; that’s been accomplished, and one may now find The Beat at its own site. I always like hanging out and comparing notes with Heidi, and we at Fleen wish her all the best as the archives transition continues.
• You may also have heard of Webcomics Community, one of several open fora that launched in the aftermath of the Webcomics Dot Com shift to subscriptions. Rob Tracy, general in-charge guy at WC, sends word of a pretty interesting series of how-to articles, with one of particular interest: Scott Raymond, Ustream system admin, talking on how to do effective streaming presentations. Good stuff.

Stop happening so much, things! Seriously, since I opened the computer this morning, multiple things have been added to today. For instance, the news that Bill Watterson did an interview, which totally included this exchange:

How soon after the U.S. Postal Service issues the Calvin stamp will you send a letter with one on the envelope?

Immediately. I’m going to get in my horse and buggy and snail-mail a check for my newspaper subscription.

I think that’s the Cronkite Moment for newspapers. In other happenings:

• It is Hourly Comic Day. John Campbell has been chronicling his hourly existence for the past month, and today everybody else is, too. There’s still time to get in on the deal since (as Campbell affirms) you do not have to be a fancy drawer to do this.
• Even more ambitious than hourly comics? Launching a new webcomic on Hourly Comic Day, which is exactly what Jamie Noguchi did. You might remember Noguchi from some comics as Angry Zen Master and the first story arc of Erfworld, and now he brings you ¥ellow Peril, which I can’t but help think will turn out well. Get in on the ground floor.
• Even more ambitious than launching a new webcomic on Hourly Comic Day? Announcing a contest for a paid webcomic gig on Hourly Comic Day, which is exactly what The Escapist is doing; you might remember The Escapist for the blindingly funny and high-speed video game reviews by Ben “Yahtzee” Crowshaw, but as near as I can tell, this contest has nothing to do with Croshaw (who has made his opinions of certain webcomics [scroll down] and genres clear). Instead, well, let’s let them tell the big part:
  

  A paid webcomic contract with The Escapist! The winner will then be contacted by The Escapist to negotiate contract obligations. [emphasis mine]

  Please Note
  Regardless of the webcomic that wins, we are looking for someone who is dedicated to creating top level content for The Escapist. In doing so, please be aware that you will be asked to create at least two (2) pieces of content a week, for the negotiated time of the agreement. If you do not feel as though you have this ability at this point in time, we hope you will support the other contestants who are ready to make that commitment and keep us in mind if a time comes when you are able to possibly join our team.

  … which is pretty vague. A term of contract to be negotiated, for a payment to be negotiated, and if you can’t keep up two updates a week for however long, don’t bother. I’d normally tell you to beware hidden terms in something like this (and the full contest details are at that link), but there’s just so little to base a judgement on. Um, hold out for good terms if you win?

• Okay, that’s everything that happened today, which I hope hasn’t knocked from the public consciousness a story that was brewing over the weekend: Mark Siegel, one of the stalwarts at :01 Books (Editorial Director, in fact), has launched a new webcomic and it’s beautiful. Sailor Twain, or the Mermaid in the Hudson is running Monday/Wednesday/Friday (with a healthy launch archive all built up), and features the most gorgeous, soft, charcoal-looking art I can recall. Two men, one mythical creature, and a river with its own dose of mystery collide in 1887. Read this one now.
• As a final followup: Andy Bell’s Android figures? Twelve designs blind-boxed in cases of sixteen, dammit. Pricing and purchase info to be announced later this month, and now I’ve got to clear space on my shelves for all of these and my wife is going to kill me. I knew following Andy down the road into vinyl toys would be my undoing.

Okay, in about 90 minutes I have to drive 200 miles up that little slice of heaven known as I-95; this is gonna be quick, and while you’re at it, pray for Mojo.

• To get back to the question above, I refer you firstly to Exhibit A, and then to Exhibit B. A previously-unheralded genius known as The Yarnmaiden systematically deconstructed the t-shirt, reshaped the formely boxy drape, and remixed it into something completely new. This is one trend that I’d like to see continue.
• Max Huffman‘s now no longer the youngest awesome webcomic creator (although the fact that the latest Mocktopus strip features Huffman and his much younger brother is eerily coincidental). Ladles and ginglemiffs, I give you Malachai Nicolle, author of AXE COP, age five (the usual AXE COP site has been hammered so thoroughly in the last 24 hours that it’s essentially dead; try the mirror).

  See, Ethan Nicolle (29) was hanging with brother Malachai (as mentioned, 5), and Malachai started spinning the story of AXE COP. Ethan knew that it had to be made into a comic, and from their play, he has teased out the details of AXE COP, Flute Cop, Dinosaur Soldier, Uni-Baby, and all the rest of the coolest comic creations of this young decade.

  Be sure to check out the video of the writing session. Having thoroughly enjoyed AXE COP episodes 1, 2, 3, 4, 0, and 5, I am only left to wonder a) at how good they are, and b) if all of us were that creative at age five and just had it beaten out of us.

Mr Madsen and R Stevens both celebrate their respective births today, woo. In gratitude to all of you, Stevens has unleashed a veritable cornucopia of pixellated delights: 33% off socks today, a dinoriffic t-shirt, and custom pixel portraits commissions until the end of the month. In honor of his generosity, I direct you all to what may well be Stevens’s holy book.

• As long as we’re celebrating birthdays, one might note that Sam Brown’s Exploding Dog is now ten years old, and Registered Weapon by Gardner Linn, Chris Thorn, Dave Lentz, and Rob Simmons, is a year old. When the inevitable world-wide holiday to celebrate webcomics is someday declared, I guess that 12 January will be the natural choice.
• Missed this last week, but it’s not yet hit the ‘sell by’ date, so I think we’re good: Ryan North got interviewed at Question Riot on the topic of his webcomics infrastructure efforts. If you were curious about Oh No Robot, RSSPECT or Project Wonderful, get yourself over there immediately.
• Question: who, in all of [web]comickry, is nicer than Raina Telgemeier? Since the Dalai Lama doesn’t do comics, I’d gonna go with “nobody”, and you can share in the niceness in person. To celebrate the imminent release of her graphic novel (from the webcomic of the same name), SMILE, Telgemeier will be having a launch party on Saturday, 13 February at Rocketship in Brooklyn. There will be a live reading, braces-friendly food, and possibly a Valentine’s Day theme (NB: I haven’t confirmed this, but I’m pretty sure that Raina’s valentine is her husband, Dave, so I wouldn’t get your hopes up if I were you). If all that isn’t enough to entice you, the bar next door to Rocketship does outrageously good cocktails. With any luck, I’ll see you there.

That’s nearly 2009 done; let’s be frank, in a lot of ways the year was a challenge, and it’s capping 10 years that really kind of sucked. Sucked in a way that prompts me to share the first comic strip that I can recall reading, more than 30 years past (certainly, I read comics before this one, but it’s the oldest that’s stuck with me): a kidney stone of a decade, indeed.

But … webcomics.

Sure, webcomics existed prior to 1 January 2000 (hell, you can see a stack of ’em in the links over to the right), but the start of the 21st century is when they exploded. For going on half that time, I’ve been sharing my thoughts with literally dozens of you, and if this particular implementation of a delivery system/business model/art form isn’t enough to redeem a time when we as a species seemed to be sliding backwards, well, it’s helped keep me from screaming myself awake. So there’s my Best of the Decade list in a single (possible obsolete now) word: webcomics. As Sturgeon would have it, most of ’em are crap, but there are so damn many of them now, it was inevitable that some would be gems.

It was not inevitable that some of the creators, rather than have their work undiscovered, would create comics loved so much by so many, that they could make this most frivolous of passtimes a career. It was not inevitable that one of those webcomics would launch a charity that would, in seven years, raise $US6.5 million to benefit children’s hospitals. It was not inevitable that numerous creators would score Hollywood movie deals (some of which will even get made). It was not inevitable that a new kind of publisher/merch fulfillment/services provider would not only slouch its way towards success, but bring a stack of creators along for the ride.

Maybe it was a series of happy accidents, maybe it was down to the pure determination of the parties involved. But it happened, and I think those of us reading this page are happier for it.

And, because it’s become a slight tradition for me to talk about Shaenon Garrity on New Year’s Eve, check this out: she wants to give you fifty bucks for free. More precisely, she wants to give you fifty bucks of original artwork just so she doesn’t have to move it:

From now until the end of January, for every copy of Skin Horse Volume One you purchase, I will send a randomly selected original daily strip. These normally sell for $50, but I’m moving and I need to lighten my load.

In one of the most profound lessons that I ever took to heart, Chuck Jones once wrote that his beloved Uncle Lynn taught him that being lazy is a virtue, and it takes a good deal of brains to be effectively lazy. Garrity has learned this lesson well, and to your benefit. Naturally, she knows how to work all the angles on this deal:

Oh, and if you want a specific strip, you can purchase one for the normal price of $50. Which might be worth doing if you don’t want your favorite strip to go to somebody who doesn’t appreciate it on the same level you do.

My only problem is that there’s too many strips that I feel that way about, and only so much money that I can spend, so I think I’ll take my chances (but if I were to randomly get a strip of Dr Lee looking all hot, or “Man, there ain’t nothing in this world sadder than a wet transvestite”, that would be extra rad). I wonder if I could order enough copies to be declared a distributor?

See everybody on Monday.

I trust that everyone here has heard the old saying about the fox and hedgehog — how the fox knows many things (i.e.: every sneaky trick in the book, and some that aren’t), but the hedgehog knows one big thing (i.e.: how to curl up into a spiny ball with no weak points), and that’s why no fox has ever eaten a hedgehog.

Yates was kind enough to answer some of our questions on this exciting new development.

Fleen thanks Chris Yates for his time, and encourages everybody who knows a puzzle fan to keep their eyes open for the new mass-market offerings. And if those fans like the chipboard jigsaw puzzles, be sure to point them to the originals.

Holy crap you guys, this is the worst thing that’s ever happened — T-Rex has decided to start stomping, and he’s stomping a half-dozen Admiral Ackbars. There’s no way that can turn out well. Guess you’ll need to find a home for him as far away from any Ackbars that might still be running for their lives.

• In other trap-related news, the 2010 Eisners have opened up their nominations, with the specifics in the PDF here. The category potentially of interest to readers of this blog is described as:
  

  he best digital comic category is open to any new, professionally produced long-form original comics work posted online in 2009. Webcomics must have a unique domain name or be part of a larger comics community to be considered. The work must be online-exclusive for a significant period prior to being collected in print form. The URL and any necessary access information should be emailed to us by clicking here.

  Why “trap-related”? Because this category has a history of changing the interpretation of “long-form original comics work” from year to year, just waiting to ensnare the unwary potential nominee. Strips appear to be out, but does the story have to be over and done with? Would on ongoing, serialized story with a clear beginning, middle, and end (although not completed in 2009) be eligible? ‘Cause there’s a bunch of those that represent some of the best of comics but I don’t think they’ll be considered (despite some of those being considerably similar in scope and long-formness to one of last year’s nominees).

  How long is “long-form”? What about a single storyline from an ongoing comic? Or something that actually requires a digital presentation? Venture into these waters carefully, but let’s see if we can’t get some consideration for some of our best work, yes?

• My God — it’s full of Rikers. You may be trapped here half the day soaking up the awesome.
• Aspiring cartooners still have more than a week to enter the guest-strip contest at Calamaties of Nature; the trap here is that you could end up with a comic running on a site that disrespects moustaches. Tread carefully before you make a deal with The Devil.
• Up for a little casual blasphemy? From (to the best of the knowledge, previously unrepresented in the world of webcomickry) Slovenia comes Paradise Misplaced, where each week God tries to get creation going and those pesky humans find a new way to not quite get it right. Produced by the not-at-all-pseudonymous Anonymous Gosh, it’s got a lot of R. Crumb influence, by way of The PBF perhaps. Readers, naturally, run the risk of offending the ineffable name and being trapped in dire punishments for all eternity. On the other hand: cartoon boobies. For extra fun, click on the link to render the site in Slovenian.
• Finally, there’s a free sketch on offer from Brian Carroll of Instant Classic; for two more days, Carroll will draw anything you want (within reason) as part of The Great Instant Classic Graphite Marathon 2009. If you take up Carroll on his generous offer, how about you kick him a little bit in the ol’ PayPal link to offset his materials and shipping costs? The trap, naturally, is that graphite smears if not handled carefully, and you could totally get black goo on your fingers.

I took off from blogulation on Friday, which happened to be my birthday; I mention this only because I want to mention a present that I received, namely an animated GIF of Wil Wheaton wearing the scary clown sweater, driving the (black, windowless panel van) Candy Mobile. The world will forever wonder at the identity of the giver, although some may harbor suspicions.

• Once again — the power of MOUSTACHE. Don’t mess with us, man.
• Meredith Gran is again doing a series of paintings to mark the holiday season. Last year it was eight originals up for grabs (which often went in mere minutes after being posted); this year, there will be Twelve Days of Hipsters, starting with today’s (already sold, sorry) Twelve Inch Records. On a related note, may I point out despite having raised her game and skill considerably in the past year, Gran has actually dropped her prices? Start camping her site and snag up the ones you want before she realizes this tactical error.
• In this season of goodwill and giving, may I point out that Kiva Team Webcomics (in existence a mere 298 days as of today) has (to date) 613 members, made 1514 loans, for a total of US$64,525? Or if your charitable giving is less of the entrepreneur microfinancial bent, this year’s Child’s Play is currently sitting somewhere north of US$750,000? Just thought I’d mention.
• It might be easier to mention creators that aren’t Kickstarting their webcomickry these days, but just for kicks (oh my Darwin, I think I caught The Guigar) I’ll mention one more — after this point, we’ll just assume if you gots a book or other project, there’s a funding mechanism. ANYhoo, Kel McDonald jumped in with both feet, looking to make a full-size, full-color book.

Okay, that’s it. Time to start combing through the past week’s mail. Have a good one.

The brilliant thing about Gank A Big Hooler is, it can mean anything. And that means the second Wednesday of November is officially Gank A Big Hooler Day here at Fleen.

• Gank a big hooler, let’s talk more about bars: Aussie (Melburnian, to be precise) Ben Hutchings does a bar-story themed webcomic called Tales From The Pub — it’s all about stories that take place (or are told to Hutchings) in pubs, clubs, and drinking circumstances, and are described by Hutchings as:
  

  [S]hamelessly peurile, often stomach churning, obscene and true

  Think about the old Pathetic Geek Stories strip that used to run in The Onion‘s print edition. Updates twice a week, with plenty of schadenfreude to go around.

• Gank a big hooler, we brought up Mike Rouse-Deane‘s Guest Strip Project the other day, which is just one of his multitude of projects to benefit the Make-a-Wish International Foundation. It being near the end of the calendrical year, Rouse-Deane is back with a new iteration of the naked webcomics calendar, Tastefully Done. Look for a launch later this week, complete with promo pics. Having seen a sneak peek of said pics, I can state authoritatively there’s some prime cheesecake, beefcake, and, um, crittercake on deck.
• Gank a big hooler, webcomickers do find interesting ways to support themselves. Case in point, Rachel Keslensky of Last Res0rt (vampires/furries/reality TV shows … in space), has launched a campaign whereby donations (towards printing the first trade volume) result in cameo appearances. There’ve been similar implementations of this idea (notably, Krishna Sadasivam’s cheerfully capitalist approach to product placement — where the product is you), but I can’t recall such being done to fund self-publishing.
• Gank a big hooler, that’s some long-haul dedication on the part of Paul Gadzikowski, as Arthur, King of Time and Space, hit its 2000th consecutive daily update yesterday:
  

  Today AKOTAS has 2000 updates. They haven’t always been my work (five out of two thousand have been guest art), and they haven’t always had punchlines. But, since AKOTAS started two thousand days ago, there’s been something new here for every day.

  So yeah — somebody tell TV Tropes that they need to update the AKOTAS entry under Webcomics Long Runners.

• Finally, it’s Veteran’s Day, or Remembrance Day, or some variation, commemorating the end of The Great War, and how we all thought it would be the last one. However you may choose to remember or honor those who have fallen, there’s a bit of audio I went back to listen to today, one bit of private loss and remembrance that was shared with the world. From The Moth Radio Hour, episode 1, the third story (no direct link, so start about the 29:00 mark and be ready to have the breath sucked out of you).