You know that dark weight of disappointment that forms in your tummy when someone you really admire does something ridiculously irritating and when it comes time to call them on it you actually end up feeling worse about that than what they did in the first place? Give me a clear and present enemy any day and I can face it with bravado. That being said, let’s talk a little bit about what happens when you purchase products from your favorite Webcomics only to find the process of getting said items to be a demoralizing and strained experience.

Webcomics have found a very wealthy pocket to pick from in regards to merchandise. Swag has been made especially popular by quirky t-shirts labeled with inside jokes that only another reader would get. Selling swag has made it possible for some artists to quit their full time jobs and work on their comic full time. For many popular comics, they don’t even handle the process of selling swag anymore because it’s so daunting.

So two months ago I purchased a poster from one of my favorite comics, one I’d read since the archives were in double digits. Two months, $20 dollars later, weeks of silence, a handful of emails and I still don’t have the poster. My confidence is waning while my disappointment grows. I’m curious now about how comic creators deal with the art side and the business side of what they do, and is mixing the two worth it in the end? It’s a subject I plan to explore in depth in the very near future. I like the comic and respect the creator too much to be a vile consumer whore and rip it to shreds until I feel vindicated. However, I do feel it is an important subject to bring more attention to.

We want to be loyal readers and support our artists so that they can continue to bring us what we love and continue to enjoy doing what they do. I hold out hope that most people have very good experiences, and that mine is the exception.

John Allison is now selling his first poster/art print.

It’s quite excellent.

There are neat things for you to see and maybe to buy!

John A. has released the cover to The Retribution Index, the forthcoming Scary Go Round book #4. Since it has been scientifically proved that SGR equals wonderfulness, you should start counting the seconds until the release of this book. Count, damn you!

Penny Arcade’s forthcoming collectible card game has what looks like finished box art over at the PA newsbox (scroll down to the fourth item). Congrats also to Hawk from Applegeeks; I met him by random chance at SPX ’05, and we talked a bit about the coloring job he did for Gabe’s card art. Looks like a damn fine job, too.

With a post-mortem celebrity resembling that of a mutant Princess Diana, the Cyclops Kitty makes an appearance in today’s Questionable Content. Now normally, an in-strip t-shirt design has the potential to become a money-spinner for Jeph Jacques, but he notes:

To answer everyone’s questions, yes that is a little tribute to Cy the Cyclops Kitty on Raven’s shirt. To answer a lot of people’s second questions, no I will not be putting that design on t-shirts to sell. The notion of profiting off the posthumous fame of a goddamn kitten is, to put it mildly, distasteful.

Naturally, not everybody shares his sense of restraint, so if you were planning on trying to profit off the posthumous fame of a goddamn kitten, get in line. Seriously, this one just feels forced. The only thing that strikes me as less necessary would be if one of those 1000 or so Batgirls was also a cyclops kitty. Please don’t take that as a suggestion.

We have previously reported on the failure of Vault Distribution and the impact it had on the creators that were involved. At that time, we also pointed out that there now an open niche in the market and creators who were looking for someone to help sell their stuff. (As a side note, if you’re one of the small distributors out there, and are looking for some exposure – please use our contact form to tell us your story.)

Yesterday, we received the following press release, sent out by Neil G.
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One of the things that you get used to real quick when you read webcomics is merch. This is a pretty natural thing, given that the people producing that webcomic you love so much ain’t paying hosting bills for the sheer fun of it. If there’s not a tip cup, there’s stuffs for sale, even for the semi-hobbyists.

But fundamentally, those stuffs fall into the categories of:
1. Shirts and shirtlike garments
2. Books
3. Art

That’s about it. Oh, sure, if you’re willing to associate with Cafe Press, you can get your character on a frisbee or whatever, but why so few options?
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