Some time back we noted that the merry troublemakers at SMBC Theater were trying to Kickstart a new web series with an actual budget. A few days back they made their goal five times over, leading to the wherewithal to make an online entertainment comparable to a broadcast TV show, only with dirty jokes and explosions¹. Supporters are receiving fabulous prized including DVDs, art, books, and promotional video², but those that couldn’t bestir themselves to give get rewarded, too.

Yesterday, the SMBC Theatricians put the entirety of their first DVD, SMBC Theater Goes To Hell, on YouTube for your streaming pleasure. Granted, it was previously available for ten bucks plus shipping or pay-what-you-want on torrent (which may as well be free), but this is completely free free. There’s a lesson here that Zach, James³, Kelly, Angel, JP, Jennifer, Chason, Laura, Jon, Betsy, and all of the others that have worked very hard on SMBC Theater for you to learn.

And that lesson is, If you’re cheap and lazy you will be rewarded for it. We at Fleen would like to thank SMBC Theater for being our personal enablers since 2009. Except for James — he knows why.

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¹ We at Fleen only hope that the majority of explosions will be directed at James Ashby, history’s greatest villain.

² Sadly, nobody claimed the top reward, their very own SEX ROBOT.

³ Recently promoted, now history’s greatest super villain.

Evan Dahm declared it’s Achewood Fanart Day and kicked it off good. There may be more on Twitter by the time you read this. That would be great. Not only is it Friday, but it’s been a long week and my wife’s out of town which means as soon as I’m out of here I’m in for hell of naps. Let’s hit it.

• Dave Kellett throws book release parties — this is a truth-fact. Once again, his latest book will be dropped onto an eagerly-awaiting world with a fabulous party in Beverly Hills which will feature free booze, free other stuff, two new books and cake bites which are also truffles. Also, he will apparently be premiering the trailer for the documentary (tentatively titled Hot Pen On Paper COMIXXX Action¹) that he and Fred Schroeder have been so hard at work on for a couple of years now.

  One day, I will attend one of these shin-digs². Oh yes, I will.

• Continuing on the theme of Fun Things that rock, everybody knows that The Blams is back, right?
• Last thoughts. The ToonSeum in Pittsburgh decided that just being a museum devoted to cartoons wasn’t geeky enough, so they’re upping their game by hosting monthly nights of geektacular TV. The inaugural event will be on Thursday the 18th, with screenings of The Muppet Show, The Adventures of Pete and Pete, The Simpsons, The Tick, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Mystery Science Theater 3000.

  Future installments will feature shows such as Black Adder, Battlestar Galactica, Firefly, Fraggle Rock, Star Trek: The Next Generation, and The The Young Ones, along with classic cartoons. Particulars (which episodes, which version of the The Tick and Battlestar, etc) haven’t been announced yet, but they have said that MST3K will be the closer each night³.

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¹ Not really, but I’d kick in a significant chunk of money towards its completion if that were the case.

² Where I’m told one actually goes out back to dig up shins — cartooning and grave defiling have often gone hand in hand, historically speaking.

³ Keep circulating the tapes.

Why would we we talking about Tim Gunn on an ostensibly webcomics-themed blog? Maybe because last night’s Project Runway season premiere featured Paul Southworth’s famed Threadless tee, The Morning After¹. The challenge was to incorporate one’s own pajamas into a piece of fashion, and one of the contestants happened to be sleeping in said shirt; here’s what the dress looked like, with a nice closeup on Mister Happy.

Heidi Klum was not entirely sure what to make of it, but you can watch for yourself [starting around 25:20 for the initial discussion of the clown, and again at 44:00 for the runway] and decide whether or not the clown got the necessary respect.

• In case you didn’t see the announcement, damn early this morning, Greg Dean posted a notice on Google+ that Harper Elizabeth Dean was born at 12:24am (GMT-7), and posted a picture of the little cutie giving a big yawn. Mother and father are undoubtedly really tired after more than 24 hours of actively havin’ a baby², but I’d bet they’d appreciate your good wishes.
• Speaking of well wishes: Today’s xkcd, with context from last autumn, and relevant touches here, here, and here. If you’ll excuse me, I have a check to write.

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¹ Or, as I’ve always thought of it, “Taste the Rainbow”.

² No permalink, but Dean posted 10:25pm (GMT-7) on the 27th that they were already in the labor & delivery, and Harper didn’t show until the wee hours of the 29th.

Do you like things? Do you plan to be around in the future? If so, you may enjoy these things which are Coming Soon!

• Coming so Soon that’s it’s actually already out, the Cloudscape Comics Society has been doing a series of really good anthologies and the latest one, 21 Journeys is now available at ecRATER. Vanessa Kelly at Cloudscape was kind enough to send me a PDF for review, and there’s some damn good work inside — what struck me most is that more than any anthology I’ve seen recently (with the possible exception of the final Flight volume), each story in 21 Journeys feels entirely in sync with the theme, but also distinct and reflective of the creator’s own unique voice. Outstanding work, well worth your time.
• Coming Soon to an RSS feed near you, Kris Straub will be following up the late, lamented Tweet Me Harder with a new podcast on the theory and practice of humor: The Humor Authority doesn’t have a launch date yet, but Mr Straub has never been one for delay when he sets his sights on a goal, so listen to the teaser¹ and be prepared for the forthcoming discussion.
• Coming as Soon as you like: your contribution to Buckonet, the crowdsourced site² helping the search for one Richard “Bucko” Richardson. You do know about Bucko, the dick-n-fart-joke murder mystery by Jeff Parker and Erika Moen? He’s run off in terror and the wiki is coordinating the search. If you see Mr Richardson, he is freaked out on absinthe and in fear of life, so report those sightings.
• Coming so Soon it’ll be here before you know it: not one, but two new Box Brown comics. On the one hand, you gots the new issue of Everything Dies, with an innovative “pay what you can afford” mechanism. On the other, Blank Slate Books will be releasing Brown’s newest original project, The Survivalist, in October. One of Brown’s strengths is to find people that he utterly disagrees with (cf: any of the modern stories from Everything Dies), research the hell out of their beliefs, and present them as fairly as he possibly can. Where he criticizes, it’s based on their words, logical, and not personal. I have to believe that this approach will carry through to his story of a paranoid conspiracy buff (who just happens to be right), and I’m looking forward to reading it.
• Coming … well, not that Soon, really, but worth putting on your calendar: the next graphic novel by Raina Telgemeier will be titled Drama, regarding middle school theater geeks, and be out in a bit more than a year. Countdown starts now.

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¹ Warning for those with delicate sensibilities: there is mild smack talk directed at EB White towards the end of this audio clip.

² I love these reader-driven projects, from the history of The Great Outdoor Fight (seemingly throwing some code errors right now) to the history of The Elemenstor Saga.

It might be that Carly is doing essentially fan comics of her own shared creation (using a Beatonesque strip format), it might be because everybody and their dog are taking turns drawing the Strong Female Characters™, usually tagged on Twitter as #strongfemales, or because there’s now a suggested tagline for the SFCs that sums up everything about mainstream superhero comics, or maybe just because there’s now a Tumblr dedicated to Susan, Georgia, and Queen. Mostly it’s because every new person that sees the phenomenon gets caught up in it and grabs others to say Check this out, you’ll love it. Also, because Chris Sims has the right idea.

• In other things I noticed on Twitter that don’t have to do with Strong Female Characters™, I noticed a brief-yet-telling exchange between Christopher Butcher and Jim Zubkavich:
  

  It’s kind of amazing how little interaction the webcomics half of my twitter feed has with the “mainstream comics” half, and vice versa.

  Webcomic folk aren’t even curious about the strange comiXology troops scouting the blasted barren lands of Pay-For-Contentia. :)

  I do find that odd, yeah.

  After the rapprochement between the web and mainstream wings of comicdom at this year’s Reuben Awards, it is a little unusual to not have seen that conversation continuing in the weeks since. Then again, I meet somebody new, it takes a while for the conversation (without booze) to get to be spontaneous. I’m guessing this is a bit of inertia until everybody figures out who everybody else is online and continues that conversation. Hoping so, anyway.

• Let’s end on one of my favorite sources of laugh-chuckles: SMBC Theater and the casual collection of reprobates found there; it takes a certain kind of comedic fearlessness to have no hesitation whatsoever in regularly presenting yourself as a completely horrible person, and yet everybody I’ve met in conjunction with the SMBC shorts is a really nice person¹. The bad news is that there will be fewer SMBC Theater shorts for the time being — one a month instead of the customary one a week.

  The good news is that it’s because the SMBC Theatricians will be spending their time working up an ongoing webseries with higher production values; Zach and James explain it all here². Naturally, this is the sort of undertaking that requires a more substantial budget that the SMBC troupe have had to work with in the past, leading to the traditional Kickstarter campaign.

  Short form: your contribution over the next six weeks means the possibility that next year you get to see James Ashby blown up in outer space. Please give generously, as it is entirely possible that this is the only way to destroy him³.

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¹ Except James; I’ve re-evaluated my earlier position and decided that he would totally kill me at the first opportunity.

² Warning: contains James. Do not believe anything this man tells you, he is pure evil.

³ Either that, or nuke his site from orbit, but that’s got some messy collateral effects I’d prefer to avoid.

[Edit to add: There’s supposed to be an excerpt of the OctoPie strip mentioned right below at the top of the page, but the image uploader fought with me, and once I finally got it to accept an image, it’s pulling this chop-off-in-the-middle crap. Problem occurring on multiple computers, so it’s on WordPress’s end. We’ll get that fixed as soon as we can.] Fixed. Thanks, Phillip.

When Meredith Gran posted the most recent Octopus Pie on Sunday, I’m guessing that she didn’t know she was neatly predicting how my work week would go. Interruptions, whether in the classroom or when you’re trying to get your swerve on, can either lead to an excess of politeness and dangerously narrow eyes or horrific violence¹. I’m trying to not be fired and Will’s trying to be a better person, so we breathe deep and solider on.

• Frequent readers of this page will know that I stand second to no man in my appreciation of :01 Books, who in addition to producing some of the finest graphic novels known to man also are in the webcomics biz as a sort-of publisher. It’s that latter role that I’d like to mention today, as :01 have announced the re-launch of TUNE by Derek Kirk Kim and Les McClaine (seen recently on art chores of the bonus story by Benito Cereno in the latest Dr McNinja collection). It’s an interdimensional romp full of accidental imprisonment and the eternal desire we all have to get back to our homes, plus a bit of trying to get laid. Added bonus: if you don’t like starting a new webcomic because there’s only a few updates? TUNE’s got 148 pages ready for you to read. Go get ’em.
• If you don’t like starting a webcomic that’s been around because there’s too much in the archive, Rebecca Clements (of Kinokofry, Secret Mystery Diary, BEC, and more) just launched Ruffle Hall ‘tother day, and while she’s dropping new pages like mad, it’s still in the wholly manageable dozen-or-so range. Nobody does whimsical quite like Clements; I’d go so far as to say that much like Kazu Kibuishi is channeling the spirit of Miyazaki², Clements is on occasion possessed by Dr Suess (with the disclaimer that I don’t think the good doctor was quite so much into the ladyparts, but you never know). So what happens to a pair of slightly odd characters who live in the boringest place in the entire world when they go off for adventures? Wonderful things, my friends, wonderful things.
• Continuing the Isn’t anybody dead? theme that was previously established, Pierre and Krep didn’t actually get roasted alive, and have been having a nice chat with the Mihrrgoot king and finding out that maybe the Oh, shit shoe that had to drop isn’t just that the Eebs aren’t as helpless as we thought. It may be that Our Heroes may not be as on the right side of their struggle as we thought. Facing unfathomable horrific potentialities, indeed.
• My Blam: Come up with a Googlewhack³, hours later there are at least 9 hits that result purely from the cartoon I casually mentioned it in. I call it, “Being Randall Munroe”.

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¹ For added verisimilitude, just add Wilhelm.

² Doubly impressive because Miyazaki isn’t dead and is still using his spirit.

³ “Canadian surrealist porn”

It was that, or GANK A BIG HOOLER, BUDDY! TELL’M GARY SENT YA!

• Since we’re quoting Karl Kerschl’s entirely wonderful The Abominable Charles Christopher (which turned 200 weekly updates or just shy of four years old yesterday), one should note that the big guy is about to undergo some changes. X-TREME changes:
  

  While ‘The Abominable Charles Christopher‘ is dear to my heart, it is unfortunately not reaching a wide enough readership to sustain its continued production. Not in its current incarnation, at least!

  I present to you a bold new direction. I call it ‘ABOMINABLE X-TREME’ and it will change forever the way you think about woodland creatures or integrity!

  Gone are the boring conversations! Gone are the insufferable antics! Prepare for a whole new world of pain as CHARLES X-TOPHER fights his way through hordes of wolves, bats and killer spiders, all in the name of ACTION!

  ABOMINABLE X-TREME starts NEXT WEDNESDAY and will cost 99 cents, less than a dollar more than it costs now!

  It’s not just ABOMINABLE, it’s EXXXXXXTREEEEEEEME!!!

  So, yeah. That’s certainly … a thing¹.

• If you like things all loud and shouty, may I also suggest that you pick up the debut Chris Hastings major-publisher comical book? I’ve never read a Deadpool comic before, and apart from the overabundance of Deadpool cosplayers (of all shapes and sizes) at conventions, have had literally no interaction with the character. Hastings, however, writes a comic book that disposes of whatever character backstory and line-wide crossover (THAT CHANGES EVERYTHING!!!) in a quick narration box and gets down to the story at hand. A story that reads like how King Radical might behave if he were seriously unhinged and more interested in making a quick buck than supporting the fine folk of Cumberland, Maryland. Also, there are bees exploding out of the gas tank of a monster truck. I’d say that you can’t pay somebody to think up entertainment this good, but in fact you can, and should you buy Fear Itself: Deadpool (1 of 3), you will be doing exactly that.
• We at Fleen have mentioned the forthcoming PhD Comics movie in the past, as it was under development. Well, consider it developed fully, as it’s got a spankin’ new website, complete with trailer, cast and character info, and photos galore. I have just a few things to say:
  1. This looks great, Jorge
  2. The actors you got for Professor Smith and Mike are so close to your designs, you must have grown them in a lab
  3. I see that you have a screening in the works for Rutgers, which just happens to be in my back yard, so I will be attending the hell out your fine cinematical entertainment, just tell me the where ‘n’ when

  Best of all, with the movie all wrapped and every-damn-thing, we will hopefully get more PhD Comics updates in the near future.

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¹ For the overly gullible, it is no kind of thing at all. Relax.

Bobwhite comes full circle, but at the same time, Magnolia Porter launches Monster Pulse (MWF, with an eight page extravaganza of first-day goodness). It’s the story of Bina Blum, derided for her imagination and fascination with dinosaurs, and the weird spectral force that appears to take up residence within her immediate vicinity and manifest as a monstrous critter. I’m guessing misunderstandings and beastie-wrangling are on deck, and can’t wait to find out if I’m right.

Meanwhile, not being content with launching a new webcomic the very day that her previous effort wrapped, Ms Porter teamed up with Kel McDonald for Dracula Mystery Club. n&eacut;e Cocksuckers (per a discussion at NEWW2), renamed (because honestly, they’ll get less grief for being two young women working on a comic that’s not called Cocksuckers, per a discussion at MoCCA Fest). And did I say two young women? It’s three young women, with Amanda Lafrenais contributing toning and websitery. Look for story pages to start on Thursday.

• Not entirely webcomics related, but how can I resist? The ToonSeum (Pittsburgh’s contribution to the preservation of all we hold dear) sent along the best press release of the year:
  

  Joe Wos, Executive Director of the ToonSeum, Pittsburgh’s Museum of Cartoon Art, is taking his show on the road. Best known for his work as a cartoonist and storyteller working with children and families, Joe is giving his work a grown up twist! The Charles M. Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa California will be offering a special wine/beer tasting and cartooning workshop for adults!

  This is the first time the museum has offered this unique pairing. Guest will enjoy a flight of beers courtesy of Lagunitas Brewery and wine from Balletto Vineyards while learning to draw their own cartoons. [emphasis mine]

  I’ve remarked many times that I should learn to draw and pick up at least some rudimentary cartooning skills at some point in my life. My failure to do so is only partly because of the fullness of my schedule; to be honest, more of it is me dreading the absolutely terrible output that will accompany early efforts, perhaps for a long, long time. But boozing up while first learning? That’s got to lower the inhibitions and get you started down the road. If only I lived on the Left Coast, I would be at this SO HARD you guys. The fun kicks off at 6:30pm, 17 June (that’s a Friday) at the Schulz Museum; $15.00 for members, $20.00 for non-members.

• I have news of another melding of previously-unmelded areas of expression. Since cartoons + booze is taken, how about webcomic + stage presentation?
  

  This year’s Ottawa Fringe Festival will feature a stage adaptation of Subnormality by Winston Rowntree. Conceptualized by Marie Robertson, writer of last year’s Love In The Time of Harlequin and adapted from the original text by Sarah McEown and Sarah Newton, the show is based on multiple scenes pulled directly from the webcomic.

  Show-specific information may be found at Subnormalshow, and tickets are available at the OFF website for a half-dozen presentations between 17 and 26 June.

• Some end True. Bobwhite wraps up on Monday, I trust you’ll be there?
• It’s true, Mako — bad guys laugh when you do math at them, but at least you aren’t wearing a WHAM! t-shirt. I know that I said recently that I was trying not to go on and on about AGAHF, but then Otter sent me this in an email with the subject line GARY YOU WILL FOLLOW THE CHAIN OF COMMAND, so I feel compelled. Not sure why, really, but I honestly don’t want to spend today harvesting cow lips. Instead, it appears I’ll spend today in an archive dive of a new-to-me webcomic. So thanks?
• Blah blah blah, filler, comment, Penny Arcade movie deal. Little surprised it wasn’t Lookouts, actually, but The New Kid probably has more story hooks. Here’s the thing — that strip ran last October, call it seven months ago. Hollywood doesn’t buy movies based on six panels, so there was a whole lot of story brainstorming that went on that we haven’t seen, along with visual treatments, more than like. That’s incredibly fast work, so the question is how long has somebody in LA had a first-look deal?

  My guess is that Khoo’s had a deal in place for a couple years that every once in a while, somebody calls up and says, “Hey, have your guys do 20 pages of story and art concepts on these three or four strips” and this is the first one that paid off. That means it’s my guess that we see more options announcements in the future — remember, there’s no promise of a movie yet, Paramount “picked up the rights” and lots of movies never get made. Heck, according to my faded copy of Fortune and Glory, you can almost do better sellinng options that don’t get made into movies ’cause once the rights expire you can sell ’em again to somebody else. In any event, Hollywood has a couple new concept merchants to deal with.

Still tethering, so let’s do this quickly:

• In re: that ol’ LICD Kickstarter thang, Ryan Sohmer opines:
  

  Holy balls. We just sailed right through 75k. Looks like I’ve got a pilot to make.

• First informed of via the Twitterings of Kean Soo, I’ve been enjoying the hell out of the utterly gorgeous Delilah Dirk and the Turkish Lieutenant (by Tony Cliff), which started a few days ago and is more gorgeous than anything not born directly from the hand of Hergé. The first four pages of the online graphic novel are now available for your perusal, and hoo boy if that splash panel on the home page doesn’t leave me waiting for the action to kick in. This is going to be one to watch, folks.
• Have been obsessively re-reading the copy of Save Yourself, Mammal which Zach Weiner was kind enough to gift me with just prior to the long weekend. Not that it’s a long read (even the most appreciative of Mr Weiner’s fans will be tearing through the pages as warp speed, devouring the gags), but there’s a Choose Your Own Adventure scattered through the first 65 or so pages, and I haven’t achieved all the endings yet. First time through, though? I became a doctor that performed surgery with a katana — it’s hard to top that.
• Finally, the best news I’ve heard all year, from Mr Jon Rosenberg:
  

  Yes! My babies are coming home from the hospital today!

  A few months ago we didn’t know if they were going to survive, and now they are healthy and adorable. Modern medical science is amazing.

  Babies are finally home, safe and sound. For the first time since Feb. I don’t have to go to a hospital tomorrow.

  There’s a photo of young Messers Rosenberg which you may wish to enjoy before the honeymoon’s over. Because babies, they change things:

  Survived our first night with the twins. Not to imply that they are trying to assassinate me. But I did find a tiny piece of piano wire.

  Well done, Team Babies.