Hey, hey, kids! Let’s talk about the last gasps of culture before we’re all buried under wintry death straight out of Roland Emmerich’s wet dreams.

• In LA, far from the impending doom, Scott C[ampbell] will have an exhibition show of his Great Showdowns. For those of you that aren’t familiar, the Great Showdowns feature key moments from movies, a single line of dialogue, and the cutest lopsided grins ever recorded on amphibians, inanimate objects, sociopaths, and hulking killing machines. It kicks in on 4 February at Campbell’s usual LA venue, Gallery 1988, and it’s your opportunity to own one of these marvelous treasures.
• Our friends at the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco (also far from the impending no-friction, low-temperature doomathon) will shortly be opening an exhibition (indeed, one might say a definitive retrospective) of the career of a one Mr Berkeley Breathed¹. From the early days of Bloom County to his gorgeous illustrated picture books, Breathed has always been an influence on a generation of [web]cartoonists. Basically, if you’re over 30 and draw a strip, Breathed was one of your inspirations. From Bloom County to Mars: The Imagination of Berkeley Breathed runs from 5 February to 19 June, with the big opening reception on 1 April (details TBA).
• From an episode of a radio show (that would be the stellar RadioLab) on what happens when we die, containing a short story about one possible afterlife (read by the incomparable Jeffrey Tambor), comics artist Blue Delliquanti took some inspiration. Here, then, is a 24 page adaptation of Metamorphosis, a short story by neuroscientist David Eagleman. As much as I enjoyed Tambor’s sonorous, soulful reading of Metamorphosis, I think that Delliquanti’s comic adaptation is even more affecting.
• Not a show in the traditional sense, per se, but the members of ACT-I-VATE are putting together a virtual gallery show of webcomics featuring monkeys (okay, “primates” in the general sense, but I knows a monkey when I sees it) from an astonishingly wide range of talent (from veterans to up-and-comers) as a benefit for the Primate Rescue Center in Nicholasville, KY. It’s called Panels for Primates and it’s operating strictly on a donation basis, so if you like what you’re reading, give the PRC a few bucks, hey?

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¹ Not a typo, but a tribute to one of my favorite Bloom County throwaway gags.

Still under the weather but awake for some of today. So here’s some brief items, and I’ll see you for regular updates on Monday.

• Lot of press this year about comiXology, especially since the iPad made reading comics on-the-go (and on a screen larger than that of an iPhone) so very easy. They’ve spread into direct support for the other major mobile O/S, with a new comiXology app for Android. While I love my Android phone, it’s a very early model, and apparently the app requires a later version of Android than I’ve got, so no luck to me. And in any event, this probably won’t live up to its potential until the inevitable breakout Android-based tablet (to present, none of the models has made a big hit in the marketplace) sometime in the future. In the meantime, if you’ve got Android 2.1 or higher, let us know what you think.
• Friends of comics The ToonSeum invites friend of comics, webcomic creator, curator of the Cartoon Art Museum, consort of the Radness Queen of the 510 Area Code, and (most relevant at the moment) author of The Looney Tunes Treasury Andrew Farago for an appearance and signing on Boxing Day (that would be 26 December) from noon to 2:00pm. Anybody in Pittsburgh, drop by and say “hi” for me; I’d join you, but I pulled Christmas weekend EMS duty and western Pennsylvania is just a little bit outside of response range for any 911 calls we might get. I’ll have to make do with a lot of pie.
• Just bout five years ago, an evil genius named Jon Rosenberg enticed me (and a pair of co-conspirators, but I’m the only one without a life, it seems) to make with the opinion-mongering found here so frequently. Although Fleen officially launched on 22 December 2005, a handful of posts had been written over the prior couple of weeks, so today serves as well as any as an “official” anniversary for this bastard child of hype, opinionmongering, and occasionally non-mangled syntax.

  I’ve never adequately “thanked” Jon for getting me started down the path to hell known as blogging, but it appears that the past few years of attempting to kill him with my mind may have finally had an effect — Rosenberg and his lovely wife Amy are expecting twins come June. This may not prove to be his death, but surely the lack of sleep that it causes will push him ever closer to the edge of madness. This is probably a good place to insert maniacal laughter, but I’ve got a sore throat, so click here for a reasonable facsimile.

  In all seriousness, congratulations to Jon and Amy — twins rule (I should know, I married one) and they can only benefit from having one of the most weirdly creative of all the possible dads in the world. Here’s hoping that they get good and stockpiled on sleep and diapers, and maybe this would be a good time for you to purchase some fine merchandise from him, so that his sproglings need not be clothed in discontinued t-shirts and sleep in a bassinet made of unsold books? Do it for the children.

There are people that do work (wholly or partially) outside the realm webcomics that merit interest on a regular basis. Let’s check in with some of them, shall we?

• Andrew Farago (Friend o’ Fleen, curator of the Cartoon Art Museum, creator of The Chronicles of William Bazillion and betrothed of the Funk Queen of the 510 area code) has a love of Looney Tunes that rivals my own. So it should come as no surprise that not only has he written a big damn book all about these animated jewels, he got Ruth Clampett to write the forward, and he’s put together what may be the definitive gallery show on Looney Tunes.

  Seriously, he’s got Bob McKimson featured and over 60 originals for the walls. I collected Chuck Jones animation originals for ten years before everything worth having wound up in private hands, and in that time I never saw Looney Tunes originals for sale. Much like how you’ll have to pry my Grinch-and-Max from my cold, dead hands, I imagine it took Farago years to convince owners to lend their treasures. Overture: Looney Tunes Behind the Scenes opens on 4 December and runs until May 2011; if you’re anywhere near San Francisco, you owe it to yourself to check it out.

• If you haven’t seen this interview with Sergio Aragonés at The AV Club, stop what you’re doing and read it now. Read about how he determined he had to not only become a much better cartoonist, but quickly. Read about how he never stops drawing. Read about shifting tools and techniques to the presentation of the material. And don’t forget the money quote:
  

  Fortunately, cartooning is not a job. It’s something like eating or sleeping. It comes so natural, because I’ve done it all my life since I was a kid. The job is divided into parts—the writing part of it or the drawing part of it. It’s a 24-hour job, because sometimes I go to bed and I have to get up because the idea is there and you can’t stop doing it.

• Mentioned during the Kurtz/Guigar/Roberts roundtable on digital comics and the future was this little gem:
  

  Roberts: Actually, we announced today something we call self-authoring tools. This basically takes the responsibility for getting the work done and putting it in the hands of the creators, and we become more like Apple, acting as the curator instead of the publisher. You submit it, you do all the work, you get a bigger rev[enue]-share. Now I have to bring it up: motion comics. In motion comics, I see a move by the big publishers to reassert their dominance, because you have to have the resources to do it. It requires skilled people that cost money, and that kind of opens the divide. If people like motion comics, it pulls us back from independent creators.

  Followup time. This morning comiXology announced an early adopters scheme for authors to get in on what Roberts promised last month. Let’s cherry-pick a few good bits, shall we?

  The private, invitation-only Alpha program (recently launched with TOKYOPOP, Devil’s Due, and a few others) provides creators and publishers with a tool-set to prepare their comics for comiXology’s patent-pending Guided View.

  Translation: you don’t have to be Marvel or DC to get into comiXology’s distribution stream.

  Once the Alpha phase is completed, comiXology will open more spots for a limited Beta testing of the tools to more creators. The final product will be part of a comprehensive online system, allowing seamless submission for digital publishing for all comic book creators and publishers in an iTunes-like model. Creators and publishers can sign up for a Beta spot at http://www.comixology.com/self_authoring_signup/.

  Translation: early bird gets the worm. Of course, Calvin once remarked that a mouthful of worm isn’t exactly the biggest reason to get out of bed, but since comiXology are the closest thing to a sure bet in the forthcoming format fights right now, it’s worth getting a good look-over while you can. You don’t want to be the one creator whose adorable little tyke looks up and asks, “What did you do in the format wars, Gender-Neutral Term for Parent?”

• Pretty much directly related to webcomics: Cocksuckers. That is to say, the period vampire collaboration webcomic from Magnolia Porter and Kel McDonald, the creation of which is being documented in a series of streams. McDonald has posted the first couple at the Blank Label homepage, and future installments will be announced on both her twitter and Porter’s. Keep the dick jokes to a minimum, people.

Okay, so Angela Melick does a webcomic, knows her way around the right-hand rule, and married a guy with a talent for website development. End result: Webcomictweets, a combination Twitter reader, aggregator of statistics, and single point of contact for what’s going on in the webcomics world (once the list of included folks is sufficiently beefed up, that is). It’s got a lot of on-page functionality, it doesn’t turn up its nose at my (admittedly niche) browser of choice, probably isn’t blocked from your place of work (yet), and it’s fast. Heck, if not for the fact that I follow a few folks outside of webcomics, I’d probably make it my new Twitter client.

Submit your site for inclusion (or heck, just submit webcomics superfan Mike Kinyon‘s lists of webcomickers — comics and creators only, we bloggers would only clog up the place), and start following the community.

• Label dead, comic continues: High Moon has been a critical darling for the (just about) three year of its existence, and the disappearance of home base Zuda be damned, creators David Gallagher and Steve Ellis still have stories to tell. If you haven’t checked out High Moon yet (with the Zuda imprint no longer extant, the publishing of future volumes on paper would seem to be up in the air), you can always check ’em out at ComiXology. Expect to see other Zuda refugees over there in the immediate short term.
• October Events: MoCCA is continuing its series of comics classes, with topics such as anatomy (general) anatomy (hand), writing, collaboration, plotting, animation teamwork, and more. Details at MoCCA’s education page.

  On the other side of the country, the Cartoon Art Museum will be having a party in conjunction with APE, with proceeds to support the museum’s mission. Special guest will come from the featured artists of the concurrently-running Storytime! exhibition, and will include Dave Roman, Raina Telgemeier, Amy Martin, and Keith Knight. Check out the CAM booth at APE for a complete list of attendees.

There are so many webcomics that don’t get mentioned here very much — naturally, as I am only one guy, I can’t keep up with everything that’s created. In a few cases, though, there’s comics that I read and just don’t think to write about, since I tend to focus on the new, novel, and unusually good updates — and some strips just operate at a high level of consistent quality and not have unusually good updates that stand out from the rest (coincidentally, these tend to be strips that cartoonists regard as favorites). Thus, an unforgiveable paucity of mentions of strips like Three Word Phrase, Cat Rackham, and others.

When these consistent high-performers do sink into my thick skull, it tends to be because they’re wrapping up, like the recently-concluded Order of Tales, the about to conclude Bellen!, and today’s conclusion to Ellerbisms. There’s no flash, no fire, no big AND THEN, A NATION BONDED THROUGH THE POWER OF LAUGHTER here — it’s just another day for Marc and Anna, one with some highs and lows, some stupidity and forgiveness, and all the stupidity and grace that tells you this is how life actually happens. Marc Ellerby will continue to make comics (Chloe Noonan looks amazing), and the really good comics will continue to be really good whether my satisfaction at reading them makes enough of an impression to write about them or not.

• In other news, progress on NEWW 2 proceed apace, with lots of news likely to break rapidly in the coming weeks. Intervention continues to rack up sponsors and guests o’ plenty, and seems set to make a major splash for a first-year con. Hotel block deals are up in the next week, and remember — you can drift between Intervention and SPX, which is literally 2 km down the street.
• Big Round Number Alert: 300 strips at EROS INC, which despite the name is not an adult-oriented affair; it’s about a nice Jewish girl that finds herself working for an eternally-old agency that matches people up (she got recruited because the little cupid guys they used to use are lazy buggers).
• Not exactly webcomics, but what the heck: Girls Drawin’ Girls sends some of its crew on the road to the Cartoon Art Museum‘s bookstore next Saturday from 2:00 to 5:00pm. Visitors will be able to watch the artists at work and look through previously produced pinup projects. The press release doesn’t explicitly say so, but I’d wager if you wandered over, you’d get to talk shop with the Girls (draw-ers) and possibly the Girls (draw-ees).

It’s absolutely gorgeous out, why am I at work? Wherever you are, take a peek outside and if it’s nice, close out the browser and go enjoy it for a half hour or so. I’ll still be here.

• Following up on the previously-reported screening of Sita Sings The Blues sponsored by our friends at the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francicso, some additional information. As previously announced, the movie screens on Tuesday, 20 July (aka the day before Preview Night in San Diego); now we can share that the screening will be at 7pm (doors open at 6:30) at the Delancey Street Foundation Screening Room, located at 600 The Embarcadero; tickets are $25 in advance from the Electronic Frontier Foundation, $30 at the door. Tell Nina I said hi.
• The first ever “Feel Free To Say Hi If I’m Wearing A Dinosaur Comics Shirt Day, Woooooo!” apparently had some success, so Nexus of All Webcomics Realities (Canadian edition) Ryan North is declaring a second such day, this time with a bit more lead time and on the weekend so more people can find romance. Saturday, July 17th will be what is now officially named the annual “July Dinosaur Comics Check Out My Sweet Shirt, And Then Talk To Me Because I’m Awesome Day”.
• Another webcomic has crossed the decade mark; Darrell M. Stark wrote to remind us that today, June 30th, makes ten years of Breakpoint City by Brian Emling. I think you can count the number of webcomics that have managed such on two hands and zero feet, so well done Brian, and thanks for the reminder, Darrell.
• Not quite anniversaries, but two epic stories will be wrapping up next week: on Monday, 5 July Evan Dahm will be finishing Order of Tales with an update of 60-odd pages. Add it to the previously-completed Rice Boy, and Dahm has a couple zillion pages of affecting, weird, compelling story for you to enjoy.

  To make the day extra special, KC Green will on the same day post the final chapter of The Anime Club. For those of you that find Monday to be a holiday, you should find plenty of free time to read both sagas over in their entirety.

• Finally, nothing to do with webcomics, but I wanted to share this: from the TEDx conference held in Princeton earlier this year, the guys who provide me with drinks: Francis Schott and Mark Pascal on the value of old style social networks. Anybody passing through central New Jersey, I am always available to have a drink with you at their bars.

Gary, people say to me sometimes, why haven’t you had kids? The world obviously needs your genetic legacy to be continued, you wonderful man, you.

Because, I reply demurely, I get to not sleep on a regular basis by taking ambulance calls in the middle of the night, and while children will grow out of it, the slightly ill (who will end up in waiting room chairs, whether I wheel ’em in on a stretcher or not) will always be there for me. I don’t have to put them through college, but neither will they take care of me when I’m old and decrepit. I am today questioning whether I made the right life choice. Let’s knock down some news items while I’m still conscious.

• New NEWW guests announced; time for me to make some hotel reservations, I’m thinking.
• As mentioned last week, Hello With Cheese loses artist Bryan Prindiville with strip #250, and today Darren J. Gendron announces the new arteest:
  

  Hailing from the coffee-scented land known as Colombia, Obsidian, or “O” has been working as a comic artist since 2003. He started his own webcomic Commissioned in 2004, which already has over 1,400 pages online.

  Dern and Obsidian met last year at ConnectiCon, which was only O’s second trip to a convention in the USA ever. But because of an invite doled out by Rosscott, O was tempted by the terror of on-panel battle known as Super Art Fight.
  When putting together a short list of artists capable of replacing Prindiville, a brainstorm was held. Essentially, we had to define what worked so well about him as an artist. First, Hello With Cheese was not his first webcomic. He’d already developed his own style long before drawing Tom Selleck was a job description. Second, there was a speed element to it, something that makes Prindiville a formidable heel in Super Art Fight. And third, there has to be a similar sense of humor.

  This mythical short list of artists that dern put together started first and foremost with Super Art Fighters. They’re the best at getting it done fast and funny. But because of O’s extensive history and consistent style and feel on Commissioned, he was the No. 1 Draft Pick Dream.

  And then, he actually said yes.

  Welcome, Obsidian, and speaking of SAF, we’ll note that it’s just turned two years old. Expect bratty behavior and incessant repetition of “Why?” for the next couple of years.

• Nina Paley has been mentioned on this page before, most notably for the free-distribution model she adopted for Sita Sings The Blues. Her experiences with copyright (and copyleft) have prompted her to go back and re-release all of her earlier work under a Creative Commons Share-Alike license, and she’ll be talking about this (and other issues of independent art production & intellectual property) with our friends from the Cartoon Art Museum:
  

  The Cartoon Art Museum is honored to host Before Sita Sang The Blues: Spotlight on Nina Paley, the first comprehensive exhibition of award-winning cartoonist and animator Nina Paley, creator of the critically acclaimed animated feature Sita Sings The Blues. This retrospective will feature a selection of Paley’s syndicated comic strips, illustrations, and a series of prints, paintings and behind-the-scenes materials from Sita.

  The exhibition will run from 3 July to 24 October at CAM in San Francisco, with a screening of SSTB on 20 July. Those of you making your way to San Diego down the left coast, this might be a cool place to stop over on the way.

For those that enjoyed the Jess Fink covers yesterday, we’ve got more eyecandy for you today (this time from Hurricane Erika), along with some process porn. Is it weird that I, who creates no visual art, cannot get enough of this image-building? Anyway, it all builds up to a tentacle-rich conclusion, and should be available in time for TCAF.

• Okay, not exactly webcomics, but I’ma go with it anyway. Andrew Farago, the oft-mentioned on this page curator of the Cartoon Arts Museum and champion of [web]comics in general, wants to raise some money for the museum and is willing to put his pride on the line to do so:
  

  In honor of the Cartoon Art Museum’s current exhibition, Batman: Yesterday and Tomorrow, CAM Curator Andrew Farago is turning back the clock to 1989. Or, to be more specific, he’s turning his head back to 1989. If the Cartoon Art Museum receives $5,000 in donations between now and the evening of April 2, Farago will shave the famed Bat-Symbol into his hair at the Museum’s annual WonderCon weekend fundraising party, just as many Bat-Fans did in the months leading up to the release of Warner Bros.’ 1989 Batman film.

  “My mother thought it was a bad idea 21 years ago, and I’m sure she’d still think it’s a bad idea today. I’ve had plenty of bad haircuts before, but this is the first one I’ll be getting for a good cause,” said Farago.

  Not mentioned in the press release is the reaction of Farago’s wife, who will likely find the prospect of a Bat-Head husband to be either irredeemably stupid or rad beyond all measuring; I’m betting on the latter, actually. Donations can be made through CAM’s website, Facebook pages, tinyurl, or by mail to the Cartoon Art Museum at 655 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94105 (please indicate “Bat-haircut” in the subject line, and don’t forget to deduct it from next year’s taxes).

• So we’re less than a month until the Jesus Pad completely changes comics (both print and web varieties) or doesn’t. In the meantime, I have to believe that those that might be most impacted are publishers currently trying to distribute for-pay material electronically, but not going through any of the mega storefronts to do so.

  Case in point: iPulpFiction.com, distributing some fairly big name authors, at really low price points, what appears to be be online-only material. At least, their new graphic novel, The Cobweb Dective Club is described specifically as “an online graphic novel”, and I can’t find any references to eventual dead-tree versions (while they’re advertising the iPad as a viewing platform, near as I can tell, they maintain their own payment system).

  General question for all of you early adopters — if you buy an iPad and oh look, no iPhone tethering to avoid having to purchase a second data plan — are you likely to then also pay to third parties, or will the ongoing costs drive you more toward free content? I’m trying to get a sense of what you’re willing to purchase.

• Quick reminder: Danielle Corsetto signing in Dallas tomorrow; details here.

You need to read that title out loud, in the voice of a newsreel announcer; click the picture for an example and then try to get that voice out of your head. When you’re done listening to the news of yesteryear, stick around YouTube for a moment and check out the video trailer for Raina Telgemeier’s SMILE, which is due for release so soon that I can barely stand it. Yes, I keep bringing this book up. No, I’m not going to apologize. It’s terrific and the world must know.

• As long as we’re playing with A/V capabilities, let’s take a listen to a podcast: The Skeptic’s Guide to the Universe is a creature after my own heart — ruthlessly rational, determined to shine the light of reason on pseduo-science of all sorts, and not above a bit of snarkiness in the pursuit of those goals. Show #236 features Jon Rosenberg, who’s been known to address skeptical audiences from time to time … something about writing a webcomic that settled the answer of the existence of God definitively by having two characters eat him. It’s a pretty general-purpose interview, not so much about the webcomic, more about science, influences, and Rosenberg’s worldview. Jon, for his part, comes across as reasonably normal, which makes me wonder how much he drank from the bottle of Scotch Baio prior to the interview.
• Got a double dose of Scott Kurtz news for you — in about two weeks time, those of you in NoCal will have two opportunities to see him do the formal talk thing, at a pair of fairly prestigious venues. To start, he’ll be at the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco on Thursday, 11 February from 7:00 to 9:00pm for a talk and signing. It’s free, but it’s a museum, and the suggested donation of $5.00 isn’t going to break you. Give ’em $10 if you can.

  Two days later, Kurtz will head up to Santa Rosa and the Schulz Museum; that would be the museum devoted to Charles ‘Sparky’ Schulz, the most wildly successful, influential, and vaguely depressing strip cartoonist the world has ever known. I’m going to go out on a limb and guess this is about the most exciting possible invitation for any working cartoonist.

  On Saturday, 13 February, Kurtz will be speaking and teaching. The fun kicks off at 10:00am with a 1.5 hour Master Class for Adults, then continues as Kurtz becomes the latest Cartoonist-in-Residence; he’ll be talking from 1:00pm with meet/greet and signing to follow. The Master Class requires registration and a fee, which can be arranged by calling (707) 284-1263. For the general presentation, ten bucks gets you in the door, five if you’re a kid.

• Oh yeah, then there’s this: the Android (Operating System) Android (mascot). Andy Bell first dropped hints to me about these guys way back at SDCC 2009, and I’ve been anxiously waiting to see how they would turn out. Answer: Awesome. As the owner of an Android phone, I want one.

‘Cause this is the time of year that my friends are provided with astonishingly good (if I do say so myself) full-fat baked goods. Nummers!

• Speaking of being friends, Paul Abbamondi does a little thing called My Life Comics; over the weekend, he proposed to his girlfriend in that space. The bad news is that she is now his ex-girlfriend; the good news is that she’s now his <Holly Hunter voice>fi-anse</Holly Hunter voice>. Webcomics: a force for both good and attaching yourself in a life-long manner to totally awesome ladies.
• Yesterday was the 25th anniversary of the Cartoon Art Musuem, whose association with webcomickry is extensively chronicled on this page. We at Fleen salute the fine work done by CAM, which includes:
  

  [T]he collection, preservation and display of original cartoon art in all its forms. Today, the Cartoon Art Museum is still serving the San Francisco Bay Area and the artistic community through exhibitions, community outreach and public programming. A full and exciting roster of exhibitions and programs are being prepared for the coming year, and we are very thankful for all of the support and encouragement that we have received over the past 25 years, and look forward to continuing to fulfill our mission statement as it was conceived back in 1984.

  In a stunning coincidence, the anniversary happens to coincide with the start of their annual fund drive; if you’re looking to snag a last-minute deduction on your taxes, there’s far worse places to donate a couple bucks. C’mon, you got the money to drop on a fancy-ass Starbucks drink, you can spare a tenner for the cause.

• Finally, I was going to comment on how Brad Guigar was noting the crossing of the 3000 strip mark in the Greystone Inn/Evil, Inc. continuum, and I was gonna get all smartass about how if you count his emergency auxilliary classy strip and his world’s only sex strip that doesn’t show sex, ol’ Brad had hit the Big Round Number of 3357. Then he went and did the math himself, leaving me without a lede. Thanks, Brad, and “congratulations”¹.

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¹ See if you get any cheesecake, mister. Rassa-frassin’ stealing my bit.