The webcomics blog about webcomics

Oh Man … Oh, Man

A little less than 14 hours ago, :01 Books (who do such great graphic novels) launched a new online serial project, Zahra’s Paradise, and you need to stop right now and go read the pages already posted.

Back? Good. Let’s talk about what it’s about:

So a Persian writer, an Arab artist and a Jewish editor walk into a room…

Sounds like the beginning of a bad joke. Actually, that’s something like the start of this unusual editorial adventure, the first of its kind. Here for your reading pleasure is an online, serial webcomic in English, Farsi, Arabic, French, Italian, Spanish, and Dutch—with more joining on the horizon. First Second books proudly presents Zahra’s Paradise by Amir and Khalil, together with Casterman in French and Dutch, Rizzoli Lizard in Italian, and Norma Editorial in Spanish.

Set in the aftermath of Iran’s fraudulent elections of 2009, Zahra’s Paradise is the fictional story of the search for Mehdi, a young protestor who has disappeared in the Islamic Republic’s gulags. Mehdi has vanished in an extrajudicial twilight zone where habeas corpus is suspended. What stops his memory from being obliterated is not the law. It is the grit and guts of a mother who refuses to surrender her son to fate and the tenacity of a brother—a blogger—who fuses culture and technology to explore and explode absence: the void in which Mehdi has vanished.

The creators (anonymous for obvious political reasons) have produced something special. It’s unfolding so slowly, and you can tell how good this one is going to be from how much it hurts to hit the ‘Next’ button. Hurts, because you’re wondering when being afraid of what might happen to Mehdi suddenly becomes knowing what happened to Mehdi, and whatever that is, it’s probably even worse than we can imagine. Even though Mehdi is fictional, there were so many Mehdi’s taken in the aftermath of the elections, and so many more still. There are eight pages up, and more due each Monday/Wednesday/Friday.

In other news, webcartoonists are evil, grasping scum. You heard it here first. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to see a gentleman about some kitchen knives.

Monday. Things. You Know How It Is.

I have an iPod, though, and its screens look sorta like this. That makes me cool enough to eat lunch with you, right? Right? Dang.

First off, did everybody see this? Thanks to the generosity of various sponsors (large and small), Child’s Play 2009 started out of the gate with $260,000. Please note that this is not an excuse to not give, figuring that Google‘s got your contribution all taken care of.

Speaking of charitable efforts, there’s something that you really need to see: Starthrower in Haiti is a new, twice-a-week webcomic that exists solely to raise money for the Starthrower Foundation, which sponsors young Haitian adults who wish to complete their education and/or apprenticeship.

It’s created by Daniel Lafrance, a Canadian storyboard artist, and it’s absolutely gorgeous. There’s a soft, pencil-ish quality to the colors, mixed in with a masterful sense of character design that’s neither too fussy nor too simple; think Herge’s ligne claire¹ and you’ve got a pretty good idea what it looks like. Check out what’s likely the only charity-dedicated webcomic since the now-folded Guest Strip Project.

  • It’s November, and that means it’s National Novel Writing Month; you probably know somebody that’s giving it a go, and in case you don’t, head over to Help Desk and check out the widgets showing word count progress. Alternately, check out Later by Darcie Frederick; the webcomic’s been doing weekly updates for about a year now, but now it kicks into high gear as Frederick’s decided to tackle NaNoWriMo by doing 30 comics in 30 days. She’s, uh, actually a couple days behind right now, but I’m pretty confident she’ll catch up.

    Oh, did I mention that Later is the most trope-busting post-apocalypse webcomic you’re ever likely to see? No gangs fighting over the remains of civilization, no zombies, no widespread destruction. Just very few people, a lot of melancholy, and a cat named Simon. I like Simon.

  • Did somebody say webcomics iPhone app? I know, I know, you can’t spit these days without coming across some RSS scraper or other, but there are two you might be interested in. Howard Tayler (my evil twin — or am I his?) has a call out for those interested in beta testing the Schlock Mercenary iPhone app.

    And Onezmui & Harknell, the creator/techie couple behind Stupid & Insane Defenders Against Chaos and My Annoying Life have released an iPhone app to aggregate all their various content (multiple strips, blogs, and podcasts) with a twist:

    We’re also making a (Stupid and Insane) offer to other webcomics–get your own version of our app for your comic for free! We’ve always tried to give back to the community and this is our biggest offer so far. More info on the service is here.

    Short version: it’s a service to allow creators build their own iPhone apps and get ’em in the iTunes store. Right now it’s based off the “Central” app (cf: “Chaos Central”, about 5cm up the screen), which is a consolidator of whatever kinds of content you put out that can be accessed via RSS or XML. I got to play around with Chaos Central a few weeks ago, and it’s pretty slick.

    Of course, as the owner of a G1 and not an iPhone, I can only hope that the collective nerdgasms last week over the new Motorola Droid means that there will be more interest in developing such apps in the future for the Android O/S. Until then, I guess all us Android users will have to eat lunch over here and someday ours will be the cool table. So there.

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¹ If anybody out there has the family name “Ligne”, I will pay you ten dollars American cash money to name any daughter you might have “Claire”.

Still On Borrowed Equipment

So if you read yesterday’s comments, Gordon McAlpin is unconvinced of my reading of the Amazon Super Duper Strip Cartooner Dealie™ (not its actual name). He and I have had an entirely pleasant back-and-forth today (and there’s no snark there — one of the things I like about my commenters is they’re typically civil and grown-up when there are disagreements) and nailed down both a) my offer of a bet; and b) McAlpin’s desire for more quantification.

We have agreed to the following:

  1. If, within 3 years of the development period being done and print syndication starting (which could be up to 2 years after being declared winner), the contest winner has picked up at least 500 papers Gordon wins.
  2. If, the contest winner walks away from the syndication contract, is dropped by the syndicate, or under any other circumstances goes independent as a webcomic using the same strip from the contest, and achieves any significant audience on-line, Gordon wins.
  3. If the strip isn’t picked up for print syndication by somebody at the end of the development period (doesn’t have to be Universal), or fails to hit 500 papers in three years of print syndication, I win.
  4. The winner may, at his discretion, take a picture of himself waving the money in a triumphant pose, to be posted on the front page of Fleen.
  5. The stakes are one dollar American cash money.
  6. Both parties will appear as identical elephants.
  • Whoops, sorry, couldn’t help myself, what with Achewood rocking so hard these days and all. For those that need a quick catch-up on the current storyline (which I’m provisionally calling The Lash of Thanatos), may I recommend that you peruse the return to webcomics blogging by Eric Burns-White; this is a man who uses language as he loves it — in great quantities, and with meandering grace. We do not always see eye-to-eye on events within webcomicdom, he and I, but I am able to map his viewpoints to mine with acceptable accuracy, and am glad to see that he concurs that the latest happenings in and around Alberquist Hall are indeed Something Special.
  • Everybody catch The Guigster on TV yesterday? If not, there’s video for you to enjoy of some basic cable people not getting it, and applying the wrong questions (or at least not listening to the answers) about webcomicdom. But man, does Brad look natural on camera, or what? I guess he’s now our official Telegenic Spokesguy.
  • Speaking of the media, yesterday’s overlong posting means I didn’t get a chance to mention this before it happened, but a cluster of webcomickers (actually, that last link actually refers to the webmaster of a webcomicker, but you get the idea) found themselves on a podcast devoted to free and open-source software. If you missed it, replay should be available sometime day after tomorrow here-ish. Thanks to Help Desk creator (and podcast participant) Christopher Wright for the heads-up.

Books!

Oh my goodness so many books to talk about.

  • You got yer massive sale to make space for a secret project over at Exploding Dog. Seriously, ten bucks for 250 pretty pictures? When people ask you what it’s about, tell them It’s about half a kilo of awesome.
  • You got a street date for Jellaby: Monster in the City. April 21st! I’m torn between grabbing this one as soon as it hits the shelves and buying it direct from Kean Soo at MoCCA in June just for the pleasure of handing him crisp money in exchange for his wares.
  • You got Howard Tayler crankin’ out a dozen-plus illos a day for the next month so he can provide the drawings for (and publish!) a dungeon-masterin’ book. For those that dated in high school, Tracy Hickman (author of said book) is a big name in circles that feature dungeon masters, so this is a pretty big deal for Tayler.
  • You got business majors across the country wanting to get a good look at the books of Topatoco (see what I did there), as we see their talent roster expanded by two names in the past two days (with promises of three more this week). Topatoco’s pretty much in charge of the webcomics merch business at this point, which makes founder/exalted leader Jeff Rowland that most mythical of all creatures in these challenging times: a small business owner who’s creating jobs. I am utterly convinced that each time Rowland falls into fitful slumber he wonders How the hell did this happen?

There’s even a few non-book things going on; think of them as “stages of a webcomics life” sorta thing.

  1. (Re-) Birth: I met Shoolhouse Daze creator Mike Ciccotello at a bookstore event in my town about two years ago. He’s gotten his strip into a major college paper (with a circulation of 17,000+), experimented all over the place, taken hiatus to retool and sharpen his skills, and now relaunches better than ever tomorrow, April 1st. Get in on the new ground floor, y’all.
  2. Difficult teenage years: Help Desk turns thirteen damn years old today. And it hates you! You never understood it! It wishes you were dead! If you really want to infuriate Help Desk, pay attention to it in public in front of its friends (the RSS feed is particularly handy for this).
  3. Starting the career: As of yesterday, Daisy Owl creator Ben Driscoll has left the world of “paychecks” and “benefits” to make his living by his wits and his webcomic. For now, signed strip prints are all that he can sell you, but let’s hope that we see a nice, beefy collection in book form soon.

Look at that, we’re back to books. Enjoy the rest of your day.

Whaddaya Know? I Did Remember


Gonna be a sparse week — looks like I’m not the only one with frantic stuff to do this week (what with the impending ‘Merican holiday and all), so let me just point out the Holy Bat-Buckle on Metal Steve, and we can all prepare for the feast (side note: Randy Milholland referenced the Questions of Bartholomew in the run-up to the catgirl holocaust, but I’m digging this Orpheus-like conclusion alongside the apocryphal gospels … for my money, S*P has more depths to it than your average Classics scholar).

Hopes, Dreams, Etc.

Couple things going on in the world of webcomics. For starters, the Applegeeks crew are due in next month’s Dark Horse Presents on MySpace. The topic of Dark Horse in general came up at lunch with Rick Marshall yesterday, and we’re astonished by the string o’ webcomics talent that they’ve been trafficking in.

But the big story is undoutedbly the news from CBR that Platinum have entered into a deal to produce a Hero By Night TV show. You remember Hero By Night? Created by a guy named DJ Coffman who, as of this writing, hasn’t actually been contacted by Platinum regarding said deal? Since the partner mentioned by Platinum in their press release, IM Global, appears to have a track record in distribution and has a number of projects in the pipeline, this may be more than just a PR announcement where the project at issue never comes to fruition.

That leaves the obvious question, What about DJ? The contracts offered by Platinum for the 2006 Comic Book Challenge aren’t public (momentary pause here to offer some kudos to Zuda for their disclosure of the contracts; I don’t like a lot of the terms they contain, but at least they’re where we can all see them), so I asked DJ for some broad outlines about the agreement he has with Platinum. I didn’t ask for the particulars of rates or dollar figures, but did get some interesting details:

Fleen: You transferred the rights to certain original characters and situations to Platinum for immediate use in comic books. Does the licensing/exploitation of those characters and situations to other media obligate them to other payments?

Coffman: Yes. The TV stuff is covered and just about anything else under the sun is in there, even things that haven’t been invented yet. Even a spinoff based on characters from he universe I’d get royalties and bonuses from, but I can’t say how much, of course.

Fleen: Does your contract provide you with the right of independent auditing?

Coffman: Yes. If memory serves me, my CBC contract says I could have my own accountant go in and check their books and all that. If there was no further communication from them, I was planning on doing this anyways at some point regarding the online animations they put out (which are covered) and the downloads at Wowio.

Fleen: It’s my understanding that Scott Rosenberg (head of Platinum) has in the past started multiple companies in the area of comics and other media, including a new one called Vanguard Comics whose mission statement is eerily similar to that of Platinum Studios. Is the company that you are contracted with the same legal entity that made the announcement with IM Global?

Coffman: Yes. And it’s been my understanding from other legal eagles I’ve spoken with that if another company takes over Platinum, buys them out, changes names, the contracts still stand and are simply transfered over to the new entity, and I’d get a smaller contract to sign stating that I’m aware of the new owners of the property, and that contract continues under its term. I guess that’s common sense legal biz.

Fleen: Are there any questions that you have for Platinum Studios or IM Global at this time?

Coffman: Yes. Please tell me they have not and will not hire the special effects team for Stan Lee’s Harpies. That’s not too much to ask, right?

Judging from that clip, not too much to ask at all.

Finally, following up on Tuesday’s story about Help Desk’s financial woes, creator Christopher Wright is reporting that his readers have dug down into their pockets, and that the site will remain up for at least another month. Obviously, it’s not a long-term solution, but it’s at least a short-term happy ending.

Want To Fight The Crippling World-Wide Recession? Buy Some Stuff.

The holiday (or, if you prefer, Holiday) season is upon us, which means it’s time to find gifts for those on your lists. It’s too soon to say how the ongoing brand dilution is affecting webcomics, but I’m cautiously optimistic. During previous economic downturns, movies, comics, and other relatively cheap entertainment did pretty well — golden age, like.

Today, movies and comics are pretty pricey (although I haven’t gone out and adjusted for inflation or anything, I have a feeling that today’s $10.50 movie ticket is more expensive than the 10 cent matinee with cartoon, serial short, newsreels, and a feature) and big-name comics are likewise trying to support creators in a modest manner, which neccesitates a dollars-per-page cover price that’s a little on the high side. But webcomics — they are mostly free and feature creators worthy of your support, especially when you find designs that would be so awesome to have a loved one unwrap on a religiously-signficant morning (tree optional) and wear to services.

  • If you feel like getting something a little more … all-ages appropriate? — there are still options. For all that he seems like a cynic with a crippling coffee addiction, Rich Stevens actually has one of the fluffiest hearts I’ve ever known; case in point: video kitties out the wazoo. There is so much concentrated cute here that I’d get diabetes just from the trailer, were it not for the presence of Hitlercat about five seconds in. But rest assured, when that kitten murders us all, it’ll be adorable. I’ll see your adorable kittens Mr Stevens, and raise you greyhound puppies.
  • For me, one of the highlights of the last couple Flight anthologies has been the Igloohead and Treehead offerings by Scott Campbell, who you may recognize from the new Frontalot CD cover, or (if you’re in San Francisco) the Imaginary Friends show running at Gallery 1988 (which also stars fellow Flighter Israel Sanchez and nightmare monger Andy Bell). Some new photos from the show are up at Bell’s LiveJournal, and they look great.
  • Speaking of the Left Coast, and art shows therein, James Kochalka will be bringing paintings and even a few songs to Giant Robot LA for “Little Paintings 3” on Saturday the 15th at 6:30 pm. The paintings in question are mostly 2″ x 2″, with a few up to 6″ x 6″ (for those of you outside America, that’s about 5 cm and 15 cm, respectively), with the show running until 10 December.
  • Finally, Best of the Year lists are starting to show up — Tucker Stone kicks off the annual crop of webcomics tallies at Comixology. I particularly noted item #4 on his “best of” list: Kate Beaton, anything, and everything, by Kate Beaton. Considering that she doesn’t do a comic, per se, it should tell you something about the quality of her work that it gets recognized as often as it does. I can pretty much promise that nobody besides Stone will completely agree with this Year’s Best list, so let’s get bickering.

On Consequences

Christopher Wright’s been at the webcomics game for a long time — Help Desk started on a now-defunct computing website more than twelve years ago, and has been running on its own site for the past nine. In that time, life has interrupted the strip on occasion, and it looks as if it may do so again:

[T]he summary is that I’m running out of money, and as a result I may have to take down EvisceratiNet (eviscerati.net, ubersoft.net, evsicerati.org) for a while until I can afford to resume publishing. There are ways out of this predicament–a sudden influx of money from enthusiastic supporters, a sudden offer of a decent job, a sudden winning lottery ticket–but given the current economic climate I’m thinking the lottery ticket is my best shot.

The full piece is an enlightening read — Wright isn’t begging for support, just laying out the economic facts about how he presents us with Help Desk (and Kernel Panic, and Old Skool Webcomic, and now PCTown, not to mention the editorial sites under the Eviscerati umbrella); basically, he pays to provide these items to us for free, and via that distribution to get things off his chest that need off-getting. Think Thomas Paine with a grudge against Microsoft. And the thing about Paine and his philosophical descendents? You really can’t get them over the urge to shout from the metaphorical rooftops for very long:

If I’m forced to shut down the server due to lack of funds to keep it going, it won’t be the end of the world. This was the risk I took when I made the decisions I did so very long ago, and when you take risks you need to be willing to face those consequences. When I have money again, Help Desk will come back — and hopefully you will as well.

Fleen wishes Wright the best of luck, and should the worst happen, we’ll be waiting with bated breath for his triumphant return to editorializing and muckraking.

  • In other news, did y’all in England know there’s a show on this weekend? The one-day-only Thought Bubble Festival in Leeds runs on Saturday the 15th, with the likes of Lil’ Johnny A and Liz Cusack as invited guests, and a whole mess o’ exhibitors including a cat charity. US comic shows get past-their-prime Playmates and Hooters calendar girls, UK shows get cats in need of help — I know which one I’d rather have a booth next to.
  • Finally, ’tis the season and all that. Childs Play 2008 kicked off five days ago, and as of this writing has already cleared the $100,000 mark. The economy can be as much of a bitch as it wants to be, and the better angels of our natures will still prevail. Well done, and keep up the good work.

At Some Point, Enough Webcomics Are Going To Hit Ten Years That I Stop Paying Attention When They Do

But not today. Krishna “Big K” Sadasivam hits the decade mark of PC Weenies and (ironically enough) may have to close up for being too popular and pummeling his non-dedicated server’s CPU. Show the guy some love and spread out your clicks, and maybe browse his store when it’s available again?

Meanwhile, Help Desk is updating again, with the recent computing noir storyline splitting off to its own identity and update schedule. I believe that Christopher Wright is consicentious enough to drive the PCTown story to conclusion, but it may take a while to get there.

Finally, anybody been checking out Moose Mountain? Been following this one casually since it debuted back in the summer (complete with several months of archive ready to go on day one). It’s like what Mark Trail would be, if Mark Trail didn’t suck the joy out of life every day that Mark isn’t punching out scum (which happens all too rarely). In fact, that’s all that’s missing from Moose Mountain — punching the hair off scum.

For Any Enemies Seeking My Death

You now know where to find me on the evening of 7 November. But I warn you — nothing will keep me from the Achewood signing.

  • This is what I get for not scrolling past the comic — I completely missed the wonderful news from Christopher Wright which is now a week old:

    For about a year my wife and I have been in the process of entering an adoption program. In January we went live, in the spring we were matched, and today we took our daughter home from the hospital. … [W]e now have a beautiful little girl who has made it clear that while she permitted the nurses in the hospital nursery to believe she had settled into a regular feeding and sleeping schedule, now that she is home she will tolerate nothing of the kind.

    Fleen congratulates the happy family on their good fortune, and apologizes for just figuring that the comic was not updating because you were living in a Hurricane Ike-carved ditch waiting for power to come back.

  • Sorry ladies, he’s off the market. Reports indicate that Jeph Jacques has successfully gotten married; footage from our chartered paparazzi-copter indicate that no fewer than twelve college-age women have been injured in related riots. Fleen congratulates the happy couple, who are reportedly honeymooning at George Clooney’s villa in Italy.
  • And finally, we note the 1000th strip/four year mark has been reached by Able and Baker. Fleen congratulates the happy creator.