Editor’s note: This post is largely going to concern the economic well-being of Jon Rosenberg; long-time readers may recall that Jon was the first publisher of Fleen, and largely the driving force in me writing this damn thing for the going-on-five-years since. You can insert any necessary disclaimers about conflict of interest into this piece that you feel necessary.

It sounded serious on Twitter the other day:

I have just completely wasted thirteen years of my life.

… but then again, we’re talking about Jon; he’s been known to exaggerate his woes on occasion. But as the followup has shown, this isn’t a moment of artistic doubt — this is a wholesale re-evaluation of … life, I guess. After being part of the defining generation of webcomics, after just about creating the two guys sitting on a couch genre, after providing countless hours of free entertainment and thousands of updates (which, contrary to his own self-interest, have become increasingly artistically, narratively, and philosophically complex), Jon’s toying with the conclusion that the creation that expresses him best isn’t sustainable:

Goats is thirteen years old. Since 2003, I’ve been working on a single epic storyline meant to culminate at the end of 2012, at which point Goats would toddle off into the sunset and I would start my next comic. Easy, right?

It is becoming apparent that this approach isn’t viable. While I’m happy with what I’ve done creatively, the webcomics medium rewards quick, easy updates with traffic. Long, continuity-filled stories like Goats that take a long time between updates tend to stagnate, although there are certainly folks more talented than I who can pull off this difficult feat.

None of this is news to me. It’s hard to come to a teenaged webcomic and not get put off by the large archive. And the books do not seem to be mitigating the problem as much as I had hoped, since most folks are trying to buy food and pay rent these days and graphic novels understandably do not provide shelter or many other things at the bottom of Maslow’s pyramid. As many other problems as Goats has, as many mistakes as I have made, this is the only one that matters right now. Without growth, I’m dead in the water. There’s only so many times I can beg you guys to buy stuff.

If I were single, or younger, or less encrusted in the leakings of children, I would hunker down, buy some ramen and just tough it out. But it’s not fair to my family to ask them to suffer like that, they deserve better. A lot better. So I have to make some changes.

The bright spot in Jon’s missive is what he didn’t say — he’s not giving up comics or creative work, he’s not going to get a job selling insurance for this wife’s uncle’s cousin or anything like that. He is going to be looking at what things he can make that will appeal in a more immediate, less attention-requiring, and financially remunerative form. As much as I would love to think that there’s a place for long, complex stories that demand attention from the reader, Jon doesn’t owe me that in my free entertainment; nevertheless, he’s said that he’s not dropping Goats where it stands.

There will be a wrap-up to the (as of today) six years, five months, and three days long storyline that those of us in his (too small to satisfy his publisher, alas) cult have invested in. It won’t feature the original depth and breadth that he conceived, but maybe after he’s become the next JJ Abrams and conquered all forms of media, he’ll have time to go back and release the director’s cut of his first magnum opus and we’ll get to read it then. I hope so — he deserves that closure.

And as much as a final groundswell of sales might not change any decisions based on balance sheets and long-term exploitation possibilities, if you’ve ever chuckled at Jon’s work, I think getting a book or two would be a nice thank you for a story that he’s fought to give to us in exchange for meager and shrinking rewards.

Thanks for the stories, Jon. I can’t wait to see what the next one is like.

I know that you’ve all heard already — curse you, Ron Perazza, releasing information on Friday afternoons [shakes fist in impotent rage] — but it appears that the Zudacomics contest is history:

The [contest] format absolutely has merits; engaging the community and giving them real decision making power, giving creators a level of exposure that they might not have otherwise had and encouraging an ongoing dialogue about storytelling, quality and what makes good comics. However it’s also had its shortcomings; accusations of cheating, confusion about the process, spamming in the the name of promotion and argumentative, dismissive or even aggressive behavior.

Is there a better way to achieve the former without having to endure or encourage the latter? I think so. The comic industry needs a steady influx of new creators and new ideas. We should consistently explore the medium, looking for new ways to tell great stories. I think that if we, as a company, are committed to those goals we would be foolish not to pursue them.

However, from this point forward, we wont be using the competition format to do it.

It will be some time before we see how Zuda’s new approach is shaped, and we’ll be sure to bring an appropriately critical eye to bear on the process. However, I think it’s fair (if the Twitter traffic on the topic is anything to go by) to say that the move is pretty much being universally regarded as a step in the right direction.

It can’t have been easy for Perazza and his staff to alter the fundamental model of Zuda, and they’re due every consideration for having the sense to consider all aspects of their business model as up for improvement and change. It’s a lesson that anybody in business would do well to remember.

Oh, and in case you were wondering about submissions that were in the pipeline at Zuda:

[W]e will still be reviewing every submission currently in the queue; however, at this point we’re only looking for Instant Winners. Further, at this time we’re not going back and reconsidering previous non-winning competitors. If you’ve got more questions I’ll be happy to try and answer them.

• In other news, a bunch of new webcomics books in the pipeline — the first book from Andrew Hussie’s MS Paint Advantures, Problem Sleuth Book One: Compensation, Adequate, is now available from TopatoCo Books (a wholly-owned subsidiary of TopatoCo, The Topato Corporation). Likewise, Kris Straub’s third Chainsawsuit collection is now up for grabs, and he ain’t messing with no pre-orders. You order today, you’re gettin’ that sumbitch now-ish.

  This is a new trend in webcomics books, which traditionally have relied on pre-sales to make sure the printer bills get paid. Much like Zuda, TopatoCo is acting not just like an editorial gatekeeper (only work of a certain level of quality need apply), but as a provider of publishing services (it would be interesting to compare the publication agreements of those two entities).

  Although it’s losing the contest aspect (which most set Zuda apart from the rest of DC, and by extension, the Time Warner megacorporation), my guess is that ZudaNew looks more like an imprint of DC, TW, or whomever, and one with its own rules for best dealing with the talent pool that is creator-owned webcomics.

  Zuda and Aduz may be getting closer to each other, and (as long as we’re not working under Star Trek physics, which would cause the universe to explode if Zuda and Aduz came in contact) that’s probably not a bad thing.

• Finally, not webcomics, but I don’t care: Electron Boy saved Seattle. Awesome.

This is where that influence that the Penny Arcade guys have makes a difference in a lot of lives. The latest episode of PATV is live, and it’s not an easy thing. Messers Holkins and Krahulik talk about their histories of anxiety, depression, coping, and the effects drugs (illicit and licit) have had on them.

They’re sharing stuff that mostly doesn’t get talked about, and that alone could help a lot of people. This is a must-watch.

Andy Bell‘s Android figures were much anticipated by me. Then they went on sale and disappeared in minutes, leaving me a sad camper. Then Bell brought a small stock with him to MoCCA ’10 and I scored two of the blind-boxed wonders. Now, thanks to the generosity of a collector (and compatriot from the old Goats forums) who scored a stack, I have been given the opportunity to purchase duplicates and have nearly the entire set. They loom over my head as I type these words, menacing, casting off the volatile gases that constitute “new toy smell”, and ready to destroy me the moment I let down my guard. Hooray!

• Speaking of Goats, the third volume of The Infinite Pendergast Cycle, Showcase Showdown, is up for pre-order. This will complete the three-part saga that took the long-running webcomic from the two guys sitting around drinking beer story model that it pioneered (now, commonly found in webcomicdom) to the groundbreaking two guys alternately imperiling and vaguely attempting to save the universe, but they’d rather be drinking beer story model that continues to break ground (and occasionally my brain).

  With luck (and an assist from you), the three-book package (commissioned back before the economy went poof) will have done well enough that Random House will re-up for the next three-book set. These are handsome volumes, and as soon as I’ve got a copy in my hands, the megastory represented by these pages will get the long-overdue writeup here that is deserves.

• Speaking of both deserving things, and things wrapping up, did you see the latest costume redesign contest at Project: Rooftop has announced winners? Black Canary has her makeover, and I can’t help but notice that Carly Monardo is once again one of the top finishers. After her second place result in the Wonder Woman contest, and her giving BC a costume that I think would get a favorable critique from the guy who is correct about such things, I think it’s now official: DC and Marvel need to have Ms Monardo redesign costumes for their entire line of heroes.
• Speaking of heroes — Hey kids, do you know what tomorrow is? Besides the day that my rail fares go up by a tremendous amount, dammit (PDF)? It’s Free Comic Book Day, and you’ll find a variety of webcomickers doing things all over the damn place. Assuming you live in any of those places, give ’em some love, and remember: all those free-to-you books cost the stores money. Buy something.

Not that long ago, I described Elena “Yamino” Barbarich’s Sister Claire as relentlessly cute and just the right amount of blasphemous; to that I think we can describe it as merciful. Freshly returned from two site hackings, Yamino has decided not to become vengeful and yea, call down furious anger on those that perpetrated evil, but to spread a little joy about:

I decided I would try to organize my own charity project (as you can never have too many of those!) While trying to think of an original way for webcomic artists to earn money, I remembered a Sister Claire food contest I held back in December 2009. Every reader who sent in an entry received a postcard from Sister Claire herself.

The readers loved it, and it was so much fun writing personal messages in character! And so I thought, “Wouldn’t it be AWESOME if a ton of cool webcomic artists did this to raise money?” And thus, the Webcomic Charity was born.

Short form — participating creators design a custom postcard on a template, as well as contribute to a general design with all of their characters. People that donate a certain amount to the drive get the general postcard, but those that donate a higher amount get one of the limited cards written by the character.

I’m not playing favorites, but the thought of getting a postcard from Wonderella (sample imaginary text: Hey, thanks for giving money, you’re almost like a hero. I mean, crap, not like I’m a hero — I have a cape! — but as much as one of you people could manage. Now I sign this? Okay.) would be worth quite a bit in some quarters that happen to coincide with my house.

Anyway, the list of participants is growing rapidly, and the which charity? poll is trending towards Kiva right now (webcomics has a history there, after all), and all your questions are probably answered at the Webcomics Charity site.

In other news, a little behind Neil Patrick Harris and Prince, and ahead of Simon Cowell, Ricky Gervais, and James Cameron: Mike ‘new dad’ Krahulik and Jerry ‘also a dad, just not so new’ Holkins have been declared the 14th most influential artists in the world by Time magazine (or at least, by an online poll that Time ran, although it appears they’ve learned how to harden their software against ballot-stuffing, in that 4chan doesn’t seem to have had an effect this year). Well done guys, and next see if you can’t be more important than Sparkly Vampire Boy.

It’s been a couple weeks (or, if you prefer, a couple months) that I’ve been faced with a dilemma — very worthy webcomics like Anders Loves Maria and Little Dee have wrapped up for good, yet there they sit in the bloglist (and, on a personal note, in my browser’s bookmarks). I may have to create a second list of webcomics that are complete, but worth your attention. How do you deal with no longer updating (but beloved) sites?

• Speaking of, Outside Infinity wrapped today after a brief but illuminating run. I doubt that Karl Schwarzschild actually met a snotty kid from the future, but damn if his maths on black holes ain’t pretty.
• Today’s PvP guest strip is even better if you hum the soundtrack to West Side Story. Given Ryan Sohmer’s love of musical theatre, I figure that’s at least halfway to authorial intent.
• Over at The Creatures In My Head, Andy Bell has shared some fascinating information on a project I was not previously familiar with:
  

  The Poster Cause Project produces posters and prints with the proceeds going to a number of reputable charities. They’re now offering screen prints, starting with my piece above!

  It is a 4 color 18?x24? print. (the dark grey you see there is a texture printed under the black, in case you are color counting), signed and numbered edition of 50, with 100% of the profits being donated to ACF/Action Against Hunger. Please help support a worthy cause, and get some nice art for yourself in the process!

  Well done, Mr Bell — I’m not sure if the good deed makes the screaming behind your eyes a little quieter for a brief respite from the madness scream scream skwaaaa, but here’s hoping.

• Finally, today appears to be the comic shop street date for three (count ’em, three) pieces of young adult graphic fiction from the fine folks at :01 Books. Thanks to their generosity, I’ve had advance copies for weeks now, and can confidently state that Resistance, City of Spies, and Foiled will make good additions to the collections of the YA reader in your life.

  Two of them feature plucky girls learning to be heroic, two of them take place in World War II, two of them features main characters trying to make life make sense via their own drawings. There’s monsters, Tintinesque adventure, tragedy, evil to be confronted, and even a bit of swashbuckling. Put ’em together, and it’s practically The Princess Bride. Books designs by the frighteningly talented Colleen AF Venable.

One of the webcomics-friendliest people out there is Josh Fruhlinger, which is odd because he’s mostly famous for writing seriously about tech issues or very snarkily about newspaper comics. And one of the webcomics-friendliest of the newspaper cartoonists (in that he maintains a long-running webcomic) is Ces Marculiano. They’re chatting together on Tall Tales Radio with host Tom Racine, and it’s always good when Josh gets going on Apartment 3G‘s oddly unsexy hijinks, Mark Trail‘s fisticuffs, and Mary Worth‘s eventual subjugation of all sentient beings to her indomitable will. Mary Worth is.

• Speaking of audio treats, there’s a terrific recording of the self-publishing panel from the recently-concluded Stumptown Comics Festival, starring Meredith Gran, Shaenon Garrity, and Lucy Knisley, with Hurricane Erika moderating. It’s a good ‘un.
• Speaking of Stumptown, recently seen carved into a stump in Portland: KB + KC = ♥. Those in the know believe that this may refer to the most awesome jam comic ever committed to pixels. Also, does anybody else have the problem that every time they go to type in the URL for KC Green’s Gunshow, they spell it Funshow instead? Or is that just my subconscious speaking?

For those of you that don’t wake up to Morning Edition, there was a story this morning on the Center for Plain Language, their awards for good & bad writing, and one of their judges. In other words, suck it, Big Paper! David Malki ! has your number:

[G]ood, clear business communications to be rewarded with shiny trophies at a fancy ceremony; and horrible, confusing, misleading and/or opaque business communications to be savagely mocked by yours truly in as ruthless a manner as possible.

PS: Malki !’s one-time weekly publisher likes his latest book.

• In other news, all sites utilizing ComicPress as their CMS should see what Phil “Frumph” Hofer has to say about the current state of the theme. Short version: the current implementation of ComicPress has one more release in it (2.9.2), then its underlying architecture is going to change a bit. Versions 1.0 through 2.92 will now be known as ComicPress Legacy, and versions 3.0+ as ComicPress Premium. Legacy will remain free, but new features will not be developed by the ComicPress team (although others out there are welcome to do so).

  Other shoe (and you knew it would fall one day): Premium will not be free, and the ComicPress developer that you purchase it from will be responsible for supporting it. Frumph himself (who has been a tireless resource to the ComicPress user base, volunteering much time and effort) is stepping down as lead developer, just as ComicPress starts to roll in the bucks. He’ll continue to provide custom site designs and contract support, but the demands of his life require that he spend less unpaid time on ComicPress. But for all that he’s contributed so far, send him your thanks; he deserves it

I have some webcomics to point y’all towards today; I’ve been following each for a while, but wanted to let ’em build up a bit more (archive size, or chunks of plot, or something) before I talked about ’em. Consider each worth your time.

• Rich Barrett’s Nathan Sorry is (or perhaps was) an investment analyst who should have died in the World Trade Center; instead, he’s got a new identity and $20 million dollars that isn’t his which he didn’t mean to steal, not really (not that that will save him from the wrath of those it belongs to, I’d wager). He might think two months a small southern town are enough distance to complete his escape, but we know better, don’t we? Eventually, this one will be a graphic novel, about 250 pages or so.
• Paul Dwyer goes absurdist and amps up the mental conflict between art and story in I Shot Roy!, which is built on images from comic books of the 1940s (don’t worry, it’s all in the public domain). In terms of surreality, I’m gonna put this one up next to God™¹.
• Katarina Emgård adds to the profile of Swedish webcomickry with a sci-fi, hero-ish story called Kisenja. It’s got a Flash interface, so it may be a bit slow to read depending on your network and computer; it’s pretty, though, especially the design of the homepage. Six episodes so far, each with six to eight pages and new updates monthly (although Episode 1 is a comparative monster, with 26 pages).
• Also Flash-interfaced (more on that in a minute) is Red Light Properties from Dan Goldman (you may remember him from ACT-I-VATE); SF publisher TOR is actually providing hosting until the story is complete. Every Tuesday brings you eight more pages on a Miami realty firm that specializes in haunted homes.

  Now, about that Flash interface: this one is a bit heavyweight on the loading, but you have some options.You can either load the comic by adding one panel (or sometime, one word balloon) at a time, or a whole page; while the incremental approach is quick, I found it somewhat distracting — or maybe it reduced me as a reader to too passive of a role. Instead of finding my way around the page, I was being led. Loading one page at a time, on the other hand, was distractingly slow on my computer, and (I can’t help but think) isn’t quite how Goldman wants it to read. Either choice detracts only slightly from a weird, wonderful work.

• The precise opposite of Red Light Properties would have to be Don MacDonald’s Machiavelli; ol’ Niccolò’s name has become so famous that we mostly think we know his deal, but there’s a lot to that particular history that most people don’t know. Kate Beaton might try to get to the core of Machiavelli in six to ten panels, but MacDonald is in for the long haul, ustilizing a pen and ink to a beautiful, washed effect.
• Finally, I thought I’d already written about Darwin Carmichael Is Going To Hell, but it turns out I hadn’t. D’oh. Through a convoluted set of circumstances that were utterly not his fault, the title character has a karmic debt that has doomed him to eternal torment, unless he can be the nicest, best, most giving guy in the history of, uh, history. Given that he lives in a hipster-rich section of Brooklyn, works in financial aid counseling, and has some stoner angels crashing on his couch, the odds aren’t looking too good. Very funny.

_______________
¹ Full title: Or, more fully, God™ © 2XX8 *** ***** ****** ******* Incorporated. All rights reserved. God and all related characters, titles, names and documents are trademarks of *** ***** ****** ******* Incorporated. No similarity between any of the names, characters, persons and/or institutions in this deity with those of any living or dead person or institutions is intended and any such similarity which may exist is purely coincidental.

170? Try 130 after pigging out at Thanksgiving, homes.

Oh, Achewood, when will I ever learn to suss out your story rhythms at the beginning of terribly important arcs? It started so ordinary (for you, at least): Ray trying to make conversation with Pat, Pat being a dick, and Ray upping the ante. Before you know it, Philippe was rocking the shades and bling and Ray was contemplating betrayal most foul.

The usual insanity followed, but then a sudden turn: Philippe could go home again, and frighteningly quickly, he was on his way. And since then, it’s been one heartbreak after another for our little otter-man. This is why Chris Onstad is the best at character. This is why we read.

• Brand new news in the past couple hours: Webcomics Dot Com members now have a negotiated 10% discount with Transcontinental. Given that many creators can’t pay their printer bills until they’ve sold several thousand dollars of pre-orders, that has the potential to far outweigh the $30/year subscription fee that WDC charges.

  Transcon (as the cool kids call it) has printed a large number of the webcomics collections on the shelf behind me (working from home rules), and to my knowledge, hasn’t been involved in any of the screw-the-creator incidents (cough, the former Quebecor) that have reportedly plagued self-publishers. In fact, the only non-positive thing I can find on Transcon is that their parent company’s website contains this nugget of joy:

  Optimized for/Optimisé pour Internet Explorer 5 | 800 x 600

  Nobody’s perfect. But kudos to Brad Guigar on his continuing quest to turn a simple website into something like a professional society. Even if he does seem to think that my wrists are the same size as my neck.

• Okay, background: Ken Smith, over at The Comics Journal (online), has been doing some really heavy writing under titles like “Science” and “Rationality” as the Mystical Cult of Chance, which I’m not sure relates to comics per se, but there you go. He’s in the midst of a massive nine–part philosophical dive entitled The Cave of False Consciousness (isn’t that where Luke Skywalker confronted Vader in a dream?), which posits … actually, I’m not quite sure. I went to nerd school and thus my education was heavy on simple, declarative sentences; as run-on as I can be on this page, I still can’t wrap my head around Smith’s central thesis (except perhaps: I am smarter than you).

  Fortunately, I don’t have to. Shaenon Garrity has been condensing down Smith’s updates (starting with number V of IX) into single-page comic summaries. She’s channeling Larry Gonick pretty effectively, reducing vast swathes of verbiage to simple panels, and reducing Smith’s arguments to the essential core. Consider her intro to summary VI of IX:

  Previously in Ken Smith comics, Ego tromped all over everything. Today I adapt the latest chapter of Smith’s ongoing philosophical polemic and use the phrase “sucks balls” a lot.

  Garrity should be encouraged to do this more — she’s got a real talent for deflating overly-dense nonsense, and anybody who disputes that she is Radness Queen West of the Rockies sucks balls.