Readers of this page know that I love me some Abominable Charles Christopher (no link, as will become clear momentarily); Karl Kerschl’s artwork is sublime, and the story is by turns heartbreaking, poignant, hilarious, and intriguing.

It’s also dangerous right now.

It’s Wednesday, so during a quick break I browsed over to the ACC site to get my chuckle on (successfully, I might note), and after reading the comic, noticed a blogpost from Kerschl that the site had been hacked earlier in the day. Then I noticed a pop-up warning from my virus scanner. Then I pulled the network cable and started researching.

These things change so quickly, it’s impossible to say if Kerschl’s site was seeded with just one variant of nasty, but at least in my case, I got a drive-by infection with what some call “Netsky Spyware Alert” or “Fake Worm”. Did a bit of research (thank you HijackThis) some repair (thank you, LSPFix), and some cleanup (thank you, Malwarebytes), with invaluable reference info from people who hate badware even more than I do. And this is on a machine that uses Opera instead of Internet Explorer, as well as resident rogue blockers.

Anyway, as of this writing, Kerschl is working on cleaning things up with the able assistance of Official Smart Dude and ComicPress creator Tyler Martin. Karl will let us know when it’s safe to go back in the water, and in the meantime, I need your help. I have promised Kerschl my assistance in beating the snot out of the lowlifes that targeted him in this fashion, and I’ll possibly need bail money at some point in the future; you don’t have to send anything now, just if you have a spare five bucks that could go to the cause, we’ll let you know.

Also, please take this opportunity to double-check your own security arrangements, both on your personal machine and any sites that you may have. We will always have those that seek to do us harm, whether for jollies or for padding their own pockets. We will take hits from time to time. But we don’t have to make it easy for them.

Okay, onto the non-suck:

• Achewood in the real world sighting (thanks to longtime buddy/Best Boy at my wedding Brett g Porter for the heads-up): from the NPR jazz blog (“A Blog Supreme”), Patrick Jarenwattananon notes the eerie similarity between Terence Blanchard and Ray Smuckles.
• Andy (I always assumed it was short for “Andrew”, but perhaps it’s for “Android”?) Bell ups the stakes regarding his Android figures, adding the first of the variant profiles, pricing info ($7.25 a pop, with case discounts) and a sale date (Feb 10 online from Dead Zebra, presumably here).
• You may have heard that Heidi MacDonald had announced that her bloggery would be moving from its Publishers Weekly-sponsored home; that’s been accomplished, and one may now find The Beat at its own site. I always like hanging out and comparing notes with Heidi, and we at Fleen wish her all the best as the archives transition continues.
• You may also have heard of Webcomics Community, one of several open fora that launched in the aftermath of the Webcomics Dot Com shift to subscriptions. Rob Tracy, general in-charge guy at WC, sends word of a pretty interesting series of how-to articles, with one of particular interest: Scott Raymond, Ustream system admin, talking on how to do effective streaming presentations. Good stuff.

I see a book-buying trip in my immediate future.

• Are mini-things the new merch trend? Erika Moen made a whole bunch of mini-characters for various webcomickers as fan art, and she’s done all those tentacle–themed sculptures (the anemones are gorgeous, if sadly not for sale). Sean Archer has gotten into the game of pocket art with representations of his own Milo the Cloud. If you’re shy on space, this could entirely be a thing.
• Early news of the UK Web & Mini Comix Thing is drifting in, with Peter Vine now officially first out of the gate with “I’ll be there with my friends” notification. If you head up to Mile End on 27th March (unfortunately, I’ll be at Pax East that weekend; I really have to pencil The Thing in for one of these years) you’ll be seeing the likes of Rose Loughran, Steve Dismukes,and German Erramouspe). As Vine noted:
  

  If Kate Beaton is attending then it must be good.

  Indeed, but there are easily a half-dozen draws at the show just as compelling.

• Webomics and webcomickers (indeed, much of our modern society) appears to orbit the Robot Juice; for those (such as myself) who have never understood the appeal of the The Bean, the world is a lonely and judgemental place that shuns our kind. What of the noble, gentle-steeped leaf of Camellia sinensis? Well, our time has come. Adagio Teas have commissioned Katie Sekelsky (of the twice-weekly SF story Magpie Luck) to produce a new, tea-themed webcomic for their monthly newsletter, Tea Muse. Tea Tales (first installment here, hopefully an easily-accessible archive in the future) provides an illustrated look into some of the quirkier areas of tea’s history; it is both suitably pretty and sufficiently weird for anyone.

Stop happening so much, things! Seriously, since I opened the computer this morning, multiple things have been added to today. For instance, the news that Bill Watterson did an interview, which totally included this exchange:

How soon after the U.S. Postal Service issues the Calvin stamp will you send a letter with one on the envelope?

Immediately. I’m going to get in my horse and buggy and snail-mail a check for my newspaper subscription.

I think that’s the Cronkite Moment for newspapers. In other happenings:

• It is Hourly Comic Day. John Campbell has been chronicling his hourly existence for the past month, and today everybody else is, too. There’s still time to get in on the deal since (as Campbell affirms) you do not have to be a fancy drawer to do this.
• Even more ambitious than hourly comics? Launching a new webcomic on Hourly Comic Day, which is exactly what Jamie Noguchi did. You might remember Noguchi from some comics as Angry Zen Master and the first story arc of Erfworld, and now he brings you ¥ellow Peril, which I can’t but help think will turn out well. Get in on the ground floor.
• Even more ambitious than launching a new webcomic on Hourly Comic Day? Announcing a contest for a paid webcomic gig on Hourly Comic Day, which is exactly what The Escapist is doing; you might remember The Escapist for the blindingly funny and high-speed video game reviews by Ben “Yahtzee” Crowshaw, but as near as I can tell, this contest has nothing to do with Croshaw (who has made his opinions of certain webcomics [scroll down] and genres clear). Instead, well, let’s let them tell the big part:
  

  A paid webcomic contract with The Escapist! The winner will then be contacted by The Escapist to negotiate contract obligations. [emphasis mine]

  Please Note
  Regardless of the webcomic that wins, we are looking for someone who is dedicated to creating top level content for The Escapist. In doing so, please be aware that you will be asked to create at least two (2) pieces of content a week, for the negotiated time of the agreement. If you do not feel as though you have this ability at this point in time, we hope you will support the other contestants who are ready to make that commitment and keep us in mind if a time comes when you are able to possibly join our team.

  … which is pretty vague. A term of contract to be negotiated, for a payment to be negotiated, and if you can’t keep up two updates a week for however long, don’t bother. I’d normally tell you to beware hidden terms in something like this (and the full contest details are at that link), but there’s just so little to base a judgement on. Um, hold out for good terms if you win?

• Okay, that’s everything that happened today, which I hope hasn’t knocked from the public consciousness a story that was brewing over the weekend: Mark Siegel, one of the stalwarts at :01 Books (Editorial Director, in fact), has launched a new webcomic and it’s beautiful. Sailor Twain, or the Mermaid in the Hudson is running Monday/Wednesday/Friday (with a healthy launch archive all built up), and features the most gorgeous, soft, charcoal-looking art I can recall. Two men, one mythical creature, and a river with its own dose of mystery collide in 1887. Read this one now.
• As a final followup: Andy Bell’s Android figures? Twelve designs blind-boxed in cases of sixteen, dammit. Pricing and purchase info to be announced later this month, and now I’ve got to clear space on my shelves for all of these and my wife is going to kill me. I knew following Andy down the road into vinyl toys would be my undoing.

Okay, in about 90 minutes I have to drive 200 miles up that little slice of heaven known as I-95; this is gonna be quick, and while you’re at it, pray for Mojo.

• To get back to the question above, I refer you firstly to Exhibit A, and then to Exhibit B. A previously-unheralded genius known as The Yarnmaiden systematically deconstructed the t-shirt, reshaped the formely boxy drape, and remixed it into something completely new. This is one trend that I’d like to see continue.
• Max Huffman‘s now no longer the youngest awesome webcomic creator (although the fact that the latest Mocktopus strip features Huffman and his much younger brother is eerily coincidental). Ladles and ginglemiffs, I give you Malachai Nicolle, author of AXE COP, age five (the usual AXE COP site has been hammered so thoroughly in the last 24 hours that it’s essentially dead; try the mirror).

  See, Ethan Nicolle (29) was hanging with brother Malachai (as mentioned, 5), and Malachai started spinning the story of AXE COP. Ethan knew that it had to be made into a comic, and from their play, he has teased out the details of AXE COP, Flute Cop, Dinosaur Soldier, Uni-Baby, and all the rest of the coolest comic creations of this young decade.

  Be sure to check out the video of the writing session. Having thoroughly enjoyed AXE COP episodes 1, 2, 3, 4, 0, and 5, I am only left to wonder a) at how good they are, and b) if all of us were that creative at age five and just had it beaten out of us.

There’s going to be a comedy-and-art show going on in NYC tonight, for the benefit of some Haitian relief organizations; there’s some ridiculously talented people attached, so it’s ridiculously sold out, but there’s something you could get in on, were you so inclined. Namely, an art auction that accepts electronic bids. The art above (by the inimitable Scott C., so don’t even think about trying to imit him) will be part of the former, and perhaps the latter (the website appears to be running a little behind), so check back often if you want a chance at it.

One place you’ll definitely have a shot at an original by Mr C. would be his newest gallery show, entitled Everybody, all the time, kicking off in London on 4 March. Take it from me, if you go to the premiere, half the art will be sold out by the opening, so if you suspect you might like to purchase, get in touch with the gallery ahead of time for the show catalog.

• I saw that yesterday, Webcomics Dot Com (subscription required) ran a list of places to send your press releases, and as I’m on that list, I figure a quick pro tip to make those releases more interesting is a good idea. Let’s not forget the basics — you need to tell me up front who you are, what you’re talking about, and where to find it. A couple of quotes that are ready to be cut/pasted are good. Make with the proper punctuation, spelling, an dgrammar, ’cause I ain’t spending no time making yer stuff gooder [that whole sentence: sic].

  But if you can make the press release fit the theme of whatever you’re promoting, that’s good. Case in point:

  A new semester of comics on “pictures I drew in class” has just begun! If you jump in now, you won’t have any make-up work to do later in the semester! You might even get extra credit for checking it out … and don’t worry, the past two years of comics are still online, so you can catch up if you want.

  You can find the comic [here] — and an intro to this semester [here] .

  This webcomic follows fifth-year college student Ali through the excitement of a university education. When she doesn’t pay attention in class, her grades suffer but you win!

  Featured this semester:
  -Wacky adventures in ARCH 3514: Textile Space! Will Ali hurt herself on a sewing machine? Only time will tell!
  -Serious business in REL 4324: Islam & the Modern World. Is Ali going to make it? Maybe!
  -Lots of time for drawing in COMM 3204: Multicultural Communication! Will Ali strangle someone because of the things they say in class? Probably!

  Thanks for checking it out! No Force-Add form required.

  College-experience themed strip, so references to making up work, registration, and semesters in the release. Even without reading Pictures I Drew In Class, I have some idea what the strip is about and whether or not I want to visit it.

• From the completions/new beginnings department, Kevin Moore has wrapped up In Contempt, his self-described experiment of creating a commercially viable political webcomic, which has (in his estimation), Um, not worked out. Bummer, because there were some pretty decent cartoons along the way (with much better art than is usually found in editorial offerings), even if there was a distinct lack of Crying Statues of Liberty and overlabellings in Moore’s work.

  On the other hand, this leaves “Moore” time (ha, ha!) to work on Wanderlost (née Sheldon the Pig), which sports a new storyline (good for jumping on), new website, and perhaps a more frequent update schedule. On balance, a pretty good trade.

Newsday (no link, as you will shortly understand) is a Long Island newspaper, and formerly a pretty well thought-of regional paper of record. Given the number of people that live on Long Island and either work in New York City (or reside within its mediasphere), it was often thought of as an adjunct to the city’s big papers (the Times, Daily News, and Post), along with the Newark, NJ Star-Ledger. Then it changed hands, changed focus, and locked down its website behind a paywall. Our story continues in the pages of the Observer, a somewhat snarky weekly NYC paper:

So, three months later, how many people have signed up to pay $5 a week, or $260 a year, to get unfettered access to newsday.com? [the answer] was revealed in a newsroom-wide meeting last week by publisher Terry Jimenez when a reporter asked how many people had signed up for the site. Mr. Jimenez didn’t know the number off the top of his head, so he asked a deputy sitting near him. He replied 35.

Michael Amon, a social services reporter, asked for clarification.

“I heard you say 35 people,” he said, from Newsday’s auditorium in Melville. “Is that number correct?”

Given the recent change-up at Webcomics Dot Com to a subscription model, I hit up WDC supremo Brad Guigar to see if he would, on the record, state if WDC has gotten more than 35 subscribers in the (just over) three weeks since the switch. His reply:

Many times over.

I think the key to this one is in the first ‘graf of that Observer piece:

The paper was one of the first non-business newspapers to take the plunge by putting up a pay wall, so in media circles it has been followed with interest. [emphasis mine]

… in that Guigar has maintained WDC is a specialty-content site, not a general-news site, and thus subject more to journal (trade, academic, or Wall Street) model than the newspaper model. Interesting.

• Still available at the Secret Friend Society for free, Hope Larson’s Salamander Dream is now also available for your Kindle for two bucks. This is also interesting: will something that’s easily available for free be sellable in essentially the same format for what’s an entirely nominal payment? Watch this one closely, as it may tell you what the upshot of today’s Apple Jesus Tablet announcement eventually means to the comics industry.
• Speaking of which, there’s a pretty good breakdown on what the AJT may mean for the comics (and here, we really mean the comics on the newspaper page, and to a lesser degree, the superhero-centric things from the shop with the scary obsessive man-children) over at NPR’s Monkey See blog:
  

  I haven’t been following the hype, and even I’ve read speculation that The New Flatness will save, in no particular order: Book publishing, newspapers, magazines, music, textbooks, games and the music industry. Also: The Whales, the Children, the Tiger, The Cheerleader/World, Energy, Ferris, and The Last Dance for Me.

  So yeah, once it’s got all that sorted, it’s gonna save the comics industry. No, really; for months the comics press has teemed with forward-looking headlines both bold (“Apple Tablet Will Restore Comic Books to Former Glory”) and coy (“Could Apple’s iSlate Tablet Be a Digital Game-Changer?”)

  Game changer or not, it probably won’t be until after the establishment and rise to commercial dominance of an iTunes-like marketplace that the AJT could start to really make its influence known. That tipping point is likely still a ways off, and as usual, the day will belong to the nimblest and most adaptable. We at Fleen remain cautiously optimistic.

I bet I can write and format the snot out of this thing off-line, but posting may be inconvenient for a bit. Of course, by the time you read this, those problems will be resolved, yes?

• Dylan Meconis is, in no particular order, an awesomely talented artist, creator of kick-ass comics, and a little short on cash today. Her need is your opportunity, as originals go on sale at her Esty shop. Love that dog walking watercolor — are those Doggles on the chihuahua?
• If you were wondering what Platinum were going to do with that cash infusion, here’s one hint (thanks to algeya for the heads-up): merch on-demand store.
  

  Los Angeles, CA – January X, 2010 – Platinum Studios, Inc. (OTCBB: PDOS), an entertainment company that controls an international library of more than 5,600 comic book characters which it adapts, produces and licenses for all forms of media, and ezprints, Inc., a provider of personalized product and related technology solutions, have partnered to create a revolutionary merchandise creation and fulfillment program for Platinum’s leading webcomics portal, DrunkDuck.

  This new program will allow users of DrunkDuck to choose art from the site, design their own products, and order merchandise from a storefront integrated directly into the popular webcomics portal. Comic creators on the site will be able to earn money from merchandising their creations on the same website that they are currently publishing their work. Artists and creators who opt in will be earning money from every sale related to their work.

  There’s a lot more of the PR-ese in the full announcement, and not much detail on exactly what the store will offer, but it sounds like an in-house version of CafePress (anybody with first-hand knowledge, please chime in with details). Personally, I find the dateline of the press release to be the most amusing thing that Platinum’s done forever. January X, 2010 will surely join 20X6 in the pantheon of great, imaginary dates.

• New series of interviews with the creators of longform webcomics over at Growly Beast; if you want to talk about your project, I suspect that Ange Story wants to hear from you.
• Fresh off the big hoo-ha over notorious anti-gay campaigner (and occasional writer) Orson Scott Card getting tapped to write a comics adaptation of a famously gay-friendly videogame (good summary of the issue from Chris Butcher here), comes more Card-related news. John Lustig writes:
  

  I’m holding a contest for fans to guest write one of my Last Kiss comics with writer Orson Scott Card.

  Details are here; I’m going to suggest that every gay and gay-rights-friendly comics creator out there enter the contest, because if you win, you might be able to make Card’s head explode from proximity (no matter how slight) to your gayness/gay-acceptingness. Do it for the children.

• Last word today — guest post on hand-lettering up at Webcomics Dot Com from Chris Eliopoulos (of Misery Loves Sherman fame); Eliopoulos letters about every other comic on the stands today, and stands in the company of amazing letterers like Klein and Sim (yes, Sim is all kinds of wacky, but you can’t deny that he’s one of the most expressive letterers in the history of comics), so this is one tutorial worth your attention. WDC is subscriber-only, but a few more tutorials of this kind and that $30/year may become a no-brainer.

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.

I gots stuff to take care of, so let’s do this.

• Want a free copy of SMILE? There’s a giveaway in progress, which holds out the possibility of a free book in exchange for the story of your most embarrassing dental experience. You’ve got just over a month to get your entries in, so make ’em good.
• Little Dee is busting out all the old one-shot characters; I expect that this buildup to the end will encompass everyone who’s ever appeared in the strip. As long as we get more Rogues, I’ll be happy.
• Speaking of Little, Little Gamers now ha an iPhone app for you to download and enjoy; perhaps this will convince the authors of webcomics-scrapers that they should knock it the hell off.
• Myth Adventures occupied a fair amount of my mindspace from my early high school years, and the Phil Foglio-adapted comic version was one of my earliest regular purchases. Like Buck Godot before it, Myth Adventures will be running 3 pages a week at Foglio’s website (starting here), but with eight issues to get through, it’ll take a couple years to get through the whole thing, so it you enjoy it, might I point out that you can short-circuit the excruciating wait and just buy the whole damn thing in one go? Why yes, I might.
• Finally, I have a new goal in life: to find circumstances where I can legitimately use the phrase homeopathic blow job in casual conversation. Chris Onstad, he tasks me.

Things which you would do well to note.

• Evan Dahm’s done some amazing webcomicking over the years. Anybody that hasn’t taken the time to appreciate Rice Boy is lacking a key component in their education of the medium. Now counting Rice Boy, and Order of Tales, and various shorter works, Dahm yesterday finished his 1000th page of comics. You can decide for yourself if #1000 was the last page of Order of Tales chapter 11, or perhaps the last page of the latest short story, entitled The Jewel of Brambool. Any way you count it, it’s some gorgeous work, and with 1000 pages to get through, you archive bingers have a bit of work in front of you.
• Events! Dallas Webcomics Expo 2010 will be August 21st (in Dallas, oddly enough), Webcomics Weekend 2010 will be November 6th & 7th (back at Eastworks, naturally), and there will be a new hotel show (to my knowledge, not yet named) in New Jersey in May, which looks to be attracting a number of webcomics types. More on that last one when there’s an official announcement.
• And from Krishna Sadasivam, news of a more conference-type gathering: UP! Fair is a brand new conference specifically for independent sequential artists and publishers. The conference will be held on November 19th and 20th in Lexington, Kentucky. From their website:
  

  We’re thrilled to announce that November 20, 2010 will mark the first annual UP! Fair at the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning in Lexington, Kentucky!

  This fair will be a free public event designed to celebrate independent creators, their works, and their philosophy. More than anyone else in creative industries, they are the ones who push the boundaries of their mediums, explore and invent new business models, and the most willing to share their knowledge and expertise.

  At this time, Up!Fair plans to feature an exhibition floor, hands-on workshops and demos for the public, and pro-level workshops for creators. Guest list, programming schedule, exhibitors registration are yet to come, but there’s a handy RSS feed for keeping up to date. Those wondering if such an ambitious undertaking can be successfully pulled, off, check the About page, where you’ll find veterans of undertakings like Sugary Serials and the Art & Story podcast. Lotta knowledge, and with a bit of luck and organizational skills, lot of benefit for attendees.