The first of October is a big webcomicsversary date, marking nine and six years of Achewood and Girls With Slingshots, respectively. Do yourself a favor and check out those first two links, then do the compare/contrast thing on the second pair; don’t forget to show your work and as always, spelling counts. Oh, and don’t blame me if you end up on an archive binge or two.

• Skin Horse, by contrast, is a bit less than three years old. But if you add it to the five and a half plus years of its predecessor, Narbonic, you’re going back a good decade or so. And furthermore, Skin Horse’s second book is newly released, at least for those who backed it with Kickstarted pre-orders. Everybody else, I imagine copies will go up at the Couscous Collective store eventually, but not until after I have my copy, moo-ha-ha-ha. Anyway, pick up Volume 1, and by the time you’re done with it, you can probably get Volume 2. Also, book launch party at Borderland Books in San Francisco on Saturday the 23rd at 5:00pm (or see if Shaenon & Jeff will sell you a copy at APE the week before).
• Marissa’s Bunny has popped up again, this time with the Blind Ferret (although it’s been there for a good long time, I hadn’t noticed until Sohmer’s post on same). Previously seen at PAX and Tim Buckley’s house, the little lapin is emblematic of a need for your attention and generosity (and if there’s one thing that webcomickers are, it’s generous to those in need). Thanks to Jordan Anderson for the head’s up.
• Amazing coincidence department: Colleen Doran is apparently running a Project Wonderful button ad on Fleen today, and I was going to draw your attention to a tweet from Mike Russell this morning recommending you head over to Ms Doran’s site and check out her epic tale of Bad Publishers:
  

  If you’ve never read Colleen Doran epic (and instructive) saga of bad-publisher perfidy, remedy this oversight here

  Ms Doran has recently made said tale of perfidy (what a great word) much easier to follow, and it contains much wisdom for those of you looking to make your comicking into a business. I was once taken to task by Mr T for asserting that [A]ll contracts are inherently about ensuring that — if needed — you can cut the other guy’s heart out and he’s legally obligated to provide the blade; a quick read over Ms Doran’s experiences with Bad Publishers provides a plethora of anecdotal evidence.

Update to add: make that 20 — Dr McNinja is five today.

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.

Yeah, okay, sometimes the Theme Of The Day doesn’t come together quite as strongly as I’d like. Mea culpa.

• New York Comic Con will be here in just a few weeks, and while the panels & screenings schedule is a little behind anticipated release, we do have at least a few hints of what’s coming down the ‘pike. For instance, the always-entertaining combo deal of Brad Guigar and Scott Kurtz will be doing an intensive, workshop-type session on Sunday morning. The description at Webcomics Dot Com is behind the subscription wall, but El Guigaro Magnifico has the gist of it at his own site:
  

  [A] one-on-one bootcamp for aspiring webcartoonists. Brad and Scott will present a lecture on the art and commerce of webcomics and then take their class through a collegiate-level critique of their work.

  This is a limited-attendance seminar. Students will be asked to bring examples of their work for critique, and be prepared to take and offer constructive criticism in the hopes of bettering each other’s work.

  So, interesting — not a portfolio review, and not seeking to attract attendees so much as participants. Given Guigar’s previously-stated dislike of sessions where the audience involves itself to the detriment of the speakers, the limited enrollment makes sense. If you attend, expect a small room, a large table, no podium, to work with your peers to improve everybody’s work, and for the ending time to be highly flexible. And as seems to be usual these days, Guigar has negotiated a discount on the enrollment fee, with WDC members getting in for $30 rather than the standard $50. Exact time and location to be announced.

• New book alert! Gordon McAlpin (my sporting bet nemesis — and by coincidence that link leads to a post with a picture of a looming Brad Guigar … much like Chickenman, he’s everywhere) has announced that his first collection of Multiplex strips, Enjoy Your Show, is now available for your purchase consideration.

  Unfortunately, ushers will not be walking through the aisles to offer EYS prior to the start of the movie (Will Rogers has that distribution channel locked up, and dead or not, he ain’t giving it up without a fight), so you’ll have to make a quick trip over to his internet-facing booksellery.

• Within yesterday’s DC Comics wholesale restructuring announcement(s) was the somewhat unusual news that Zudacomics is to be closed. Or perhaps more closed than it already was? I know that I wasn’t exactly a fan of the entire Zudaproject, but even I never proposed killing it twice. During the prior … I dunno, pre-closing? anouncement, I wrote:
  

  It’s no secret that I thought that the competition model of Zuda wasn’t the best thing that [web]comics could develop, but everybody I’ve met associated with Zuda has been an absolutely stellar, professional, admirable person. Here’s hoping that in the condensation of the the imprint into regular ol’ DC, the individuals find their way to stable, rewarding work quickly.

  When news of wholesale bloodletting didn’t come through, I breathed a sigh of relief for the Zudafolk. But now that it appears 20% of DC staff may be cut, I would guess that those working at a twice-killed imprint are nervous, and my good wishes go out to them doubly.

• Smut Peddler, comics porn by ladies, is lookin’ for contributors. Details here, a nice long submission deadline (31 December 2011), and plenty of people whose work I like means I have to start thinking up justifications for a future purchase that my wife will accept. Just one thing, though:
  

  And finally, there’s a difference between “porn” and “naked people telling jokes.” We want porn. Filthy porn.

  As the creators of Oglaf [NSFW, yo] will tell you:

  This comic started out as an attempt to make pornography. It degenerated into sex comedy pretty much immediately.

  Ain’t nothin’ wrong with sex comedy. And please, please, do what ever you have to in order to get the Oglafistas in on Smut Peddler. That would rule so hard. Err, so to speak.

Brian “Box” Brown (or Trip-B as he was known in his brief, but well-regarded, gangsta rap career) has released a new webcomic yea upon the internets, Everything Dies. A continuation of/supplement to his print comics of the same name (note to self: must buy issue #3, and #4 is due out soon), Everything Dies concerns itself primarily with The Big Questions of Life, Death, Religion, Faith, ans Suchlike.

On launch day alone, Brown has three stories (each more than 10 pages long) on mortality (i.e.: how he wants his funeral to go), public exhibitions of religious fervor (i.e.: an incomplete Jesus-themed theme park in Arkansas), and the (non-)existence of God (i.e.: what would constitute definitive proof of such).

And, in case a bigger justification for the title of Everything Dies were needed, Brown today wraps up his long-running series, Bellen!, the only way possible: a final declaration of identity and purpose.

• Con season still has a few last hurrahs before it wraps for the year, and two of them are coming up quickly: Intervention and SPX kick off in just over 10 days, and programming info is now available. Intervention’s got more than 75 panels, plus gaming and separate-registration-required workshops, covering a lot of ground.

  If you were, as I was, perhaps a little surprised to see multiple sessions that amount to Gettin’ Laid (Dating Advice from Hot Geeky Chicks, Sex Farm: A D00DZ Guide to Getting Chicks Through Nerdy Enterprise), well, there are plenty to balance it out on the more serious side (Act Locally, Promote Globally: A Conversation with Molly Crabapple, Copyrights for Artists, The Economies of Small Scale, and Revenue Streams: How to Make Ten-Tenths of a Living look particularly promising). Descriptions here, schedules here.

  By contrast, SPX has never been heavy on the programming, preferring to give attendees plenty of time to schmooze and talk with creators (and minimize the chance that you’ll have to decided between panels). You’ve got something kicking off pretty much every half hour, staggered between two rooms (Brookside Conference Room at the top of the hour, and White Flint Ampitheatre at the bottom), with pretty much a laser-like focus on indy comics and their creators.

  Particularly good-looking descriptions include Comics and Worldbuilding (panelists include Evan Dahm, Liz Baillie, Aaron Diaz, Carla Speed McNeil, and Spike Trotman), Telling Stories (with Heidi MacDonald, Meredith Gran, Roger Langridge, and Jon Lewis), and Kate Beaton and Julia Wertz in Conversation (with special guest Dustin Harbin). Descriptions, times, and locations here.

Quick bits:

• Reality TV meets vampires meets furries meets cyberpunk meets book one of The Last Res0rt.
• New twist on the superhero tropes: with mondo-powered beings flying around every damn way, somebody’s going to have to handle the PR and marketing, and that’s where The Hero Business comes in. Of course, who is more evil and venal? The nominal villains, or the skeezy marketing types working for the heroes? Episode 1 done, episode 2 coming soon.
• Launching tomorrow: the all-new home of In Maps & Legends, which had been running on Zuda when Zuda closed up shop.

It started off so innocently, with an unsolicited tweet from Jon Rosenberg:

@fleenguy when you read tomorrow’s SFAM, you may have a question. The answer to that question is “Yes”.

Which naturally left me wondering what the question should be; top contender when I went to bed was, Will you buy me a case of hard liquor and a cupcake for my birthday? Then this morning, the full impact of what Rosenberg meant became apparent: I am Gary!

With those three words, the question obviously became, So Jon, is this a naked attempt to get me to pimp your new reader-participation voting rules for Scenes From A Multiverse, debuting tomorrow (Thursday 26 Aug 2010, that is), in the hopes that my little seemingly-genderless cosmic-unicorn-destroying avatar will finally displace the hated Sciencemaster Adler from his throne?

So, yeah. Everybody be sure to vote for “Gary” in the next poll. And damn you for your manipulative ways, Rosenberg. I shake my fist at you in impotent rage, thusly!

• In other, less me-abusing news, ’tis the season for webcomickers to travel o’er the oceans wide, landing in the far antipodes. Cases in point: Howard Tayler, who leaves for Melbourne on Saturday, and is doing a meet & greet to celebrate; also, Kaja & Phil Foglio, who are already in Fair Oz and did a signing in Sydney, and will be kicking around various corners of the continent for the next ten days-two weeks. Could it be a coincidence that Foglio & Foglio and Tayler are Down Under in the same time frame as the 68th World Science Fiction Convention (this year in the form of AussieCon4), where they are nominees for the Hugo Award for Best Graphic Story? Could be, rabbit. Could be.
• Speaking of conventions, Baltimore Comic-Con hits this weekend in Charm City, with the Harvey Awards again containing a category for Best On-Line Comics Work, with mostly the usual suspects nominated. Special props to Scott Kurtz who will again be hosting the awards (and who killed last year), and who is openly campaigning for votes this year (which, let’s face it, everybody does). If Kurtz doesn’t win, I’m imagining a scene like that at the Emmy Awards almost 30 years ago when Eddie Murphy had to announce that he lost in his category, looked straight into the camera and deadpanned, They told me if I hosted, I was gonna win.
• Lastly, Where the Typos Og heads off into the sunset before wearing out its welcome; Sylvan Migdal’s various projects always go out when at their creative peak, so that’s good. For those more interested in the creator than the specific project, Migdal’s new series starts 6 October at his website.

For example, there’s this, which is totally not related to San Diego — Marvel (yep, that Marvel) is looking for a web software architect, with the relevant description being:

As a Web Software Architect, you will help define the architecture for Marvel’s interactive digital products, consisting primarily of the Marvel.com collection of Web sites and various mobile offerings. You will be involved in the design and development of cutting-edge Web applications, defining system architecture to achieve scalability and reliability goals, and researching new technologies for our evolving business systems.

Which, once translated from jobpostingese (subdialect: I know a bunch of different business phrases and think I can translate that into IT-speak) sounds somewhere between “you just have to overhaul our main site” and “we’re a year or more behind comiXology and LongBox Digital, and you have to catch us up”. Combined with the recent de-Zudafication over at DC, it looks like the big publishers are trying to figure out what they want webcomics to be (which isn’t necessarily what webcomics are). Many thanks to Friend o’ Fleen Brett “Small g, no period dammit” Porter for the story tip.

• Updates to the SDCC Webcomics Locate-o-Tron continue apace, particularly concerning the news that Doug TenNapel tweeted that his booth will be hosting a certain officer of the law with a stick-mounted cleaver.
• Speaking of tweeting, Christopher Hastings mentioned that Some kid named Malachai sent me a story to draw?, which led to much speculation confirmed by Ethan Nicolle: Axe Cop and Dr McNinja team-up!
• Speaking of San Diego, Scott Kurtz promo’ed his show merch debuts, and much as the vinyl figures look awesome, the line that jumped out at me was:
  

  PvP book 8 will be debuting at the show. This is your first chance to pick up the latest volume of PvP and I’m very proud of this collection. It collects all the strips from 2008 and is the first PvP collection I’ve self published since 2001 (more on that at a later date). [emphasis mine]

  That “later date” turns out to be today, as the press release has been seen all over the comics blogosphere today (for example, with Brigid Alverson). Somewhere in my stacks, I still have Kurtz’s previous self-published work, and I always wondered in the back of my head how long it would be before he returned to the world of DIY.

  With a wealth of experience and advice from his studiomates to call on, I imagine that the mechanical presentation will be better than we’ve seen in the past, and since it’s all on him, I suspect that he’ll push himself to a schedule that’s both regular and on a short delay from on-line presentation. Self-publishing can be a headache, no doubt, but every self-publisher I’ve spoken to is pretty glad to have that control.

• Oh, yeah, and there’s the return of The Webcomics Section, this year coordinated by Jorge Cham, who’s so dedicated to the idea of a webcomics-themed giveaway that he did the wrangling work despite the fact that he won’t even be at San Diego. Four pages of four-color goodness on genuine newsprint, yours for the grabbing pretty much anywhere in webcomicland for the duration of the show, or until we run out.

Best wishes to the entire Canadian contingent of webcomicdom — it seems that every other person I know in this crazy community is/was/will be Canadian one way or another. Happy Canada Day to them all, and to you non-Canadians as well. In the heart of hearts, we’re all Canadian.

• News broke in the past few hours that Zudacomics has folded, effective now-ish; Zuda ended its competition format about two months back, and it looks like the new submission format won’t take place, at least not under the established name. From Ron Perazza’s blog post:
  

  It is the new DC Co-Publishers’ plan to expand submissions beyond just Zuda Comics and the Online group into a larger, more comprehensive system that covers all of DC Comics’ wide variety of needs, skills and interests. Jim and Dan are very excited about bringing in and developing new talent so look for more information about that from them as plans develop.

  As for the site, from here on out, Zuda Comics will be folded into DC Comics’ exciting, new Digital Publishing initiative. Expect more Zuda series to be released through the DC Comics and comiXology Apps, the Sony PSP and on both the comiXology website and, eventually, the main DC Comics website as well. You’ll be able to read all of your digital editions and manage your entire library in one place, whether DCU, Vertigo, WildStorm or Zuda. The goal there is convergence of technology and convergence of editorial.

  Not an unforseeable action to take, but I have to admit to a certain amount of … trepidation about that last sentence: The goal there is convergence of technology and convergence of editorial. While I haven’t seen anything announced regarding Zudastaff being shown the Zudadoor, I’ve worked for big corporations long enough to pick up on euphemism in public announcements, and right now convergence of editorial sounds a hell of a lot like Bob has decided to pursue other interests.

  It’s no secret that I thought that the competition model of Zuda wasn’t the best thing that [web]comics could develop, but everybody I’ve met associated with Zuda has been an absolutely stellar, professional, admirable person. Here’s hoping that in the condensation of the the imprint into regular ol’ DC, the individuals find their way to stable, rewarding work quickly.

• Speaking of uncertainty, something I saw yesterday may be of interest to those of you that process credit card transactions — starting today, small merchants are compelled to participate in a data-security initiative:
  

  From 1 July small and medium enterprises using electronic point of sale terminals and e-commerce systems need to reach basic compliance with an entry-level version of the standard or face higher merchant fees or, in extreme cases such as in the aftermath of security breaches, the withdrawal of merchant statuses.
  …
  Requirements include a mandate to build a secure network and protect cardholder data. Compliance is achieved by self-assessment for mom and pop shops processing less than 20,000 e-commerce transactions a year and compulsory external audits for e-commerce heavyweights.

  Those of you using Google Checkout or PayPal, it would appear the onus is on them, as they would be the actual payment processors. Creators with their own swipecard merchant accounts (hello, Square users) might think that 20 000 transactions a year is a lot (more than 50 transactions a day, after all), but they could add up quickly. If you’ve reached the point of establishing your own merchant account, make sure you read the fine print.

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.

Here’s what I know: a guy named Jason Turner got a suggestion to … well, let’s let him tell it:

So ages ago, Dave Howard suggested to me that it might be an interesting idea for cartoonists to try adapting a part of a novel they liked. And then recently when JD Sallinger died, that notion came back to me, and then I thought oh it might be interesting to attempt to do a comic of some portion of one of his books.

And as I sat on the couch staring at the shelves of books, I thought it might be fun to try it with different books. Maybe just a page. Maybe the SAME PAGE from each book. Say, page 100. And thus…

THE PAGE 100 PROJECT

That link also includes Turner’s first go at a page 100 comics adaptation, from Michael Chabon’s The Yiddish Policemen’s Union. Since then, Turner has also taken a shot at page 100 from Nicholson Baker’s The Fermata, and the idea has spread a bit.

Cases in point: Jason Rainey of Brown Paper Bag presents page 100 of Heinlein’s The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress, and Rebecca Dart contributed page 100 of Richard Brautigan’s The Hawkline Monster. There’s so much potential here for awesome work.

In other news, Eisner voting is up for those of you eligible. Lots of interesting nominees this year, including some very worthy competitors in the Best Digital Comic category. Remember, you’re eligible to vote if you are a:

• Comic book/graphic novel/webcomic creator (writer, artist, cartoonist, penciller, inker, letterer, colorist)
• A nominee in any category
• A comic book/graphic novel publisher or editor
• Owner or manager of a comic book specialty retail store

Voting’s up until 15 June, and there are 29 categories across 5 pages, so be sure to examine the whole thing.

So there are hints in the aether, here and there, that the Webcomics Town Hall at C2E2 didn’t go entirely well (although the information I’ve been able to gather is at times contradictory). I wasn’t there, and haven’t seen a specific writeup on the issue; given the talent promised in the session listing, it should have been a case of point ’em at the question and stay out of their way = surefire success, but apparently not? If anybody who was in the audience would care to comment, please do so.

• Success or failure of the panel aside, C2E2 appears to have been sufficiently lucrative for many to come back next year — although apparently there’s a confusion about whether or not the pricing of webcomics pavilion tables for next year because the sign-up sheet didn’t have a specific tickbox for that option. Reports are that the pavilion option does exist, although this far in advance, the specific layout of the space may not be known. If you were thinking about exhibiting there next year, a careful inquiry may be of benefit to you.
• Also of note from C2E2: Carla Speed McNeil (who, like the Foglios before her, took her critical-darling print comic to the web, and took an Eisner for Best Webcomic in 2009 as a result), looks to be getting back into a fresh release schedule for her collections, having partnered up with Dark Horse.

  Lots of reporting of the announcement, but let’s go with Brigid Alverson’s writeup for Robot 6. This is awesome news, as I have already bought all the Finder volumes in print, and wish to give Ms McNeil money for the story that has only appeared (thus far) online. Hooray for me.

• In news from the far (i.e.: the “no-fly zone”) side of the Atlantic, professional bastard and Internet Jesus Warren Ellis has declared it Webcomics Week, with the opportunity to pimp your webcomic to all and sundry:
  

  You do a webcomic? Tell me about it here. Not more than one or two images, please, or else the thread takes forever to load. Don’t forget the bloody link.

  Relax. There are only 8000 members of Whitechapel reading, plus god knows how many drop-ins who aren’t registered members.

  Let’s get a sense of who’s around and who’s doing what. Create me a big list.

  And tell your friends.

  NOTE: this is not for people to list their favourite webcomics. We’ve done that before. Boring.

  Go to it. And if you like this service (previously irregular, but which now promises to be monthly), do thank the Bearded One by looking over his wares, why don’t you? Mr Ellis has had a clever idea going for a while now — each week, a new t-shirt design goes up for sale for that week only, then disappearing from view forever. Until now, when all the previous weekly tees are making a one-week only return engagement. Want to be a Science Gangster, Space Bastard, or person without a functioning liver? Now’s your chance.