When last we left our intrepid heroine (nearly six months gone!), she was leaping into the vast unknown and had just learned the snail’s name. What’s that, you don’t know Kukuburi? For shame — get caught up before it returns on May 12th! Everybody else, mark your calendars for the big day.

• Scott McCloud gets a day’s downtime at home in the midst of his neverending travels, and does he sleep in like a normal guy? Nope — he takes a swipe at the shape of nearly everything and/or engages in equine necromancy. Interesting implications when designing your next website, though. The shape of the screen part, not the dead horse thing. Ew.
• So it seems that the ongoing crisis in newspapers has prompted people from the boardrooms to the beat to opine that the solution to all broadsheet woes (though nearly everything’s tabloid size these days) is to start charging for online content. Over here you got Rupert Murdoch, head of NewsCorp (and owner of MySpace) declaring war on free content. Actually, that’s slightly exaggerated; he actually said:
  

  The current days of the internet will soon be over.

  So that’s all right, then. For a more in-the-trenches perspective, I give you David Simon’s testimony before the US Senate; before having a hand in creating two of the best TV shows ever, Simon was a reporter for The Baltimore Sun. His prescription is:

  “An industry-wide transition to a paid, online subscriber base”, allied to relaxing anti-trust laws and help with enforcing copyright.

  So if newspapers all go paid (and I’m not convinced at this time it can happen), whither webcomics¹?

  Will we see them get in on all that sweet, sweet subscription revenue? I find it telling that it’s tough to find webcomics still using subscriptions these days. Will free carry a stigma as people wonder how much it can be worth if nobody pays for it? Or will free content become even more popular in a world where more of online has costs associated? I’m tending towards that last one, but would love to hear any developed counterarguments. Tell me what you think, people.

_______________
¹ Yes, yes, you could argue that every syndicated comic also appears on the syndicate’s website, and that subscription fees are necessary to gain unfettered access to the archives. And yes, just this week we’ve talked about how the distinction isn’t properly between medium of publication, but between corporate-owned and independent creators; all of that takes too long to qualify outside of a footnote that you obsessive types are reading, so for all of that we’ll use the shortcut term webcomics.

You still see a long-trending retreat from subscriptions in webcomics, with the significant exception of adult content, where the subscription has the added benefit of providing cover in the form of age verification. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go browse through the no-longer-subscription-walled archives of Digger.

So first it looked like Diamond had told Box Brown that Xeric winners would not be held to their order minimums. Then Diamond clarified their position and said that minimums would apply, but with some flexibility. Today, Brown was told (and has paperwork to prove it) that Diamond will be carrying Love Is A Peculiar Type of Thing, so tell your local comic shop you want a copy for the June 3rd release date. Oh, and hooray!

• Speaking of LIAPTOT, which started over at Top Shelf 2.0, which is the webcomics branch of a very good dead-tree comics company. Similarly, Zuda has been positioned as the webcomics branch of a different dead-tree comics company, and for those of you thinking about submitting, Valerie d’Orazaio linked to an interesting post from a Zudacompetitor about the Zudaexperience. Bottom line, the advice given would be helpful to anybody making the leap from dead-tree to web (or more precisely, corporate to creator-owned/indy), and can be generalized to apply to more than just a contest experience.
• My friend Brett sent me a link to a webcomic I’ve been enjoying the crap out of the last couple days: the experimental series known as 2D Goggles goes all difference engine on us with the totally awesome adventures of Ada, Lady Lovelace. Thrills! Spills! Swashbuckling adventure! And Babbage totally hates musicians, as confirmed by a completely different creator! Start at that first link and work your way forward as Ada kicks so much ass and Twitters about it (and fie! Fie, I say, upon Johanna Draper Carlson for finding it before I did).
• Finally, I don’t think I’ve linked to Odysseus the Rebel before today, even though I’ve been enjoying it for some time; it casts the most famous of human tricksters as a rebel against the cosmological model of his time. This Odysseus has no need of gods, and determines to live and die without them. This is deeply amusing to some of the Olympians, but Poseidon and Hermes realize something: it’s a change in how one man (and eventually, all of them) perceive their place in the universe, which is very threatening to divinities who are used to worship. It runs MWF until the story ends, which is getting to be pretty soon now, so get caught up to the story and watch it wrap up in the coming weeks. Good stuff there.

Oh man does it feel good to be back in the swing of things. A whole bunch of stuff went by in the past ten days that I’m never going to catch up on, so I’m declaring an Informational Amnesty and giving myself a pass. If you sent in email about something that happened in that timeframe, I’m very sorry that the moment has passed. From here, we look to … THE FUTURE.

• In the immediate future, the biennial Toronto Comics Art Fest runs this weekend, with a slew of indy- and web-type comickers in attendance (and even more that’ll be there for the fun of walking around). Tell everybody I said hi.
• In the even more immediate future (like, now), there’s a new webcomics meme that’ll be especially resonant for those of you that grew up in the northeastern quarters of ‘Merica: it’s Fudgie the Whale week! For those of you going Wha?, Fudgie the Whale is one of the theme ice-cream cakes you can get from Carvel ice cream shops, one of the finest of all Zombie-American-run corporations, and a beloved cultural icon in its own right.
• Even more now-ish, something for all you webcomics consumers of merchandise to consider: US postal rates are going up next week, so if you get your buying in now, you can maybe save a couple bucks on shipping.
• Finally, in that part of the future that is so immediate that it slips back and actually becomes the past, it’s been a good week for webcomics books arrivals — Octopus Pie volume 3 (An Interstate Oasis), Phables volume only (Who Needs Trees When You Have Green Awnings?), and Kate Beaton volume one of God I hope many (Never Learn Anything From History) have all arrived in the past week, and were invaluable in trying times. Particularly wonderful are the personal connections I feel for these three books:
  • I own two pages from the Octopie book
  • I have heard the story about Brad Guigar losing his shit in traffic in person
  • I have dibs on one of the originals in NLAFH if Kate Beaton ever decides to sell her originals (and in the meantime, the paper stock is so heavy, it’s practically an archival print on each page — were it not sold out, I could buy another copy and carefully cut out every page, giving myself suitable-for-framing wall decor)

  Seriously you guys these books are so good, you should buy the first two right now and subscribe to the Topatoco Twitter account to learn when NLAFH is back in print, or pick up one of the copies reserved for MoCCA or TCAF, which brings us full circle to … THE FUTURE.

Thanks to everybody for their well-wishing over the past week; my siblings are out of the bad part of the hospital (the part that ends in “intensive care”) and into the good part (the one where boredom and crappy food are the big headaches). I’ve got a lot of catching up to do, but I want to take a moment to thank Brad Guigar and Kate Beaton for seeing to it that you were kept busy last week.

Normal posts (to the extent that we’ve ever had anything normal around here) resume tomorrow.

As hospital waiting rooms go, this one isn’t bad. Especially since my phone is picking up good signal and allowing me to post this column by professional Canadian and amateur internet sensation Kate Beaton. Hopefully all the formatting is good, but if there are problems, I’ll fix ’em as soon as I’m at a proper computer. That includes the awesome graphic Kate sent along which I cannot load now loaded!.

Hello citizens of Fleen! I am reporting to the newsdesk for duty while Gary puts his feet up. Yes yes is the camera on, how is my toupe, let’s roll.

I think it is the season for contests on the internet. Everywhere I go, someone asks, “Are you feeling lucky, punk?” but then if I am feeling lucky I have to make a skilled entry into the contest that is better than the other entries, and that is never going to work.

Did you see the winners posted for Dylan Meconis’ Bite Me photo challenge? They are all winners for Having The Most Fun! You may take this as a reminder to buy Dylan’s book, which just came out. I am going to fight someone to the front of the line for it next time I see her.

But there are other contests with no winners yet. This is important because that winner could be you.

First up: Jess Fink’s lovely and sexy (but unsafe for work, young sirs) comic Chester 5000XYV is holding a little thing called Win a date with Chester that I think, with the promise of “Receive tremendous boners!” is contest in which we all win. (We win boners).

Next: I am an enormous fan of Dean Trippe’s Project Rooftop, where people submit new costume ideas for well known superheroes, and the entries are judged by an extremely knowledgeable jury. The submissions are delightful and varied, and so much fun. If you missed it, they just opened a new contest, starring Wolverine. This makes me very happy! Wolverine is one of very few Canadian superheroes, and like all Canadians he can shoot knives from his fists. It was a thing we learned to do during the beaver hunts, and it helps in extracting maple sap from trees.

Also, as I am writing this in fact I just got an email from James Harvey about his Cats Wearing Hats Challenge. James must have been reading my mind, which is handy in this case but suspicious activity otherwise. If you haven’t seen his stuff, check it out! He is a crazy talent.

Picture? Nah, same guy as yesterday, only now looking twice as sinister as he takes over the news & information feed direct to your brains. Want in on this sweet, sweet channel to literally tens of readers? Email me at the contact link, and I’ll reply with the address you can use to send your piece in.

Here’s your calendar of Webcomics books and appearances for May 2009:

Appearances:

Book releases:

Just noticed that in our downtime, our first real out-of-spec advertiser has shown up in the PW buttons. If you like cam-girls, best check ’em out before I have a chance to kill that ad.

So Kate Beaton (Official Sweetheart of both The Internet and Canada) figured that while I’m away from regular updates, there may still be news items to be shared with Greater Webcomicstan; she has begun rounding up people to submit items that can run here, because she is awesome. Also, this gives me an excuse to mention that her new book is well on the way to being sold out, so if you want a copy get to her store like yesterday.

I can’t thank Kate enough for taking the time to prod people for guest pieces; today, we have Brad Guigar rounding up this weekend’s Free Comic Book Day.

Even though webcomics have been disinvited to the Free Comic Book Day party, several of your favs are making in-store appearances to mark the occasion this Saturday:

• Danielle Corsetto of Girls With Slingshots will be at Beyond Comics at 5632 Buckeystown Pike (Route 85), Frederick, Md., from 1 to 5 p.m.
• Brock Heasley of Superfogeys will be at Heroes Comics, Shaw and Hwy 41, Fresno, Calif.  He will be signing copies of Superfogeys as well as books by Th3rd World studios. Th3rd World will also have a FCBD offering, with a special Superfogeys feature.
• Scott Kurtz of PvP will be at Zeus Comics, 4411 Lemmon Ave., Dallas, Texas.
• John Lotshaw of Accidental Centaurs will be at Galactic Quest II, 4264 Sudderth Rd., Buford, GA.
• Jamar Nicholas of Detective Boogaloo will be at Captain Blue Hen Comics, 280 E. Main St., Newark, Del.
• Howard Tayler, of Schlock Mercenary will be at Dragon’s Keep, 260 N. University Ave., Provo, Utah.
• Meanwhile, up in Canada, Toronto’s The Beguiling will play host to a galaxy of webcomic stars including: Kate Beaton, Willow Dawson, Ryan North, Ramon Perez, Kean Soo, Brian McLachlan.

If there’s something about webcomics you’re dying to say without much of an editorial filter, this is your chance — but keep in mind that any illogic or typos will be severely mocked once I have the time. Contact me through the form up there to the right, and I’ll let you know where you can send your copy.

There may be irregular or absent posts this week, and maybe the one after.

Yesterday, one of my brothers and one of my sisters were in a really bad auto accident. Thing #1 I never need to hear again: “The orthopedic surgeon and the neurosurgeon are trying to figure out which one should operate first.”

They’re both receiving excellent care, but they’re also both looking at multiple surgeries and my free hours are probably going to be more attuned to progress reports and hospital visits than internet laugh-chuckles. If anything big in webcomics happens, I’m confident that Xaviar, Marshall Willenholly, the War Moth, Dirk, Heidi, or The Spurge will have the scoop.

But I will say this in lieu of the proper review it deserves: Kean Soo’s new Jellaby: Monster in the City was a goddamn sanity-saver for me today and you should go get a copy.

Thank you for your kind indulgence. And wear your fucking seatbelt.

Re: the nascent web/print poo-fling in The Daily Cartoonist Ted Rall de-jobbed thread. When all present have a sense of humor about such things, truly inspired lunacy can result once it is realized that print/web are not nearly as important as the great controversies in life:

My vote’s for Kirk

That’s all very well, Peter, but you’re just closing your eyes to Picard’s superior business model.

Janeway! Janeway! Janeway! *grins, ducks and runs like the wind*

Clearly this Kirk, Picard, and, uh, Janeway argument is ridiculous … everyone knows Sisko was the dude!

Yeah, well I challenge Picard to show us his tax returns. The Borg don’t buy that many T-shirts.

Kirk got more ladies than Picard did. Maybe if Picard wasn’t so closed-minded, he could have picked up some tips from Kirk.
[emphasis to aid readability]

Well done, TDC commenters, well done.

So a couple months back, a gent named Neil Cohn made an open call for people to participate in a survey of how people perceive visual language (via a bunch of Peanuts strips). The data are being used to further his research into visual language theory, and your help is once again requested:

This one consists of making judgements about various created comic strips, and takes roughly 20 minutes. Participation again enters you into a drawing for a $50 Gift Certificate to Best Buy (redeemable either online or in store).

The study can be found online here.

Best,

Neil
——
Department of Psychology
Tufts University

One of the things that’s generally prevented better models of webcomics success (popularity, business, etc.) is having enough data to make statistically valid conclusions. While Cohn isn’t addressing any of those things I just cited, any research into how comics work ought to be seen as in the interests of our community. Go, click, maybe win.

• Also in the “maybe win” vein: Ryan Estrada is looking for reviews of his Zudaentry, and is not above a little incentivizing to get ’em. Review TKYDBHTM (either good or bad), post it, and link it here, and you’ll be automatically entered to win STUFF. As Fleen is nominally a news/information propogation vehicle, we do feel somewhat constrained by the occasional tug of journalistic ethics so we’re not entering … but if you’re a comics fan, get to it.

  Even if you aren’t after his stuff, Ryan would also like you to know that he’s re-launched his adventure video series, starting with death defiance in Africa. This is so exciting — I hope he makes it.

• Speaking of Zuda, long-time readers may remember the review of Intergalactic Law than ran here a few years back, and may wish to know that a spinoff is also in competition at The Big Z with Intergalactic Law: Grey Squad. Even more, you may wish to know that your votes for IL:GS will benefit a good cause:
  

  Lisa Fary and John Dallaire, are devoting their latest comic effort, Intergalactic Law: Grey Squad, to raising money for Philadelphia’s Fraternal Order of Police survivors fund.

  For every vote and comment that Grey Squad earns, Fary and Dallaire will donate twenty-five cents to the Philadelphia police survivors fund. They know it doesn’t sound like much, but they are hoping to raise $1000 for the survivors fund.

• Probably gone by now, but holy crap: Dresden Codak HOB hardcovers! This is just my impression, but given that the pre-order has nearly been filled (as of this writing) in less than 12 hours means that DC readers are in a state of excitement normally reserved for the author of this modern masterpiece of film critique (no pics, but still possibly not safe for your place of employment if the naughty words filters are up). Hurry if you want one.